Mark 1:14-20

This passage occurs in the RCL, Year B, during the Epiphany Season (most recently Jan 2024)
 
Summary:
I am struck this time by the word repent.  What does this word really mean?  As Lutherans we often combine this word with forgiveness and dream of our Lenten sacrifices.  Yet the word in Greek literally means "new way of thinking."  While I would not want to make repentance into simply a "head" thing, I am wondering what about my worldview, my thinking, is different because I am a Christian?  Am I more hopeful?  What about my own perspective needs repenting?  What makes me hold onto the nets instead of jumping into the water?

Key words:
ευθυς  ("immediately"; 1.18,20)  The word "immediately" is used 11 times first chapter alone!  You can actually mark the tempo of Mark's Gospel by this word alone, used 40 times throughout the whole book!  It drops off quite noticeably after chapter 6, is almost non-existent in chapters 10-13 and then drops back in for the passion narrative!  As one of my profs put it:  the first eight chapters cover three years; the last eight three months, with chapter 14, 15 and 16 covering the last week!

κηρυσσω ("proclaim"; 1:14)  Mark loves this word, using it more than any other author.  This makes sense -- for Mark the disciples are a bunch of sinners who don't do much right, so at least they should proclaim what Christ has done!  This also builds off of the perfect tenses used with the verbs "arrived" and "fulfilled."  We are simply announcing what God has done.

ευαγγελιον ("good news"; 1:14)  This word is rather difficult to interpret (always, right!) in the Gospel of Mark.  It is never really defined, but Jesus refers to its importance in connection with death (8:35) and salvation (16:15).  The Gospel opens by declaring that the whole book is about the Gospel, but it is worth us considering, especially as we head into a year of preaching from Mark's Gospel, what we consider to be our own and Mark's understanding of the Gospel.  I wrote above that in Mark's Gospels, the disciples don't do a lot right.  But yet in our story this week they drop everything they have to follow Jesus.  God's Word, however hard human hearts may be, still achieves its purpose.

μετανοεω ("repent"; 1:14)  This word sort of drops out of Mark, almost suggesting that it drops out of Jesus' own ministry as he discovers the limitations of the disciples.  Another way to think about this is to consider the Greek meaning of the word, which literally means "new mind."  Stories later in the Gospel -- Bartimaeus or the woman anointing Jesus -- show someone whose life is transformed by Jesus.  So it may not be explicit, but the repentance continues.  In Lidell-Scott's ancient (and secular) Greek lexicon, repent means to change one's mind or purpose.  We often put repentance together with sin, a fine thing, but perhaps we need to consider that repentance means often more than simply a struggle against temptation, but a paradigm shift, a transformation of our whole outlook, if not way of life and even being.  Jesus is one whose power and even charisma compel us to switch our worldview, our words and finally our actions.

I read a very fascinating book three years ago -- and I need to find the title!! -- but it was a contemporary author comparing ancient Greek notions of repentance, Judeo-Christian notions of repentance and modern notions.

The basic point was that in ancient Greece, repentance had mainly to do with saving face - recanting what one had said (external change against an external standard).  In Judeo-Christian tradition, repentance had to do with the struggle against in and the flesh (internal against an external standard).  In modern terms, repentance has more to do with being true to yourself and then expressing this (external  change against an internal standard).  I felt like the book was good, but could have been better because it got at such an important set of questions.  Are we actually willing to conform our lives anymore to any external standards or do we simply need external approval for our internal convictions?

παραδιδημι ("betray"; 1:14)  This verb will come back into Mark's Gospel when Jesus is betrayed by Judas.  We say this word each week in our communion liturgy.  This verb serves a double purpose:  It lets us know why Jesus got into ministry in the FIRST place...and the FINAL place, the real FIRST place anyway.

2020-2021 Reflection:

καταρτιζοντας (καταρτιζω, meaning "restore", 1:19)  I love this word!  It means to 'restore' in a specific sense -- like restoring nets, but also in a broader sense -- like restoring a community. 

• to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12)
• My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. (Galatians 6:1)
• Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.  (1 Corinthians 1:10)
• Then we spoke to those elders and asked them, 'Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?'   (Ezra 5:9)
• Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.  (2 Corinthians 13:11)

I think much of our efforts in ministry is the word of restoring the nets -- mending the broken lives, the broken community, the broken church.  Yet we can't lose right that in our efforts to be build the kingdom, we lose the KING!  We can't lose sight of Christ in our effort to make Christians.

How Grammar changed the world: 

Luther's Thesis # 1:  When our Lord and master Jesus Christ commanded us to repent, he willed that the whole life should be one of repentance.

Luther read the Bible in Greek and therefore discovered that Jesus' command to repent is in the present tense, suggesting an on-going nature to his command.  We are to continually repent is what Jesus said and what Luther captured in his 95 thesis.  The Latin translation did not capture this on-going nature to Jesus command and had been transformed into "do penance."  Who says Greek exegesis cannot change the world?