I am Mark. John Mark, if you will. Associate of Peter. Resident of Jerusalem and then Rome. Author of this gospel…this account of the good news of Jesus Nazarene who was also Jesus the Christ. At least that’s what they say about me, though the record is pretty scanty and my name is not even mentioned in the book. But I’m there.
The scene I remember is in a dark garden on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. I had rushed out to the hillside when Jeremiah, my friend, had given me a hint that something was up. Something was going to happen. I didn’t even really have time to get properly dressed. I just threw on an outer garment and ran after him.
By the time we got there a mob had formed. There were people with clubs and sticks. Men with swords. This was really it. We’d been expecting it all week. We knew that the religious leaders had it in for Jesus. We knew that Jesus had been upsetting them with his teachings and by drawing such huge crowds. He had come into the city like a king, for heaven’s sake! So they were going to make a move, and they obviously had.
Judas went up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Betrayed with a kiss. What a way to go. The mob moved in to seize him. Somebody – one of his disciples – pulled out a sword and struck out at them. All it succeeded in doing was clipping the ear off of a poor slave. It was a pitiful act.
Jesus was confrontational as ever. He looked at them as if he was the one in control of the situation. “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me in the night like some bandit? I’ve been in the Temple day after day teaching and you couldn’t arrest me there? You think you’re in control, but the scriptures foretold it all. So because they say it, let it be.”
Then it was like a wave went through the crowd. The mob moved in on him. The disciples ran. Onlookers panicked. It was like an explosion had gone off and everyone was fleeing the scene. Even me. I just ran and as I did somebody tried to grab me. I felt this tugging on my cloak and I knew if I stopped to try to get loose, they would catch me. So I slipped out of my clothes and ran away naked in the night.
I got home and bolted the door behind me. Who was this Jesus that I had followed until I lost even the shirt off my back? Who was this man who was turning the world upside down? What was God up to?
It all came together for me on that dark and mysterious night when Jesus was arrested. So when I wrote down the story I knew that I wanted to tell it that way. Because there is nothing easy about this man. There is nothing settled or comfortable. He was always an outsider…always on the move…always pushing at you, threatening to change everything about you. And if you were lost or blind or lame that was great. But if you were at ease and confirmed in your beliefs and your habits and your comfort…he was the biggest threat you can imagine.
Matthew and Luke start their gospels with a birth. Not me. I wanted to capture what it was like when he appeared on the public stage – like a stranger dropped down from heaven. No one knew who he was. Oh, John the Baptist seemed to know. He talked about the one coming after him who was going to be greater than he was. But when Jesus came up from the water at his baptism, Jesus was the one who saw the skies split and the Spirit of God descend like a dove. Jesus was the one who heard the voice saying, “You are my beloved Son. I am pleased to have chosen you.” Who he was was going to be secret that was only gradually revealed.
He started in the desert, where wild prophets tend to go. But he was more than a wild prophet. The first person he tangled with was Satan, the king of the demons. And while he was in the desert angels attended him.
Then he came out of the desert and claimed his territory. “It is time,” he said. “The kingdom, the reign of God has come near. Repent. Turn around. Believe the good news.”
It was like he was throwing open the door and saying, “This is my house. This is my space. Stop hiding from the truth. Believe it.”
And immediately…you realize how many times I used that phrase? It was because he was always on the move. One thing always led to the next. He never stopped. He walked out of the desert and staked his claim and then he started calling people out. “Simon. Andrew. Drop those nets and come fish for people. James. John. Follow me.” And they did it! Never stop to think. It was like they had been waiting for that call their whole lives and when it came they just moved like it was the most natural thing in the world.
He kept walking. And he came to a lakeside village. Capernaum. He went into the synagogue there and came face to face with a man who was possessed. I know you’re not into demons much these days, but in my day, we knew them when we saw them. This man spoke with the voice of several demons. “Jesus Nazarene,” he said. “What do you have to do with us? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
“I know who you are.” Nobody else knows, but the demons know! They know what the score is. They know that if God is in control, they will not be. They know that Jesus is a threat even if nobody else does. They know that the worst mistake humans can make is to assume that nothing is at stake, that there are no conflicts worth having, that there are no powers that resist God. Peter didn’t make his declaration until much later. But from the first, the demons could name Jesus for who he really was.
Jesus, however, knew that they were unreliable witnesses. He knew that the demons would try to twist his message. To twist him. They would seduce him with the belief that he could use his power. That he would not have to suffer. That he would not have to die. So Jesus tells them, “Shut up! And come out of that man.”
The man fell to the floor in a convulsion. He writhed around. Screamed out. Then lay still. There was a hushed silence in the synagogue. Something new was happening among them. Some new kind of conflict was going on. God had come to wrestle the demons and to win. They began to murmur amongst themselves. “Who is this man? How does he teach with such authority?”
Now Jesus was in the thick of it. He started to draw crowds who came for healing and to be relieved of demons. They packed the places where he stayed. They followed him wherever he went. And whenever he called the demons forth he would tell them the same thing. “Shut up. Don’t speak. Be silent.” Because they knew who he was. They wanted to paint the picture of who he was, but Jesus knew that for the world to understand who he was, he would have to go the whole journey.
So he kept walking. And the crowds followed. He healed a leper and now he told him that he could not speak. But he didn’t obey. The word spread even more quickly. He began to go back to the desert just to get away.
Once when he was in a house in Capernaum, so many people crammed inside that no one could get in. Four guys carried one of their friends, who was paralyzed, to the roof. They dug down through the roof and lowered the man in. Jesus was so impressed with their faith that he healed the man, much to the consternation of the religious leaders who were present. But Jesus knew what they were thinking. And he confronted them. The conflicts were beginning and they would only grow until they culminated in that night in a darkened garden outside Jerusalem.
Jesus knows there is a world of trouble here. Jesus was under no illusions when he walked into that desert to face down Satan and he had no fear when he walked back out to claim his kingdom. Demons would be forced out. Healing would come. And people would misunderstand.
But he would not turn back. He would not be deterred. He was going on a journey. And he invited us to come along. But he would not stop. If disciples would drop their nets and come on, they could be part of this kingdom. If they kept doing what they’d always done, they would never know. He was going on a journey to the cross and he would not be hindered.
So what about you? Are you ready to be provoked, disturbed, discombobulated? Are you ready to leave behind your nets, your distractions, your comfort, your possessions, your life as you know it, to follow this Jesus? Are you ready to be changed and transformed? Are you ready to tell the good news?
He was going on a journey. His eyes were fixed on some place in the distance. He was not afraid to claim his kingdom. He was not afraid to confront evil. He was not afraid to call us out.
So what are you afraid of? And what are you going to do when he calls?
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