A few months ago, a local man called Douglas who has mental health problems and spends much of his time wandering around the town, walked into the Church during a service, straight to the front, and started shouting at the musicians who were leading worship. He had been drinking, he was quite agitated, and he was very loud. In an instant, the atmosphere moved from calm and worshipful to tense and uncomfortable.  One of the Church people who obviously knew Douglas,  immediately and confidently responded to the interruption. Standing alongside Douglas, he spoke gently to him. Within moments the pair were sitting, chatting  quietly in the corner of the Church.

In any religious ceremony, there is always a tension when someone other than the speaker raises their voice and disrupts the service. When that person is unwell or drunk, most of us feel very uncomfortable.

In Mark 1:21-23 we see Jesus preaching in the synagogue. Unlike other teachers and preachers, this Jesus speaks in his own authority. People are amazed and excited about this young rabbi. And then, while he is speaking, a man stands up and starts shouting. ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?’ Do you sense the tension in the room. ‘I know who you are, God’s Holy One.’

Jesus, the preacher, deals immediately and confidently with the problem. No need to raise his voice. ‘Hold your tongue and get out of him.’ The problem is not the man, but something deep inside the man. In an instant, the man is on the floor convulsing. He screams. And then he is still. The spirit has fled.

‘If his words had amazed the people in the synagogue, his deeds left them thunderstruck.’⁽ⁱ⁾

They had been amazed by the words of Jesus. Amazed by the authority with which he spoke. And now they see his sheer power, demonstrated through his actions. This was a dramatic scene. Small wonder that the news about Jesus rapidly spread far and wide.

‘Jesus, with one word of clear, simple, brief authority exorcised the demon. No-one had ever seen anything like this before. The power was not in the spell, the formula, the incantation, the elaborate rite; the power was in Jesus.’ (ii)

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• Wm Barclay, New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark, [Kindle DX Version Loc 1001]
• Wm Barclay, ibid., [ Loc 1037]

To our eyes, Capernaum was more of a village than a city.  Close to the beach where Jesus had been walking, there was a synagogue. The synagogue was a place of teaching (sacrifice was reserved for the Temple in Jerusalem).  The indications are that Jesus was, for the time being, resident in Capernaum, so he would be known and recognised at the synagogue.

If we walked into the synagogue we might see some practices which remind us of Church, but there are some significant differences.

‘One thing the synagogue did not have was a permanent preacher or teacher. When the people met at the synagogue service it was open to the ruler [of the synagogue] to call on any competent person to give the address and exposition.’ ⁽ⁱ⁾

The Teachers of the Law followed the strict practice of careful interpretation of the Law of Moses and the Torah, which contained many clarifications intended to apply the Law to everyday life. Their teaching would draw entirely on the words of the Torah, and the interpretations and comments of other teachers, scribes and rabbi’s.

Yet here is a young rabbi, speaking from Scripture and applying it, interpreting it, teaching from it, without reference to other teachers, but on his own authority. It is this break from tradition which sets Jesus apart from other teachers of his day. It is this assumption of authority which attracted attention to the young man called Jesus. It is the power and ownership of his own words which amazed the men of Capernaum.

²² The congregation was surprised at his sermon because he spoke as an authority and didn’t try to prove his points by quoting others—quite unlike what they were used to hearing! (Mark 1:22, The Living Bible)

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i. Wm Barclay. New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark, loc 944 (Mark 1:21-22)

In the past, I have encouraged people to engage with this moment in a contemplative way. In short, close your eyes, and imagine you were there on that foreshore.

Listen to the waves, lapping on the shore. Smell of the lake. Smell of fish.

Scores of fishing boats spread out along the shore. Fishermen. Several hundred fishermen are doing what they do. Young men and small boys. Old men. Generations from the same families. Hired men. Cleaning boats and equipment. Clattering and banging. Mending nets. Telling stories. Shouting. Chatting. Laughing.

Simon and Andrew, James and John. Young working men. Hard working. Not ignorant people, but not educated in any way we would really recognise. No different from the scores of other young fishermen on the beach that day. Ordinary young fishermen, working in the family business.

And then this young rabbi, with his unusually rough, hard working, carpenter hands, walks by.  The one who was baptised by the prophet John. The one who had met some of these young men when they were following John.

