Mark 1:14-20. Message by Ron Walter
Have you ever been stuck in one of those neighborhoods with a lot of winding roads and once you get inside one, you don’t know how to get out of it?
Did you ever notice a car driving, and you think to yourself, that car looks like it’s leaving the neighborhood, so maybe I’ll just follow them out? Sometimes you’re successful doing that, and other times you might find that you only followed that person to their house and now you have to resort to plan B.
Sometimes, following someone gets you where you want to go, others, not so much.
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John Mark Comer begins his book “Practicing the Way” this way:
Who are you following? Everybody is following somebody, or at least something. Put another way, we’re all disciples. The question isn’t, “Am I a disciple?” It’s “who or what am I a disciple of?
John Mark Comer, “Practicing the Way.”
I think he’s right on this. Whether we realize it or not, we’re following someone or something. Maybe it’s an ideology or a political mindset. Maybe it’s power, or money. There’s always something we follow to get us where we want. It’s all about figuring out if we’re following the right thing.
As we look at Mark 1:14-20 we’ll find that Mark introduces two important concepts: The Kingdom of God and Following Jesus. These will become very prominent throughout the book of Mark.
Jesus Announces a Revolution
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Mark 1:14-15, NIV
This was a bold statement by Jesus. In the Roman Empire where they enforced Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, with the sword, one thing you did not do was suggest the idea of a new kingdom. And yet, Jesus says a new kingdom is coming near.
Repentance and revolution
We might not realize that the next phrase is pretty revolutionary as well. “Repent and believe the good news.” That’s because in those days, repent wasn’t a religious word as much as a military term. It’s equivelent to what we might recognize as “about face.” It was the term for turning your army around to go the opposite direction.
Think about hearing someone saying these things. The Kingdom of God is coming, do an about face! What kind of picture does that paint in your mind? I can see people hearing that and hearing this as a warning: a revolution is coming and you don’t want to be on the wrong side here.
Mark says this is good news. If you’re an oppressed people, a revolution is indeed good news, if it is successful. But if you’re not on the side of the revolution, it may not be such good news.
You want to be part of the revolution.
Understanding the Kingdom of God
But isn’t Jesus just talking about heaven? Scripture makes reference to the Kingdom that definitely appears to speak of heaven, but other references show that it’s more than that.
An example is in the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus prays:
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10, NIV, part of the Lord’s Prayer
This suggests that there’s more to it than that. God is expanding his kingdom to earth. Jack Cottrell had a good explanation of what the kingdom is.
The Biblical words for ‘kingdom’ mean primarily the REIGN of God itself, meaning his kingship, his lordship, his dominion, his glory… this is what we should be seeking above all else: to honor God as Lord and King of all, to glorify his name above all names. Everything we do should have this as its ultimate goal.
Jack Cottrell from an article in Lookout Magazine, as referenced at JockCottrell.com
We’ll be inaugurating a new president, and it’s been popular lately for opponents of whatever president is in office to claim he’s “not my president.” Could you imagine if someone dared declare “not my Caesar” in Jesus’s day?
As we understand the Kingdom, we find that we get to make a choice. In fact, we MUST make a choice. We might not say out loud that God is “not my King,” but what does our life say? Do we show other allegiances? Do we display loyalty to anyone or anything other than God?
The revolution forces us to make a decision.
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Mark 1:16-20 NIV
Mark has been known as the Shotgun gospel, as Mark often just dives into an account without much lead-in or back story. He does that here as Jesus just jumps right in, says it’s time, the Kingdom is coming, come follow me.
The book of John tells us of Andrew introducing Simon Peter to Jesus, and most experts use the different events of the gospels to estimate that that happened a few months before this account. Therefore it’s likely they knew Jesus for awhile, maybe followed from afar, and maybe had thought about following him.
We don’t know for absolute sure if this was the case. What we do know is that the moment Jesus asked them to follow, they did so without hesitation.
The Kingdom is coming. It’s time to make a decision. Are you part of the revolution or not? This is what stands out when Jesus calls these four to follow.
Following Jesus is the hardest thing we can do. It’s also the easiest thing we can do.
What we see about Jesus is that he would call people to follow him, and simply let them decide. He didn’t try to convince them, he didn’t bargain, he didn’t follow after them asking them to reconsider if they said no.
The difficulty of following Jesus is in the complete commitment that’s required.
Mark 10 records someone asking Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to sell everything, give it away, then come follow him. The man walked away sad because he could not make that commitment.
Notice that Jesus didn’t follow him or try to change his mind? Jesus asking people to follow was no small thing. He wanted an all-in commitment.
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:57-62 NIV
Jesus’s response seems a little harsh here, doesn’t it? Jesus explains to the first, this isn’t an easy thing we’re talking about here. Some speculate that the father of the second person was still alive, that he wanted to follow once he received his inheritance.
The thing is, we have a tendency to water down Jesus’ response, thinking Jesus should give a little more wiggle room. The reality is, when Jesus says to follow him, he means it. He wants an all-in, whole-hearted commitment that says “God, you are first and foremost. I’m making you my King.”
That level of commitment is uncompromising. It’s hard. Jesus is firm here: “Follow me. It’s up to you.”
The easier part of following Jesus
There’s no back-pedalling the difficulty of committing fully to following Jesus. He wants us all in. But once we make that commitment, following Jesus is the easiest thing we can do because he takes care of the rest.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light
Matthew 11:28-30
How is the yoke light? How is following easy when it requires THAT much commitment?
It’s because you don’t have to bring anything to the table other than your commitment. Jesus doesn’t ask for you to be qualified, to have certain ability or knowledge or righteousness. He just wants us to commit and let him take care of the rest.
We have a tendency to compartmentalize the Lord’s Prayer, where “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” is separate from “give us this day our daily bread.” But have you ever considered that they may go together? Is it possible that he’s teaching us to pray that “I’m making you my king, but I need to rely on you to provide what it takes?”
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:31-33
Do you notice how these tie together? Seek the kingdom, follow the king, and let God take care of the details. Notice that Jesus didn’t ask Andrew and Peter to BE fishers of men. He said “I will make you” into fishers of men.
Once we make the commitment, he tells us that it’s just a matter of letting him take care of the details. He’ll handle the logistics, he’ll provide the talents and abilities and gifts and even the material things necessary.
All we have to do is trust in him to take care of it.
Letting the Kingdom come
A favorite song of mine, by the group Whiteheart, had an insightful way of looking at the prayer to let the Kingdom come, as it turned it around to us and how we wear our own crowns. Here are some of the lyrics from the song include:
I crowned myself king but I didn’t see the trouble, the heartache and the sorrow it would bring.
Whiteheart: “Let the Kingdom Come”
I’m so tired and weary. Lord I’m weary and hurtin from the back breakin burden of my crown.
I’m laying down my crown. Lord I’m layin it down and praying, let your will be done.
(If you’re interested in the song, it’s embedded down below. Be warned that the song has a rock style to it, especially later in the song.)
Jesus wants us to follow. He wants us to be disciples. He wants us to go all in on the kingdom where we lay down our personal crowns, we determine that we will pledge our allegiance to King Jesus and that we will go all-in on our commitment to him.
The Bible never delineates between converts and disciples. He calls us to all be disciples: People who wholeheartedly follow Jesus, are transformed by Jesus and are committed to His mission.
Jesus announced a revolution. He declared God’s kingdom, which is a big deal. It’s such a big deal that it forces a decision. The time has come. Jesus says it’s time to follow me.