Mark 1:14-20

Mark 1:14–20 KJV (WS)

14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. 19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

Introduction

John is put in prison.

Mark has to make a clean cut from John’s ministry to Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus’ message. vss 14-15

Jesus preached to the people the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven are synonymous.

The kingdom is anywhere the king is.

It’s anywhere his power and grace is manifested.

It was time for the kingdom of God to be revealed.

The fulfillment of time literally means the season of waiting is over.

From the fall of Adam to the start of Jesus’ ministry, all of creation had been awaiting this moment.

Now it was here.

The first place that Jesus preached his message was in the area surrounding Galilee.

Did Jesus start his ministry in Galilee out of convenience?

One historian doesn’t think so.

Jesus frames his coming into the world as the coming of the Kingdom.

He is not come as a reformer.

He is come as the conqueror of sin, death, and the grave.

It may not have been the political kingdom that the disciples looked for, but he did come to establish his kingdom.

Typically because of the topography, invading kingdoms came to Israel through the region of Galilee first.

Inclusion in the Kingdom of God has a universal immigration law.

Repent

Turn from your sin.

Change your mind about your sin.

Change your posture towards sin.

Believe the Gospel

Paul said that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was the gospel.

That obviously hasn’t happened at this point.

So what is the gospel message?

That Jesus is the Messiah.

He is the reconciler between God and man.

That he is come to seek and to save that which is lost.

Repentance and belief in Jesus were the keys to entrance into the kingdom of God.

Jesus is not interested in delivering this message alone.

He knows that his time on earth will be short. (Sad face)

He immediately sets about gathering humans that He will use to carry on His work after he has returned to heaven.

Jesus’ messengers. vss 16-20

This part of the passage starts rather innocently.

It almost sounds like Jesus just happens to be walking along the sea when he stumbles upon some fishermen.

One thing we know from Mark’s gospel is that nothing is going to happen by chance or with a que sera sera attitude.

Jesus is focused and is not wasting time.

He knew what would happen when he went to the seaside that day.

As expected, Jesus comes upon the first set of brothers.

Simon and Andrew.

Their father was named Jonah.

He was also a fisherman though he never shows up in the Bible.

Jesus finds them actively fishing.

Jesus is going to call them to the greatest work on earth.

He doesn’t need lazy men, he needs men with some hardiness.

He needs men that have a certain tenacity and persistence.

As many as 7 of the 12 were fisherman; that’s not an accident.

If they don’t catch fish, they don’t eat.

Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, “come ye after me and I will make you fishers of men.”

The brothers immediately leave their nets to follow Jesus.

It’s not clear in Mark, but the other gospels tell us that this is not their first meeting.

Jesus isn’t calling Simon and Andrew to salvation; he is calling them to a greater level of discipleship.

When he asks them to come after him, he isn’t literally asking them to get behind him like a family of ducks.

Leaders never call followers to make a one-way commitment.

Instead, the phrase means an invitation to walk with him.

This is an invitation to be his students.

Jesus wasn’t just looking for hard-working men, he was also looking for teachable men.

What did he want to teach them?

He wanted to teach them to be fishers of men.

Fishers of men was a common phrase used by philosophers and teachers of the day.

It was used to describe the attempt to capture men’s minds.

Jesus wanted more than that.

He wanted them to learn how to do what he had been doing.

Preach the gospel of the kingdom.

They were going to cast the net out and hope to bring more citizens into the kingdom.

They would need to cast it out over and over even when it seemed they weren’t catching anything.

With his first two messengers on board, Jesus walked a little further down the shore.

Jesus next happens upon James and John.

They are also fishermen.

They are not actively fishing at that moment.

Instead, they are with their father and his servants mending their nets.

They appear to be a little better off than Simon and Andrew.

Just because they are better off, doesn’t mean they are spoiled.

They are still working with their dad.

They are taking care of their equipment.

Jesus, seeing them, immediately calls out to them with the same invitation that he had offered Simon and Andrew.

James and John leave their father with the servants and go after Jesus to follow him.

We have every reason to believe that Zebedee consented to their leaving.

This should be a no-brainer.

Any parent should be proud and supportive of their kids following Jesus.

Even if that means full time service.

As Simon, Andrew, James, and John follow after Jesus, we see that right from the start, Jesus had a definite message to communicate and he intended from the beginning to use men to spread that message.

Application

The message has not changed.

The kingdom of God is open to receive new citizens.

The means of entrance is still repentance and belief.

The method of getting the gospel out basically hasn’t changed either.

God is stilling using humans to do his work on earth.

He is looking to use people that are hard-working, teachable, and willing.

I just wonder how many times Jesus walks by our boat, so-to-speak, and we ignore his call.

I wonder how many would-be citizens of heaven we interact with on a daily basis and yet we don’t share the good news with them.