Feb 1, 2009. Mark 1:14-20; Mark 1:14, 15. The News is Good.

The hunger for good news lives in the hearts of many people. This hunger makes us search high and low for good, nutritious food for our hearts, but can make us vulnerable to junk food, too.

A con man has been selling a gadget costing something like $20 000. It is supposed to cure all kinds of ailments. Desperate people are buying it, in spite of the fact that there is no scientific evidence that the machine works. It is called “clutching at straws,” or also magical thinking.

The need is awakened when we stare suffering in the face. After a deadly earthquake, in a family that has been torn by strife, or devastated by the loss of a loved one or where a breadwinner has lost his/her job, for a person who has been victimized by someone's violence--on and on you can think of situations that are filled with bad news, and were the need of good news is great.

We need a new job so we can feed our family, and pay our mortgage. An experience of personal disaster, loss or tragedy can also make people aware that we need more, something beyond only material goods or health. Our greatest need is often unacknowledged: we need forgiveness and reconciliation. We may not know it, but the hungry heart longs for the kingdom of God, for the bread of life which is Jesus.

And now, at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus announces the good news of the kingdom that is drawing near, the kingdom which means a total answer to sorrow and brokenness, to poverty and injustice, to the need for a new beginning, a new creation and forgiveness. This is the all-encompassing good news that Jesus brings, and the good news he himself is.

We see:
1: the difficult situation in which Jesus begins his ministry of good news.
2: the nature of the glad tidings he brings.
3: the requirements which are placed before people who would partake.

Mark does not tell us that Jesus began to preach after John had been arrested to give us a calendar date, but to indicate the antagonistic setting which ended John’s ministry, and would be like a dark hovering cloud under which Jesus would do his ministry, too, from the beginning. The cross is not a surprising outcome at the end, but a real possibility from the beginning.

Jesus began his ministry when John the baptizer was unable to continue his because he had been arrested. John was not arrested because he was a criminal: no, it was much worse! John preached, and people believed, and that was too much of a good thing. John dared call people to repentance, even the politicians and bankers. But they don’t like to be held to account. So the authorities arrested John because he preached.

Mark tells us this detail to indicate clearly the kind of situation in which Jesus began his ministry. Jesus, says Mark, did not begin his preaching of the good news in times were people welcomed the word of a new prophet. No: to preach the good news was risky business at that time; people were not holding their breath for someone to bring another religion or new religious insight.

Jesus, like John, would call people to repentance and faith as. That’s an essential component to the kingdom message. Preaching was risky business; people arrested John, and killed Jesus for what he taught. Strange, isn't it that the good news meets with this fate? Yes, crowds came to John to repent and be baptized; they wanted new lives. But the authorities were not so kind. They felt threatened by the preaching of John just as Herod had felt threatened by the news of a royal baby born in Bethlehem. So you either concede the possibility that the Messiah has come, or you nip it in the bud: you kill the impostor. And that’s what Herod did.

It's a very human reaction. We protect our own turf, right or wrong. Many of us cannot say the simple phrase: “I was wrong.” We have a strong impulse to defend what we believe and we are inclined to dismiss, expel or even execute our opponents. The authorities were convinced that the people and the nation did not need the kind of renewal to which John called, and so they arrested him. And everyone was very familiar with all the blood that had been shed in the land by several messiah figures. But this does not bode well for Jesus, who is now going to bring a similar message. So it does not take long for the reaction to Jesus to receive mixed reaction. Many people listen to the message, find it interesting, but ultimately reject it; they do not repent or believe, but participate in the shadow, the crucifixion. Jesus did his work entirely under the shadow of the cross, and the nearer the time, the darker the times.

However, in spite of the looming shadow, Jesus begins his work. He proclaims the message; he does not invite or initiate a religious discussion club. He proclaims. People can do with that as they please. But Jesus does not have an opinion poll to ask whether people agree with what he says; take it or it leave it is his attitude. The ancient philosophers went for long walks with students to discuss issues. Jesus preached and taught. We should be clear on why Jesus does so. In spite of the hostile situation, there was good news from God that has to be proclaimed, because it needs to be heard, it needs to be put before people. It is the only way out.

The good news must be proclaimed, in situations were people are interested in hearing it, and in situations were people ridicule it, because it is good news from God. It is God’s answer to our quest and our needs. The gospel is the bread of good news for which people hunger, whether they know it or not. Every other solution is a half-way measure.

The word gospel as Mark uses it has been discussed a lot. Exactly what did Mark mean with it? Is it just a message about good news, or is it the good news itself? Think about it: what are we doing when we tell another the good news?

One commentator who, after summarizing the discussion on this word, suggests that when the word of the Lord Jesus is preached, Jesus himself is already present in that preaching. This is what makes preaching so powerful: Jesus is in the Words, making the Word able to perform what God wants it to perform. So the gospel is not the content of what Jesus says or does, but the power of Jesus himself, present where his story is told, Paul J. Achtemeier, Mark, 50.

The good news has two components.

The first is: the time is fulfilled. For centuries, Israel had been looking for God to keep his promise. After all, God promised to send the Messiah, a new, eternal, heavenly king to rule the people. They waited eagerly, as some Jewish people do to this day. Now Jesus announces: The event which you were looking to have happen is upon you. The long time of waiting is over; the one you have been hoping, praying and waiting for all these years is now in your midst. That is what it means to say the time is fulfilled. The time is fulfilled because Jesus came.

The second component of the good news is that the kingdom of God is near, or even present. Now that signals a huge change. The kingdom of this world is ruled by sin; it is filled with suffering and pain. It is dark, and full of despair for many people. If indeed the kingdom is near, then light, peace, justice and joy are about to happen. It opens the option of new life before people. No greater announcement than this is possible. I hope all of us still sense how great that news really is. The Kingdom is the one all-sufficient alternative, the response of the grace of God to the deadliness and sinfulness of the kingdom of this world. The kingdom is here because Jesus came.

The kingdom demands a two-fold response. Both of these are given as commands, not merely as invitations or encouragements.

Both John and Jesus proclaimed the necessity of repentance. Repentance demands that we see the sinful life for what it is, and make up our mind that we want to leave it behind. Behind this demand lies the teaching that God's good news really is meant to have an impact on our lives. Christ demands that our lives be changed. If we take Jesus seriously, we will examine our lives to discover what we need to change. Encounter with Christ makes us ask: how can I be the person God wants me to be? Can I be a better husband, father, worker, or friend than I have been? What sin lives in me, what sin do I relish and encourage, or hide? Temper, pride, lusts, greed, prejudices, and whatever else is sinful in us--Jesus says: repent!

Second: Jesus commands us to believe the gospel. Jesus, the preacher, preaches himself. Believing the gospel is embracing the Saviour, the King. There is a great urgency to decide. We can't put it off, and may not put it off; it is disobedient to what Jesus says to put off the decision to some other day.
We know the urgency of decision making from everyday sales experiences. "Someone else was just looking at this house, too, and may put in a bid before the day is out." You know you run the risk of not getting your dream house. We read "this offer is good only until the end of the month." "Supply is limited, first come first served." That means: decide now!

The time is now; do not delay getting your life in order, rearranging your values, your manner of living. Give your heart in true allegiance to Jesus now, while it is yet day, while you have an opportunity.