What Was/Is Jesus Message?

So lets move on!  

While Jesus was praying the others, with a good night sleep, came looking for Jesus.  When they found him they did a bit of scolding:

36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you.”

Jesus answered them:  "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."  And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus is on a mission!  He has a purpose!  To bring “The message.” 

There is something much more important to do than to worry about what others think he should be doing.

So then!  What have we learned so far about Jesus purpose — message?  

Well,  first of all he  brings “good news.”  News they were to listen to.

He plays the testing game with Satan in the wilderness.  Making it clear to Satan that all his efforts will have no place of power with Jesus.  

The message here?  Resist evil’s temptation!

He leave Satan in the dust and make a pretty clear announcement:  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news.”

Then he picks a few fishermen to follow him; and begins to articulate his message in the synagogue; surrounded by the good Jewish people who were there to observe the Sabbath.  

We are not told what he taught them.  So allow me to tell you what I think he said:  He told them that with his/Jesus’ presence among them, he brings God’s very presence.  He told them again that they needed to repent and believe the word of God preached to them from the beginning.  “Now” he says!  “Now the time is fulfilled!”  Right now! 

God’s promised future has been fulfilled! Accomplished!  Now!

Now it is time for all of you to pay close attention.  Now is the time to turn from your avoidance of God’s Will and listen.  Really listen!

Now Think for a moment, about all of the lessons the Hebrew people heard as they moved from place to place in the wilderness.  There are many stories of how they tried to replace God’s presence with their own human idols.  

You know!  The golden calf type of behavior!

The message Jesus was to bring was that that game has ended.  Now is the time for a rule change!  God is now here, among you, to set the records straight.  Here and now to be with you!  To walk with you! To listen to you ear to ear!  To let you know that He is not a God of judgement and wrath.  God comes now, in me/Jesus, to start over!  To get you back to the original design created in the beginning.  To offer you good news!  Not bad news! Or threatening news!  For I am a God who loves you and want the best for you.  

Those are the kind of things, I think, Jesus might have said that evening in the synagogue!

Because, at the very beginning, of this first chapter of Mark, Jesus quotes a passage from Isaiah quoting God.  The full verse is from Isaiah 40:

3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Jesus was the one to prepare the, way of the Lord. 

That is the message that Jesus was to bring! 

The glory of the Lord is now revealed in him.