Compelling
Mark 1:14-20[1]
There are some people we encounter who are unique. They
have a quality about them that draws us to them. It may be their ability to
make us feel at ease. Or it may be the fact that they seem to be able to make
friends with anyone. Or it may be their gift of making conversation with just
about anyone on just about any topic. I could go on and on. We’re drawn to
people like this for reasons as varied as their individual personalities. There
was a time when we called this quality “charisma.” That’s a good word for it,
but it doesn’t make it any easier to define. Suffice it to say that these
people tend to be the ones toward whom we are naturally drawn, and they wind up
being the center of attention, or the “life of the party,” wherever they go.
They also tend to be the ones who wind up in leadership positions simply
because they have a gift for it, whether they’re aware of it or not.
As we’re looking at the witness of Mark’s Gospel to Jesus
as the “Son of God,” I think there was a compelling quality about him that drew
others. He had this same quality that we find so hard to put into words today.
In Mark’s Gospel, it’s called “authority.” I don’t think that was referring to
any formal authority, but rather the fact that his
words, his actions, his very person had the power to influence the people
around him. In fact, the word in the original Greek text can also be translated
“power.” Again, I don’t believe that was referring to any kind of force that
Jesus wielded like a club. Rather, his words, his actions, his very person had the
power to influence the people around him. People were drawn to him. They
responded to him. Although he rarely sought the center of attention, he often
wound up there, at times surrounded by a crowd of thousands. They came to him
because he had a compelling quality that drew them to him.
I think we see this reflected in our Gospel lesson for
today. It’s the story of Jesus meeting four fishermen and inviting them to
follow him. We know the outcome because we’ve heard it before so many times:
they left their boats and their nets and their families and they followed
Jesus. But if we think about this episode as if we were hearing it for the
first time, I would say it’s reasonable to ask why they made such a radical
change in their lives just because he asked them to. The Revised Common Lectionary
organizes our Gospel readings this year in a way that’s intended to make us
think this wasn’t their first encounter with Jesus. Last week we heard about
John the Baptist pointing out Jesus to Andrew and Simon Peter in John’s Gospel.
But Mark’s Gospel doesn’t tell us that story. In Mark’s Gospel, they
“immediately” leave everything behind to follow him, and we’re left to simply
wonder why they would do that.
They aren’t the only ones who responded to Jesus in that
way. To be sure, not everyone who met Jesus was drawn to him. There were many
who saw him as a threat and a danger. But there were many others who were drawn
to Jesus just as the four fisherman in our lesson for today. Mark tells us that
on one evening in Capernaum the people brought all who were suffering to him so
that “the whole city” was gathered (Mk. 1:33)! Historians estimate the
population of Capernaum at that time to have been around 1500 people. Mark also
tells about a time when he was teaching beside the sea of Galilee, and such a
large crowd had gathered that Jesus had to get in a boat and push out from
shore to be able to address them all. At one point, when Jesus and his
disciples were trying to get some time away from the crowds, Mark tells us that
over 5000 people met him when he came ashore, and after teaching them he fed
the whole group with five loaves and two fish.
Again, I think it’s a fair question to ask what drew all
these people to Jesus. One part of the answer is that his “fame” was spreading
throughout Galilee (Mk 1:28). But I don’t think that was all there was to it.
People don’t stay in a deserted place without food and shelter just because
they’ve heard about someone famous and they want to get a glimpse for
themselves. His “fame” may have brought them to Jesus, but there was something
more that kept them there. Especially in a deserted place where there wasn’t
enough food for them all! If it had been nothing more than curiosity, they
wouldn’t have stayed too long to get back to food and lodging. Certainly not
families with children! His message about God’s love for them and God’s promise
to set things right was something many of them longed to hear. Again, I would
say that it was Jesus’ words, his deeds, and more than that his very person
that compelled them to stay.
In one sense, the whole New Testament was written to try to
define this compelling quality the first Christians encountered in Jesus. They
used terms like “Messiah,” “Son of God,” and “Savior” to try to express who Jesus
was. But there are many, many other ways they tried to define this “quality” he
had. One interesting episode is when Peter was preaching to Gentiles for the
first time in the book of Acts, in the household of the Roman Centurion
Cornelius. I think it’s interesting because up to that point, they were
speaking to Jewish crowds, and they used Jewish concepts. But when he tried to
explain who Jesus was to Gentiles for the first time, Peter said that Jesus was
the one whom God had “anointed” with “the Holy Spirit and power,” and that he
“went about doing good” and healing all who were suffering (Acts 10:38). And he
explained this not only by the power with which God had “anointed” Jesus. He
also explained it by insisting that “God was with him.”
I think that’s a pretty good way of explaining this
mysterious quality about Jesus that was so hard for people to define: when
people met Jesus they sensed that God was with him. But there’s another interesting
episode where the disciples described this quality of Jesus in a different way.
In Luke’s story about the disciples who met the risen Jesus as they were on the
road to Emmaus, after Jesus revealed himself to them—that is, after their “eyes
were opened” and they were able to recognize him—they said, “were not our
hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road?” (Lk 24:32).
I’ve always liked that way of describing the impact of Jesus. When we have eyes
to see the truth and ears to hear what Jesus is saying to us, our hearts burn
within us. St. Paul describes this experience as the Spirit of God in our
hearts crying out “Abba, Father!” (Gal 4:6; cf. Rom 8:15-16). In other words,
we recognize in our own hearts that we are encountering God when we encounter
Jesus.
I mention these last examples because there may be a
tendency among us today to think that we don’t have the same direct access to
this compelling quality of Jesus that the people of ancient times had. They had
their encounters with Jesus firsthand, like the fishermen in our lesson today;
we only have their stories, and the stories of those who have gone before us.
But that doesn’t mean that our faith in Jesus is only “secondhand.” Jesus’
words and the stories about his deeds still cause our hearts to “burn” within
us with the conviction that there’s something there that’s life-changing for us
as well. And we have the Spirit of God in our hearts no less than they did, so
that we too can recognize that when we encounter Jesus, we’re encountering God,
and our hearts cry out, “Abba, Father!” No less than the first disciples,
Jesus’ words, his actions, his very person still have the power to influence us
today. We only need the eyes to see and the ears to hear that Jesus is among us
still, calling us to follow him.
[1] ©
2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 1/21/2024 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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