As we work our way through the Gospel of Mark there are a couple of warnings I would like to give. One is, don’t get caught up in “moralizing.” Reading the stories of Jesus is nothing like reading, say, Aesop’s Fables. It is easy to do this, to read a story, and then ask, “what is the moral of this story?” Scripture is profitable for “instruction in righteousness.” But that is not the same as moralizing. Jesus does not simply tell us about righteousness; He IS our righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).
Another warning: make sure you have your eyes on Jesus with a goal of following His example. We learn righteousness, not only through the teaching of Scripture, but even more, through observing the One who has run the race before us (Heb. 12:1-2). This is what it means to be His disciple. The disciple gives himself to the teaching and life of the Master. Again, don’t confuse this with moralizing, merely finding some good point or duty to add to our list of responsibilities. Discipleship is beholding the Master as in a mirror so as to be transformed into the same image, His image (2 Cor. 3:18).
I mention these things because I want to note three fundamentals that undergird the ministry of Jesus. First is prayer. We don’t hear about all the times Jesus prayed, but we hear enough to know that He prayed often. Note that He rose up early, before daybreak, to pray. This gave Him more time, alone time with His Father, and free time, free of distraction. It reveals a seriousness He had about prayer. I know guys that are serious hunters. They will start their day at 4 or 5AM so they can be walking the ridge at sunrise. Jesus was serious about prayer, unlike Peter who considered it more important that Jesus heed the call of the crowds. But Jesus knew His ministry depended upon the call of His God and Father!
A second fundamental was obedience. Jesus was called to minister to the people of Israel (Rom. 15:8-12). To Peter it didn’t make sense to move on to other villages if there were crowds already gathering at Capernaum. But Jesus’ goal in ministry was not to “pack the house.” It was to follow the Father’s plan, and this means moving on to other villages.
A third fundamental was preaching (to announce, do the work of a herald). Like John (Mk. 1:4), Jesus preached a message that was a call to repentance (1:7). It was the good news of the kingdom (1:14). You probably saw that Mark emphasized that Jesus cast out demons (1:39). That part of Jesus ministry was connected to His preaching. As He declared His kingdom He was warring against the kingdom of the “god of this age.” The Master set the tone for us. Preaching the gospel is central to our ministry. His goal for His ministry and for ours is that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations (Lk. 24:47). Don’t miss these fundamentals as you focus on Christ. His ministry is our ministry.
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