The Gospel of Mark
Arrival in Galilee and the call of the disciples: Mk 1,14-20
Coming to Galilee: 1,14-15
The two verses 14-15 form one sentence. Looking at Mt 4,12-17 shows that they are unique to Mark, especially with the emphasis on the good news and the fulfillment of time.
Verse 14 tells us that Jesus goes to Galilee and proclaims the Good News while verse 15 tells us what it is that Jesus proclaims, what is his Good News. The importance of these verses is that they not only bring the Prologue to a close, they also set the stage for all that follows, especially Jesus' ministry in Galilee.
In verse 14, we begin with a time reference "after John was arrested". This evangelist reminds his readers of the fate of John the Baptist which he will recount at length later (6,14-29). In a sense, Jesus is the successor to John but also greater than John (1,7)
The evangelist uses a Greek word which means "handed over" We will find that as John was "handed over (1,14), so too will be Jesus be "handed over" (10,33), both will come to the same violent end. In addition, Jesus' followers in their turn can also expect to be "handed over" (13,9). This will not be not an easy Gospel.
The verses complete the Prologue because the Gospel announced in verse 1 is now proclaimed by Jesus in verses 14 and 15. The Gospel of God which becomes simply the Gospel on the lips of Jesus points to Jesus himself as the New Testament quotations make clear. It is what God did through his beloved Son (1,11).
Both Jesus and John preached repentence. John's repentance is that of the prophets of the Old Testament, the forgiveness of sins. Jesus' repentance announced in verse 15 means a turning to and commitment to his Good News.
Verse 14 now places Jesus in Galilee, from whence he came (1,9) and to which he will eventually return (16,7). Jesus is not a man of Judea and Jerusalem.
Verse 15
Verse 15 gives us the first statement of Jesus in this Gospel. It is a summary of all that he is to teach. Every word is therefore important. The audience is not specified and we can take it that the verse is primarily addressed to us the readers.
There are two halves to Jesus' proclamation: the first part tells of what has happened and the second half demands a response, repent and believe.
"Time" uses a Greek word which means "season" rather than exact time. It is that season which has now being fulfilled: in Greek the perfect tense for the verb is used here. This is a way of speaking about an action in the past which has continuing consequences in the present.
The special moment of God's intervention in human history has come. And this decisive intervention is expressed by the phrase "kingdom" or perhaps better, "reign of God".
To this there must be a response, a repenting or turning back to God. As we've seen, for Jesus this means a believing in and a commitment to his Good News.
Whilst Jesus himself proclaimed the kingdom or reign of God, following the resurrection, that proclamation of the kingdom was seen to be uniquely fulfilled in the person of Jesus himself.
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Call of Disciples: 1,16-20
In Mark, the disciples are already called and present right from the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Luke's approach is to give the disciples some time to see and witness Jesus (and Peter even sees his mother in law healed) before they receive their dramatic call (Lk 5,1-11).
We remember that we readers already know who Jesus is (1,1) whereas the disciples do not. We can follow their struggles to understand Jesus therefore from our special vantage point of knowing the answer.
Elijah called Elisha (1 Kings 19,19-21) but Elisha was given time to slaughter his oxen. The response of the disciples in the Gospel is an immediate departure from their family and their business.
More so than Elijah and Elisha, it is Jesus who takes the initiative here.
A key word is "immediately", one of Mark's favourite words (e.g. 1,12). In the call of Peter and Andrew, they leave their nets "immediately" whereas for James and John, Jesus calls them "immediately". The frequent use of "immediately" together with the repeated use by Mark of "and" is a way to show the urgency of the message of Jesus. Both words occur far more frequently in the Gospel than they are translated.
Not too much need to be read into "fishers of men". It is just arises from the fact these early disciples were fishermen.
Finally, the sea was for the ancients a place of chaos. We'll discover more about that in that in due course.
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The Sunday Gospel.
For the 3rd Sunday, the reading from the prophet Jonah fits the Gospel well. To appreciate just how the Jonah reading is suitable for this Sunday, it is good to read the whole story as a comedy. Jonah confounds every expectation of a prophet and so the tale provides some light relief amongst the other all too serious prophets.
The primary message of the reading is the unexpected repentance of the Ninevites. This focuses our attention on the first two verses of the Gospel (1,14-15) .
But Jonah was also the reluctant prophet, it took two attempts (and a bit of help from a sea monster) for God to get Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah too had to face the chaos which is the sea (Jonah 1). Jonah therefore gives us a contrast to the four disciples called by Jesus. They left their nets by the sea and their family and "immediately" followed him.
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