In my business we have what we call "launches." Someone will come up with a new idea or a new product and will have to decide how to announce this new product or service to the industry. A great deal of time and resources is dedicated to making sure the launch is successful. There are soft launches where the product or service is restricted to a few, then there are hard launches where the entire concept is rolled out with significant fanfare. Sometimes there is a combination or usage of both.
As I read and thought about this small opening in the story a couple of things struck me. "After John was put in prison..." An end to a prophesied ministry and he gets half a sentence? The other gospel versions go into a little more detail, but the author here simply uses the phrase to soft launch the ministry of Jesus. You don't need two voices, one is enough. But one sentence. It tells me again that the mission of God is more important to Him than the missionaries. We should never forget this.
And the message was the same and different. Repent and be ready for the true one, was the message from John. Repent, the time has come was the new message. And it is a message that is "good news" Repent and get ready or repent and be ready. This is a subtle shift in message. Could John have made that shift? I don't know, but I do know that Jesus brings a new urgency to the message.
Then the selection of the following. Why these guys. Since they were already back at work for their fathers it is possible they were as young as 15 or so, and possibly as old as 20. All were Sunday school drop-outs, none were going to make "rabbi" They had long since given up on that prospect. My guess is that they were young enough for most to be single, but old enough to be working in the family business. Mark in his usual style says they just dropped what they were doing and followed. The other gospels tell us this was at least the third interaction with Jesus. They had heard him and heard his message. Now what were they going to do?
I am always a little skeptical when people tell me they can convince an unbeliever in a meeting or a short conversation. It takes a little time to understand the enormity of the decision.
By the way, great hallway discussions on the sequence of baptism. Make disciples, baptize them, commission them. We tend to herd them into the baptistry, then hope they can pick up the disciple part by osmosis, and we have long defined mission as just showing up.
God, give us the ears to hear the true message. I pray that our repentance is sincere and sufficient. Amen
Don
What is the significance of John's imprisonment as a (the?) signal for Jesus to go public?
ReplyDeleteJohn's imprisonment at the hand of Herod is a very political event. Herod's political connections with Rome, his very political marriage to his first wife (daughter of king of neighboring pagan nation), his rejection of her in favor of an "incestuous" and religiously forbidden, lustful relationship with his second wife, etc. John's vocal challenge of this in conjunction with the close proximity of his ministry to the borders of Herod's father-in-law's national border (just east of the Jordan), and the mystery of John and his past in general (why does he act this way, what's his agenda, who has influenced him? Etc.)
When Jesus said, "Repent and believe the gospel", how would He have defined or explained the meaning of "the good news?"
How well-known was Jesus already at this time in this area as a rabbi? The question is an important one because it plus a couple of others below will give us insight into this question: why would these young men (most were probably 12 to 15 years old at the time, Peter was probably the oldest at 17 to 20+, and John the youngest at perhaps only 7 or 8) leave (literally walk away from) their fathers and the family and it's business simply because Jesus said, "Follow me"? Did their father's and families really offer no objection? Why?