Mark 1:9-28
Mark 1:9
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”
Now Jesus appears. We already know Him as the Christ, the Son of God. Yet He comes humbly to be baptized.
Why?
To inaugurate His ministry (as Levites were cleansed, Num. 8).
To be anointed by the Spirit as Israel’s kings were.
To be affirmed by the Father, as prophets were.
To cleanse the waters for our baptisms.
The Flood Prayer in the Lutheran baptismal rite recalls Noah, the Red Sea, Israel’s crossing, and Christ sanctifying all waters in His baptism.
Mark 1:10–11
“And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”
Here the Trinity is revealed: Father, Son, and Spirit.
The Father’s words echo Psalm 2. Many grow up never hearing such words from their fathers—yet God speaks them to His Son, and in baptism, to us.
Through baptism, what is true of Jesus becomes true for us: we are God’s beloved.
N. T. Wright:
“If we start the journey imagining that our God is a bully, an angry threatening parent ready to yell at us, slam the door on us, or kick us out into the street because we haven’t quite made the grade, we will fail at the first whisper of temptation. But if we remember the voice that spoke those powerful words of love we will find the way through.”
Hippolytus:
“So it happened not only that the Lord was being baptized—he also was making new the old creation. He was bringing the alienated under the scepter of adoption. For straightway ‘the heavens were opened to him.’ A reconciliation took place between the visible and the invisible.”
Origen:
“In the Jordan the Trinity was manifested to humanity. The Father bore witness, the Son received witness, and the Holy Spirit gave confirmation.”
Mark 1:12–13
“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.”
The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness, just as the prophets of old went out—and just as persecuted Christians were scattered.
The forty days recall Israel’s forty years, and they set the pattern for the forty days of Lent.
Jesus was tempted by Satan, fully man yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). Could He have sinned? No. Temptation came from outside, not from within.
The wild beasts reminded Christians of their persecution in the arena, but also pointed to the peace of the new creation.
Gregory the Great:
“Temptation is brought to fulfillment by three stages: suggestion, delight, consent. And we in temptation generally fall through delight, and then through consent; for being begotten of the sin of the flesh we bear within us that through which we suffer conflict. But God, incarnate in the womb of a virgin, came into the world without sin, and so suffers no conflict within himself. He could therefore be tempted by suggestion, but the delight of sin could never touch his mind. So all these temptations of the devil were from without, not from within Him.” (On the Gospel of the Sunday Sermon 16)
Mark 1:14–15
“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”
John is arrested, like the early Christians would be. His role is complete.
Now it is Jesus’ turn to preach—only after His testing.
Oratio — Meditatio — Tentatio.
The gospel is the Good News.
Alan Cole:
“One of the things that Mark is anxious to explain is that this coming of God’s kingdom was a silent one, unnoticed by most people, for the world was not changed dramatically overnight. This fact, and also the way that God chose to introduce his kingdom by the suffering of his Messiah, are two things that Mark wants to show us through his gospel. This is the ‘mystery of the kingdom’ which we cannot see until God reveals it to us. This too is the reason why Jesus could not declare his Messiahship openly—until they realized that the Messiah had to suffer, the people would expect him to act like a king of this world.”
The Good News is this: the kingdom of God is near. The call is clear: repent and believe.
Mark 1:16
“Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.”
Now the action begins! After His baptism and temptation, Jesus—empowered by the Spirit—begins His mission. His first task is to call those who will become His apostles.
The word apostles means “sent ones.” Simon and Andrew were brothers working in the family business, which provided them with stability, security, and comfort. Jesus asks them to leave it all behind.
Would you leave everything for a man you just met?
Jesus chose simple fishermen, not learned men, to become His messengers. This reflects Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:20–21:
“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.”
The call of Jesus is more important than family traditions.
Mark 1:17
“And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’”
By this point, Andrew, Simon, James, and John were already acquainted with Jesus (John 1). They had been pointed to Him by John the Baptist. Yet, they had not yet confessed Him as Lord and Savior.
For Jesus to be Lord of our lives, we must be willing to “immediately leave our nets and follow Him.” This is the same call echoed throughout the gospels.
N. T. Wright comments:
“Only when you think a bit about the sort of life Peter, Andrew, James and John had had, and the totally unknown future Jesus was inviting them into, do you understand just how earth-shattering this little story was and is. Leave everything you’ve known, all your security, your family (and family solidarity was hugely important in that culture), and follow Jesus. Some people, maybe some people reading this, face that call today.”
Jesus works incarnationally—in the flesh. He comes to dwell with us (Immanuel), brings us into His body by partaking of His body and blood, and sends preachers we can see and hear. God desires to partner with us in restoring creation.
God graciously wants to “catch” and save those who have gone astray in sin. He chooses apostles to accomplish this mission (1:15). Later, He appoints the Twelve (3:13–19), sends them out with authority (6:7–13), and ultimately commissions them for worldwide mission (16:15; cf. Matt 28:18–20). This fulfills God’s promise to Abraham that his offspring would be a blessing to all families of the earth (Gen. 12:3; 22:18).