First, Simon and Andrew. ‘Follow me.’ An invitation, yes, but actually an instruction. A command. Yet also an offer of sorts. ‘Follow me. And I will send you out to fish for people.’ Follow me because I’m worth following. Follow me because there’s work for you to do. No hesitation. They followed Him.

Then, a little farther on along the beach, James and John. Zebedee, the father,  turning to his hired hands, watching his sons walk away from the family business.

They followed because He was worth following. He called them because there was work to be done. No hesitation. They followed Him.

Four very ordinary looking young men. You could walk past them and just think, ‘fishermen’. Unschooled, ordinary people. Nothing special.

Moses was tending to flocks when God called him. Amos was a shepherd. Elijah was a farmer. These guys were fishermen. God calls ordinary people, because he has things for them to do, and because he sees their potential.

Until this moment, Christ was working alone. Now he had started building his team. A team of ordinary people. A team with things to do. There was a church to build.

‘Every group of believers calling themselves a church began on the morning Jesus walked along that shore and said to four fishermen, ‘Come, follow me.’ So simple, so utterly sublime.’ (i)

Listen to the waves, lapping on the shore. Smell the lake. Smell the fish.

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(i) David Pawson, A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, p32

‘How do I get ready for the power of God to break into my life and give me the victory? I repent.’ ⁽ⁱ⁾

There is a theme of Scripture which affirms that the people of Israel have turned away from God. He repeatedly calls  on them to return to Him.

⁷ Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.   (Malachi 3:7)

A tendency to turn away from God, go our own way, do our own thing at the expense of our relationship with God is, it seems, part of the human condition.

The word ‘repentance’ means ‘turning’, or ‘returning’. But the act of repentance is more than simply turning away from, or back to something.

In Mark 1:15 Jesus says ‘Repent, and believe the good news.’  The word, translated here as ‘repent’, is from the Greek root ‘metanoia’ (Μετανοεῖτε). To the sense of ‘turning’, this Greek word brings both ‘change of mind and attitude’ and ‘regret’.

We still need to go one step further. ‘We are very apt to confuse two things – sorrow for the consequence of sin and sorrow for sin.’⁽ⁱⁱ⁾  A child, caught with their hand in the biscuit tin might have a change of mind in the face of imminent chastisement. They may even express regret. However, in turning from their failed attempt at illicit appropriation of a biscuit they may retain the desire to return, devising a way to avoid detection. Their greatest regret may actually be that they have been caught in the act. They turn from their actions, they regret their actions, but they do not necessarily repent.

For the Christian, repentance is not something which can wait until we are caught out.  It is the recognition of every sin: large, small, seen and unseen, and it is the nurturing of a true desire and commitment to be rid of it.

As I am writing this I am recovering from covid. My health is improving, but I want rid of the bug completely. Until it is utterly gone, I am still, to a degree, suffering from covid. Repentance cannot be complete until the desire to sin has been recognised and dealt with before God.

One thing more. We need to remember that for a Christian, repentance alone is not enough. We are to repent and believe.

‘Jesus preached that people should repent (change their minds) and believe. Repentance alone is not enough to save us, even though God expects believers to turn from their sins. We must also put positive faith in Jesus Christ and believe His promise of salvation.’ ⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Our return to God is characterised by a change of mind, regret at our weakness, and a commitment to absolutely separate ourselves from both the sin and from the desire to sin. That separation should be ‘as far as is the east from the west’. When our repentance is heartfelt, His forgiveness is absolute.

¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
(Psalm 103: 11-12)

Repent,’ says Jesus, ‘and believe the good news.’

(i) Pawson, A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, , p27
(ii) Wm Barclay, New Daily Study Bible, the Gospel of Mark, (Mark 1:14-15) (loc843)
(iii) Wiersbe, ‘Be Diligent’, p20

¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵ “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

John the Baptist in his camel hair coat had preached, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.’(i) Now we see how his message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins truly prepares the way not just for the coming of the Messiah, but for the message and the moment of his appearance on the road to the cross.

The kingdom of God is not about places but about power.

‘Wherever God’s power reaches out and controls, that is the Kingdom of God’ ⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

The power of God is there throughout His creation, but as the Messiah draws close, so the power is amplified. That is at the heart of the good news. The kingdom is where God’s power is, and Christ is the very manifestation of that power.

The arrest of John in some way defines the moment. The time has come. It is a moment which calls for action. It’s time for a new Chapter. A new narrative.

