Reflections on Mark's Gospel - Mark 1:14

A Summary of the Launch of Jesus' Public Ministry

There is an implied break in the timeline between the end of v.13 and the beginning of v.14. The preparation for ministry was completed with the conclusion of the 40 days in the wilderness. John's gospel records a Judean ministry that probably fits here. But Mark skips straight to when Jesus launches his public ministry, which is sparked by the arrest of John. Some scholars even suggest that Jesus had been ministering in Judea alongside John and that he left Judea in response to the threat from Herod.

I imagine that if I were living this story as a Jewish person in Galilee at this time, that I would probably understand Jesus as the successor of John the Baptist as leader of the movement, even as a greater leader than John was.

So, although we form sharp distinctions between John the Baptist and Jesus in our theological categories (because there are), thinking about it from a ministry perspective, the people who had joined John's movement were very well prepared now to hear Jesus.

In v.14-15 Mark provides a very brief summary of the circumstances and the content of Jesus' ministry. This is very helpful for us in understanding the main thrust of what he is recording and the main points to emphasise.

We can be clear that the public ministry of Jesus began in the Jewish settlement to the west of Galilee. It was quite a distance from the political centres of the region. It was a safe place to develop a movement without the immediate threat of Herod or the leaders in Jerusalem.
Jesus preached God's gospel. This term refers to a message that originated with God, not one that is necessarily about God. The content of the message is summarised in the next verse.
The term gospel was used in Mark 1:1 with the meaning "the message about Jesus". Here it is used with the meaning "the message of Jesus" (which Jesus claims is "the message of God"). These two distinct meanings are, in practice, quite inseperable implications for the word εὐαγγέλιον.

A point to reflect on is this: Jesus waited until John the Baptist was imprisoned before stepping up like this. Although we might think of the context of Jesus' ministry as being positive, or at least neutral, there were very real dangers presented and deadly opposition. Would you have wanted to step into John the Baptist's role?

Leadership in ministry is often like this. It is a difficult and, sometimes, dangerous role. Being a public figure places a person under greater vulnerability in three key areas of temptation: sex, money and power. Although you may not need to wear a bullet-proof vest while doing ministry (as one minister is one part of the world does), you will nevertheless have a target painted on you. Although Jesus' humility is always a model to follow, the key from this verse is to realise that Jesus preached "God's gospel" - he was simply seeking to do the will of his Father. And so should we.

Gundry's gospel harmony places this verse immediately following the episode in Samaria in John 4. Since that episode refers to disciples, which we may imagine from Mark's account to not have been called yet, we must reconcile an apparent conflict. Gundry's solution is to differentiate the "call" made in Joh_1:39 to "come and see" from the "call" in Mar_1:17 to "come and follow".