Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming…”the kingdom of God has come near.”
Texts: Mark 1:14-20; Jonah 3:1-5,10;
Perhaps you heard the story about the man trying to find a certain place in a back woods area, where the roads were not straight, nor were they clearly marked. He stopped and asked a couple of old timers for directions. They thought a minute and started to give directions. Then they stopped, paused, and started with different directions. Again they stopped, paused, and finally said, you can’t get there from here.
A reason or purpose or value for my life; directions for living… Perhaps that was never a question for you. Perhaps you wrestled with that some time ago and you have it resolved. Perhaps you are needing some direction now, or know you will sometime soon. Perhaps you feel that the question of profession or career is pretty well settled for you, and yet there needs to be something more.
Today we continue reading in the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark. We find there a string of stories, moving very fast. It is best to look at these together, an introduction to this Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel starts with the very concise statement: That this is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We must continually remind ourselves: the word that is translated good news is “evangel.” The proper meaning of the term evangelical must come by looking at Jesus – not what we think about him, but what this story truly says about Jesus.
Our Gospel reading today includes two big ideas. And we must keep these two ideas together. We hear Jesus’ proclamation, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near... If we want to consider this first chapter of Mark as sort of a resume, this might be like the lines were we are told to write our objective. Frankly, I think that is really questionable. We want to say, my objective is to get a job that is fun, doesn’t take much work, and pays a lot of money. So how does one say that to make it sound like I’ll do anything you want so you make a lot of money off of me. Well, the objective of Jesus’ life and ministry is nothing short of the kingdom of God. And, we must remind ourselves, this was a radical statement. When Jesus stated that, Caesar claimed to be both emperor and god. The nasty king Herod used the little bit of power he had to act like he was right there next to the emperor. Today we hear Jesus’ claim about the kingdom and think the individualism of democracy. Or, we think some future existence after we die. That fails to understand the power and importance of what Jesus declared. He was declaring that the powers of this world are not the most powerful. The values of this world are not the most worthwhile. The mess of this world is not the final word. Jesus is declaring that God’s ways are going to prevail, and if we are willing to set our hearts in the right direction, we can experience that here and now.
Then comes the encounter that could be so very challenging. Jesus declares the kingdom and then turns to these four guys and says, follow me. Why do they drop what they are doing and follow? The Gospel of Mark does not take time to go into the psychological or familial or economic factors that may have been involved. The Gospel of John, in our reading last week, suggests today’s encounter may not have been out of the blue, that the relationship was forming before Jesus challenged Andrew and Peter, James and John to follow.
As a kid, I guess I heard this story as either concrete – have a career in the church – or as abstract, go about your life in a Christian sort of way. Today I read this story also in terms of course corrections in mid-life. Were Peter and Andrew tired of this career and wanted some sort of adventurous road trip? Were James and John tired of working for their old man? Maybe, maybe not. Whether their motivations were fully positive or touched with negative reasons is not that important in the long run. They realized there had to be something more to life. Maybe this was the answer.
Or the puzzling story of Jonah. Really, the most challenging part of that whole book is not the issue about the digestive processes of a fish. It is the interaction of Jonah with the needs of the world, including people he did not like. And would he be part of God’s involvement in that. Even more puzzling is that sentence in verse 10, that God changed his mind about the destructive judgment on Nineveh. This challenges our understanding of God’s control over events. This challenges the view that many have, even Christians, that God set things in motion and then the natural forces took over. To me, this story of Jonah, this statement about the future God will bring about, ties directly with Jesus’ call and the way you and I answer that call. Jesus’ call to these four had two parts. The first was to follow; the second was to help gather others. Jesus’ call is not just a private matter. Jesus’ call to each of us is very personal. And, this call also automatically includes the social dimension of inviting others.
The word, repent, has a lot of connotations. Among the most important is that God is less concerned about where you have been and most concerned about where you are going. Your questions about the future can lead you to believe that God wants you to be involved in forming the future, what we might call, God’s preferred future. And, if we are willing to hear Jesus calling us into that future, we quickly realize others will be there. Others will help us hear Jesus’ call, even as we are part of them following him. That is how you and I will experience God’s kingdom. That is how you and I will help God’s kingdom grow.
Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God has come near. How near? The kingdom comes into our hearts as we daily answer Jesus’ call to follow him. The kingdom comes into our world as we share that call with one another.
I remember a time when I was not sure how to get to the place I was needing to go. I stopped and asked for directions. Someone overheard my request and interrupted. I’m going that way; just follow me. Such is the call Jesus gives to each of us. And this is the call Jesus wants to give others through us.
