Third Sunday In Ordinary Time
MARK 1:14-20 (Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31)
This Sunday’s gospel reading has two parts: The first cites the end of the Baptizer’s ministry and Jesus’ first public activity after the temptations in the wilderness. The second part takes up the choosing of Jesus’ first four disciples. In the first part we are informed that John has been arrest-ed. A better translation would be “handed over” or “betrayed.” If we understand Matthew 3:7-11as accurate history, then there was extreme animosity against the Baptizer on the part of some of the religious leaders in Jerusalem. We know of the same animosity between Jesus and some of those leaders. Jesus was handed over or betrayed into the power of the Roman occupying forces, while John was handed over or betrayed into the power of one of their puppet rulers, Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and other parts. Thus the martyrdom of the Baptizer stands as a pattern for the martyrdom of Jesus.
Next come the first words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark: “The time is fulfilled (near, at hand). The kingdom of God is at hand.” This statement, among other statements attributed to Jesus by Mark, indicates Mark’s conviction that the final return of Jesus was near. No return happened.
Luke and Matthew both set out to correct Mark’s proclamation of an impending end. Thus we read in Luke 21:9, “If anyone says the time is at hand, do not follow them!” “ Luke then speaks of wars and insurrections, and adds, “…but the end will not follow immediately.” What is this “kingdom of God?” In this case, Mark seems to mean the end of time and final judgment, or at least some kind of decisive intervention by God in favor of his oppressed people. “Kingdom of God,” or Matthew’s frequently used alternative expression, “kingdom of heaven,” has various meanings in the gospels. Examples: the presence of Jesus in his ministry; the Church; the presence of God within his people.”
The rest of Jesus’ first proclamation: “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” The Greek word used to express repentance means “to change one’s mind or purpose or direction, attitude, way of life.” When Mark composed his gospel in the last third of the first century, “gospel” did not yet have the technical meaning of a written proclamation about Jesus or a book of instruction about Jesus. The term would have meant the message proclaimed about Jesus, as for example St. Paul used the word “gospel” in Romans 15:19, “I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.” This was some years before there was a literary work which later took on the name “gospel.” How-ever, the fact that Mark 1:1 writes, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ…,” would surely be an influence that his literary work and the work of Matthew, Luke, and John were later called The Four Gospels. The basic meaning of Mark’s term “gospel” is “Good News.” Mark was surely aware that Paul was already referring to his oral and written proclamation as “good news,” or in Greek euangellion. Old Testament background: “…the Lord has anointed me to announce good news (euangelion) to the afflicted, etc.” See Isaiah 61:1, 40:9; 41:27; 52:7.
Jesus next chooses his first disciples. In last Sunday’s liturgy the gospel reading was taken from the Gospel of John. The reading described how the Baptizer implicitly encouraged his own disci-ples to follow Jesus. Two did so immediately. One of them, Andrew, immediately went to work and brought Simon his brother to Jesus. The Gospel of John implies that this episode took place somewhere along the Jordan River where John was baptizing. Mark’s setting is the Sea of Galilee, a very different approach. It emphasizes the secular occupation of Jesus’ first disciples as preparation for a greater work. They were fishermen whom Jesus calls while they were actively engaged in fishing as an occupation on the Sea of Galilee. This an example of grace building on nature, as Jesus says to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
The first two called in Mark are siblings, Simon and Andrew. Their father’s name was John or Jona. In those times men were known by their father’s name, thus Simon bar (son of) Jona, or Andrew bar Jona in Aramaic, the everyday language of Palestinian Jews in Jesus’ time. Today they would be known as Andrew and Simon Johnson, and their fishing company: Johnson Bros, Ltd. In the Gospel of John, Jesus gave Simon the title Petros (Rock) when they met for the first time. Matthew’s version depicts Jesus bestowing this title on Simon with a solemn formula. “You are the Rock, and upon this Rock I will build my Church.” All the gospels and Paul indicate how much shaping the Rock needed before he was ready to be the foundation Rock.
Jesus moves on and finds another pair of brothers, James and John, sons of Zebedee. These two young men or boys were at work in their father’s fishing business. Being the junior members of the crew, they were put to work mending nets. Of both pairs of brothers Mark notes that they “immediately” left all to follow Jesus. Almost humorously Mark notes that James and John “left their father Zebedee in the boat with his hired servants.” Trekking after Jesus would have been far more attractive to them than mending torn fishing nets. Whether Simon and Andrew could leave as suddenly and completely as Mark implies is questionable. They were family men with an established and thriving business. Mark is writing catechesis. The instant response of the disciples instructs prospective converts to make that leap when Jesus calls.