Mark 1:18
“And immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
Tertullian writes:
“Do you hesitate about your business and professions for the sake of your children and parents? It has been demonstrated to us in Scripture that any too dear relations, crafts and trades are to be quite left behind for the Lord’s sake. For James and John, called by the Lord, immediately leave quite behind both father and ship. Matthew is roused from the toll booth. Even burying a father was too tardy a business for faith! None of those whom the Lord chose to him said, ‘I have no means to live.’” (On Idolatry 12)
Mark 1:19–20
“And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.”
“Wash, rinse, and repeat.” Again, Jesus calls; again, the disciples leave everything.
Zebedee’s family business was profitable enough to employ hired servants. John 12:15 shows that this family even had connections with the high priest. Yet, his sons left behind a safe and successful vocation to follow a rabbi from Nazareth.
Jerome explains:
“There must have been something divinely compelling in the face of the Savior. Otherwise they would not have acted so irrationally as to follow a man whom they had never seen before. Does one leave a father to follow a man in whom he sees nothing more than he sees in his father? They left their father of the flesh to follow the Father of the spirit. They did not leave a father; they found a Father. What is the point of this digression? To show that there was something divine in the Savior’s very countenance that men, seeing, could not resist.” (Homily 83)
Why fishermen?
Logos Notes: Fishermen lived on the fringes of Jewish religious life. Their work made it hard to observe purity laws. By calling them, Jesus showed that His message was for all—not just the religious elite. Their trade also trained them to endure hardship, face danger, and persist through disappointment. Their lack of formal education let Christ’s power, not human wisdom, shine. Having already followed John the Baptist, they were spiritually receptive. Jesus chose them not for ability but for willingness. His choice shows the inclusive and transformative nature of His ministry.
Mark 1:21–22
“And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”
Capernaum was on the northwestern coast of the Sea of Galilee, west of the Jordan River. Archaeological research has uncovered the synagogue mentioned here, as well as what may have been Peter’s house—later transformed into a house church and, by the 4th–5th centuries, a Byzantine octagonal church.
Jesus’ teaching stood out. Unlike the scribes, He taught with authority—His own authority. This models the pastoral office today: pastors speak in the Name of Jesus.
The Greek word ekplēssō means to be astonished, amazed, or struck dumb.
Lenski observes:
“Note the psychology—as long as Jesus spoke, every eye and every ear were fixed on him in rapt attention, dreading to miss a single word. But when the voice that held them spellbound became silent, the tension was relaxed, and amazement swept over the hearers. What produced this effect was the διδαχή (teaching) of Jesus.”
Mark 1:23–24
“And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.’”
An interruption: a man possessed by an unclean spirit.
This shows Jesus’ ministry in both Word (teaching) and Deed (healing). What seems like a disruption becomes an opportunity to display authority and mercy.
Interestingly, the second being in Mark’s Gospel to recognize Jesus is not a disciple, but a demon. People often fail to see Christ clearly, but demons know exactly who He is.
Yet this knowledge does not save them. Faith without love is dead.
Augustine comments:
“Call to mind with me the time when Peter was praised and called blessed. Was it because he merely said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’? No, he who pronounced him blessed regarded not merely the sound of his words, but the affections of his heart. Compare that with the words of the demons who said almost the same thing: ‘We know who you are, the Son of God,’ just as Peter had confessed him as ‘Son of God.’ So what is the difference? Peter spoke in love, but the demons in fear.… So tell us how faith is to be defined, if even the devils can believe and tremble? Only the faith that works by love is faith.” (Sermons on New Testament Lessons 40.8)
Mark 1:25–28
“But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”
The presence of Jesus is torment to demons. His word is enough: “Be silent, and come out of him!”
These same words silence the voices that torment us.
N. T. Wright comments:
“Sometimes people for whom life had become a total nightmare—whose personalities seemed taken over by alien powers—confronted Jesus; indeed, they seem to have had a kind of inside track on recognizing him, knowing who he was and what he’d come to do. He’d come to stop the nightmare, to rescue people, both nations and individuals, from the destructive forces that enslaved them. So whether it was shrieking demons, a woman with a fever, or simply whatever diseases people happened to suffer from, Jesus dealt with them, all with the same gentle but deeply effective authority.”
The witnesses cannot keep quiet: His fame spreads everywhere.
Sources:
Tertullian — On Idolatry 12
Jerome — Homily 83
Augustine — Sermons on New Testament Lessons 40.8
Origen — On Prayer 13.1
John Chrysostom — (referenced indirectly in earlier section, not here)
R. C. H. Lenski — The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel
N. T. Wright — Mark for Everyone
Logos Notes — on fishermen, ritual purity, and discipleship background