Mark 1:14-15

Passage

John the Baptizer was arrested for what he was preaching.  Afterwards, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming God’s good news.  Jesus told people that God’s timing was satisfied for the kingdom of God has come.  Jesus also taught that our proper response was to repent and believe in the good news of God.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

John is arrested – we’ll hear more about this later.  For now, we can take comfort to know that he was arrested for proclaiming what God wanted him to proclaim.  We should also not lose sight of the fact that Jesus ends His ministry by being arrested, too.  Oh yeah, pretty much all of Jesus’ disciples get arrested.  So does one of the other main figures in the whole of the New Testament: the Apostle Paul.  In fact, all of these people also die for the message that God wants them to proclaim.  The truth is inescapable.  God doesn’t call His followers to a life of ease.  He doesn’t call His followers to a life of being pampered.  When God calls, we have a choice between thinking about our needs or thinking about what God needs us to do.

Why is it scary to think about the way that many of the central figures in the New Testament lived and died?  Why do you think we spend so much time in America ignoring this reality and instead celebrating safe topics like love, God's glory, and prosperity?

Second Thought:

The next thing we hear in these verses is that Jesus came to proclaim the good news of God.  Jesus didn’t come so that He could talk about us or even Himself.  He came so that He could talk about God.  God is the center.  God’s agenda is the one to be followed.

Why is this an important understanding when we look at what it means to be a disciple?  Why is it difficult to live a life that has God and God’s agenda at the center?

Third Thought:

Jesus came to bear truth.  We are sinners.  Our walk with God begins in repentance.  Our walk with God doesn’t begin with us accepting ourselves for who we are or us rationalizing our weaknesses.  We are sinners through and through and our walk begins fundamentally with our repentance.  Only after we are willing to repent and confess our sinfulness can we approach the idea of faith and faithfulness.

Why don’t we like to talk about repentance?  Why don’t we care to speak about our faults and our inability to save ourselves?  Why do you think this is the absolute right place to start with respect to our faith life?

Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 1:16-20