JESUS PREACHES
REPENTANCE
14Now after John
was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and
saying,
“THE TIME IS
FULFILLED, AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND; REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE
GOSPEL.”
16Passing
alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
17And Jesus said
to them,
“FOLLOW ME, AND
I WILL MAKE YOU BECOME FISHERS OF MEN.”
18And
immediately they left their nets and followed him.
19And going on a
little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were
in their boat mending the nets.
20And
immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with
the hired servants and followed him.
MARK
1:14-20
COMMENTARY
This narrative
starts from when Lord Jesus returned to Judea after the temptations in the
desert (Mt 4:12; Mk 1:14; Jn 3:22, 24). After preaching there and meeting
Andrew and another of John’s disciples (Jn 1:35, 40), and after John the
Baptist was arrested, He returned to Galilee from Judea, and preached ‘Repentance
and Faith in God’, through Himself.
Some people
claim today only faith for salvation and forgiveness of sins, but as we see in
the example of the Lord, He did not stop only in demanding faith in Himself to
be forgiven, Jesus ask for repentance, that is, the firm decision to renounce
to a life of sin, and submit to God’s sovereignty, through Himself as the
Messiah, the Lamb of God.
REPENTANCE is
crucial for salvation.
If we consider the
reason for the atonement, we come into the undeniable conclusion that ‘WHITOUT
HOLINESS NOBODY WILL SEE GOD” (Hebrews 12:14).
JESUS incarnated
and died for us, to gain that perfect holiness that it was impossible for us to
attain by ourselves. And why did He have to do that?
Because God the
Father could not save us in a sinful state, contrary to his Divine Nature of
perfection.
God’s intention
for us, and our requirement for attaining salvation, has always been, is and
will be HOLINESS.
Not because God
thus He just desires, but because in his natural perfection, God cannot allow
in his bosom, sinfulness, imperfection, or incompleteness.
We need to be
perfect, and to make us perfect, Jesus died on our behalf, to forgive and
justify us, and gave us the Holy Spirit to make this imputed holiness a
physical reality.
Lord Jesus
preached Faith in God, through Himself (Jn 3:36), but He also preached
Repentance, so that anyone who decided to be saved, would turn away from his own
sinfulness, and submit to God’s righteousness as an initial step to be
justified. Without repentance, conviction of sin, our Faith is fruitless, and
we cannot be forgiven or justified. And this is the same message the Apostles
preached from day one:
"Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 2:38
The account also
tells us in a resumed manner, the calling of Andrew, Peter, James, and John.
The accounts
tells that they immediately left their families and their jobs to follow the
Lord.
They knew Jesus from before, and when they did this, they already had prepared everything before they left to follow Jesus
(Jn 1:40-42; Lk 4:38; 5:3-5).
But what is
important to notice is that they did. They accepted the call, and everything it
may come from it.
None of the
apostles put before their call to serve God, their property, or family, or
personal priorities. They accepted their call, regardless of what it may happen
to them, because when they did, they knew they were given the honor to follow
the Messiah, the Son of God.
Omar Flores.
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