Page 73 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

prologue to Jesus’ public ministry. The Apostle reports that “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming

the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;

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repent, and believe in the good news.’” (Mark 1:14-15).
Mark’s summary of Jesus’ preaching in Galilee contains two parts. The first pair of

statements is declarative utilizing the perfect indicative. The second pair, utilizing present

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imperatives, provides admonitions that emerge out of the previous declaratives. Mark’s portrait

of Jesus in this passage is that of a formative preacher. Adams puts it this way: “Jesus

summarizes the Old Testament as his ‘text’ (the ‘time’, the ‘kingdom’), and applies it to his

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hearers, exhorting them to respond (‘repent’, and believe’).” The rest of the Mark’s Gospel is

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“synonymous with Jesus’ preaching as expressed in 1:14-15.”

Mark introduces Jesus’ own statement of the centrality of preaching in his ministry when he

writes, “He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the

message there also; for this is what I came out to do’” (Mk. 1:38).

Moreover, Mark is careful to record that Jesus preached formal sermons not only in the

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synagogues, but also in the temple. Jesus also seems to have preached wherever and whenever

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For a helpful example of a study and sermon on this passage, see James L. Mays, “Jesus
Came Preaching: A Study and Sermon on Mark 1:14-15,” Interpretation 26 (January 1972): 30-
41.

5 Robert A. Guelich, Mark, 2 vols., Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word Books,

1989-2001), I: 41.

6 Peter Adams, Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Expository Preaching
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 45.

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Guelich, Mark, 41-42.
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Mark 1:21; 1:39; 3:1-6; and 6:2.