‘God wants a new poetry to be written, and is calling a new people to write it. And the name of the poem is ‘the kingdom of God. This is what all Israel had been waiting for.’ ⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

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(i) Matthew 3:2 (NIV)
(ii) David Pawson, A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, p25
(iii) NT Wright, ‘Mark for Everyone’, p5

Our lives are often punctuated by events which are outside our control. We talk about the post-Covid world, or pre 9/11. The world before the invasion of Ukraine looked and felt very different. These big events are like ‘punctuation marks’ in our lives.

There are several people in the New Testament called Herod. This one is properly named Herod Antipas, sometimes called Herod the Tetrarch. He was the son of Herod the Great (who ruled when Christ was born), and he was a difficult character. John had an interesting relationship with him. We know that Herod was fascinated with John (Mark 6:20) but he was in an adulterous relationship with his brothers wife, Herodias, and it was this which John openly and publicly criticised. It may be that Herod feared the growing crowd who were following John ⁽ⁱ⁾, but it was John’s accusations of adultery which led to his arrest (Mark 6:17). He remained in prison for some time, but the important thing here is that the writers of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew emphasise that it was the arrest of John which marked the beginning of the next and decisive phase of Christ’s ministry (Mark 1:14 and Matthew 4:12). We may see John’s arrest as the spark, the catalyst, which caused Christ to step forwards.

‘There is a time for every matter under heaven,’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1). John’s arrest was a significant event in first century Palestine. It stands as a punctuation mark highlighting the time, God’s time, for Christ to turn his steps towards the cross.

John had been openly and publicly proclaiming the Kingdom of God. His ministry was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. That phase of his work is done. The Lamb of God, the Messiah is here.

His arrest meant that John’s voice, crying in the wilderness, was silenced. Into that silence walks Christ. The One for whom the way had been prepared. The One whose majestic and powerful voice would change the world for all time.

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(i) See Barnes, Matthew 14:2

Mark is the only Gospel writer to mention animals in the presence of Christ in the wilderness. Jesus, we read, was ‘with the wild animals,’ (Mk 1:13). One could read this as a sign that at a time of vulnerability he was protected (Barnes, Mk 1:13). On the other hand, one has the sense of these creatures being a benign presence. Are they perhaps mentioned to demonstrate the power of Christ over creation. Animals in the wilderness which would normally present a danger, subjugated –  become companions of Jesus at a time of trial (see Barclay, Mark 1:13).

There is another angle. In the final stages of preparation for his launch onto the public stage, the power and majesty of Christ is demonstrated in many ways. In echoes of past prophecies, we might see the bear, the goat, the desert lion – wild animals – even the wolf, laying down with the Lamb (Isaiah 11:6; 65:25; Hosea 2:18).

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jn 1:29

As with Mark, the Angels are mentioned by Matthew. In his Gospel, Matthew mentions that they attend Christ after his trials. ‘When the devil had departed…’ (Matthew 4:11) What a picture! That angels who have so often been our unseen protectors in difficult times, are there to gently encourage and minister as we recover.

‘Jesus,’ writes William Barclay, ‘was not left to fight alone, and neither are we.‘

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It is often said that, after believers baptism, there can be a sense of anti climax, challenge and even temptation for the new believer.

‘So in all the children of God, extraordinary manifestations of his favour are wont to be followed by extraordinary temptations.’ (i)

Here is Jesus walking a similar path. From the drama and wonder of His own baptism, Christ is thrust into a place of challenge, darkness and temptation. For Jesus, the period of temptation is extended (40 days is not to be taken literally (ii)), and he faces extreme attacks attributed to the great adversary, Satan.

The text demands that Christ is thrust into the wilderness immediately after baptism. The text demands that he is thrust there by the Holy Spirit. The time of testing after the thrill of baptism is a time ordained by God. There is something really important here in terms of our own times of temptation.

In this life it is impossible to escape the assault of temptation; but one thing is sure – temptations are not sent to make us fall; they are sent to strengthen the nerve and the sinew of our minds and hearts and souls. They are not meant for our ruin, but for our good. They are meant to be tests from which we emerge better warriors and athletes for God. (iii)

Temptation is tough. The challenge is at its greatest when we are in our place of wilderness. Yet even then, under the protection of a faithful God it is to be resisted, endured, and ultimately defeated.

‘The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.’ 1 Corinthians 10:13.

• John Wesley, Commentary on Gospel of Mark, Mk 1 v12
• Barclay, Mark, Mark 1:12-13
• Barclay, ibid

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