The Kingdom is at hand in that generation. The Stronger One is already in the land. That beginning is finished.
Mark opens with Isaiah’s messenger and John’s wilderness call, then Jesus of Nazareth is baptized, driven into the wilderness, and begins preaching in Galilee after John is delivered up. He addresses Galilean fishermen, a synagogue in Capernaum, a city at the door, and towns throughout Galilee. The covenant moment is the last days of the Mosaic age. These words matter then because the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom is at hand before that house falls.
1 The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you: 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’ ” 4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. 5 All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.
6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. 8 I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” 9 In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
11 A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 12 Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals; and the angels were serving him. 14 Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.”
16 Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men.” 18 Immediately they left their nets, and followed him. 19 Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.
21 They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24 saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!” 25 Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26 The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What can this new doctrine be? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!” 28 The report of him went out immediately into all the region of Galilee and its surrounding area. 29 Immediately, when they had come out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him about her.
31 He came and took her by the hand and raised her up. The fever left her immediately, and she served them. 32 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by demons. 33 All the city was gathered together at the door. 34 He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there.
36 Simon and those who were with him searched for him. 37 They found him and told him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 He said to them, “Let’s go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason.” 39 He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons. 40 A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”
41 Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” 42 When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was made clean. 43 He strictly warned him and immediately sent him out, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places. People came to him from everywhere.
Text source: WEB — ebible.org
Mark does not open with a postponement. The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is written as the arrival Isaiah named. A voice in the wilderness prepares the way. John comes baptizing and preaching repentance for remission of sins. All the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem go out to him. That movement is the last call of the old age, not the first rumor of a distant world. The messenger of Malachi stands in the river before the Lord of the Temple comes to his house.
John is clear about rank. One stronger than he comes after him. John is not worthy to stoop and loosen the strap. He baptizes in water; the Coming One baptizes in the Holy Spirit. That contrast is the transfer from an external washing to the Spirit poured out in the last days of that age. Pentecost keeps the pledge. The fall of the house finishes the transfer. The beginning Mark writes is the beginning of that end.
Jesus comes from Nazareth of Galilee and is baptized by John in the Jordan. The heavens split. The Spirit descends like a dove. A voice names him the beloved Son. Israel’s sonship, failed in the wilderness, is spoken over this man before he is driven out. Immediately the Spirit drives him into the wilderness. He is there forty days, tempted by Satan, with the wild animals, and angels serve him. Forty is Israel’s number in the waste places. The Accuser tests him as the law tested the first people in the land. There is no second throne. Satan here is the Accuser’s case pressed against the Son. The Son does not yield. The wilderness that once buried a generation now serves the One who will bury the age.
After John is delivered up, Jesus comes into Galilee preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom. The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe. Those sentences are spoken to people who will see the Temple fall. At hand is not a code for two thousand years. Delivered up is the first note of the passion that runs through this Gospel. The forerunner is handed over; the Son will be handed over; the city that refuses him will be handed over. Fishermen leave nets. The call creates a people inside that generation, named before the house falls.
In Capernaum on the Sabbath he teaches with authority, not as the scribes. A man with an unclean spirit cries out. The speech of that hour names him the Holy One of God and begs not to be destroyed. Jesus rebukes the spirit as he later rebukes a fever and a sea. The curse leaves. The man is not a battlefield of rival deities. He is a life held in the bondage the law could name and could not break. Zechariah said the unclean spirit would be cut off from the land. This synagogue is that cutting-off begun. The land is clean when the sanctuary that guarded uncleanness is gone.
Simon’s mother-in-law lies sick. He takes her hand. The fever leaves. Evening comes and the whole city gathers at the door. He heals many and casts out many demons, and does not allow them to speak, because they knew him. The publicity is silenced. The work is the binding. In the morning he goes to a deserted place to pray. The crowds hunt him. He answers: let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason. The verb is his. The reason is the word of the Kingdom in the towns of that land before the age closes.
Ended with that age: a wilderness with no way home, a baptism that could only wait for the Stronger One, a synagogue that housed curse-bondage and called it order, an Accuser’s case that treated Israel as condemned under the letter. Given in their place: the Spirit on the Son, a Kingdom at hand, a people called from nets, a word that rebukes the curse in the idiom of the street, New Creation life already breaking in while Moses’ house still stands. The leper he cleanses is sent to the priest as a testimony. The old house is still standing. It is already being told that cleansing has moved. When not one stone of that house is left on another, the beginning Mark writes is the world those first hearers enter.
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The time is fulfilled. You do not wait for a Kingdom that has not come. The Accuser’s case is not the air you breathe. Identity is union with the Son who walked into Galilee and spoke the word that still holds. Freedom is the end of condemnation under a law that has ended.
Where are you still living as if the time were not fulfilled, when the Kingdom spoken in Galilee is the order you already stand in?