Mark 1:14-39

Bringing the sermon home:

Jesus began His public ministry declaring, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” As we look at the broken world around us, where do we see the kingdom of God breaking in and overtaking the kingdom of darkness? As this passage demonstrates, we see it in people obeying the King’s command to follow Him, and in actively calling other to do likewise.

The entire passage emphasizes the authority of Jesus’ preaching, first by recording how four fishermen rose from their boats to follow Jesus and to become “fishers of men”. The call to be a disciple of Christ is a call to live a transformed life focused on the spiritual wellbeing of others, seeking to “save others by snatching them out of the fire”, as Jude puts it.

Verses 21 thru 28 demonstrate the power of Jesus’ preaching with the casting out of a demon. When God’s Word is proclaimed with clarity and confidence, we should expect for many walking in darkness to be set free from the enslaving influence of sin and Satan, but also for opposition to arise that seeks to silence our preaching and to divide us against one another.

Verses 29 thru 39 demonstrate the priority and urgency of Jesus’ preaching (and thus ours) as He turns away from fawning crowds to go and preach to others as well.

May we likewise follow in His footsteps so that the Kingdom of God can be said to have come upon us, as it came upon the first disciples.