Into to theology

Intro to Theology

Introduction

The introduction of Mark 's gospel introduced Jesus as the Son of God ' being testified by John the Baptist as the ONE who is coming Mark 1 : 2 , 3 . John referring to Jesus pointed out After me will come one more powerful than I , the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and unite ' Chapter 1 : 7 , when Jesus came to him for baptism In verse 14 , and 15 Mark emphasized that Jesus ' Mission was to proclaim the good news of God and to

preach repentance and the coming kingdom of God . It was for this purpose that Jesus appointed twelve disciples trained them , delegated them , and expects them to do the task He assigned them to do

What Jesus Expect of those who call themselves or are called to be Disciples

Based on the pros of the disciples , most them if not all were fishermen which suggest that they were less educated or probably uneducated individuals . They were mostly men with family except probably of apostle John who was then relatively young . In Jesus ' selection of the first two disciples (Peter and Andrew , He manifested his purpose outright . In Mark 1 :17 calling Simon and Andrew , Jesus said , Come follow me , and I will make you fishers of men ' In this statement Jesus laid down two expectations of these men , one , he expects them to follow him . Second , he expects them to believe his intention . In these two expectations the whole principles of Christian faith and obedience to God 's words are being laid down beginning from the apostles down to the present generation of Christianity

Why Jesus does expect these men to follow him ? This question arouses interest because it was only the first time that he met those men . Jesus was a carpenter by profession and it was only the beginning of his mission . The Bible noted that they left their father and followed Jesus since then .The next batch of disciples , which were James and John , the sons of Zebedee , were also expected by Jesus to follow him . According to David Noel Freedman (2000 ) Jesus accepted John the Baptist preaching that the day of God 's judgment was at hand (Freedman 2000 ,

.703 Jesus then gathered twelve disciples representing the twelve tribes of Israel and proclaimed that the kingdom of God has arrived . Marks introduction of Jesus reflects their knowledge of Jesus , which made them eager to follow him

Based on this prior knowledge , Jesus expected that Peter , Andrew , James and John and the rest of His disciples to follow Him and to believe Him In the course of their training with Jesus , he reveals deeper expectation of the disciples . He now expects them to not only follow Him , but also to stick to his teaching even in the midst of persecution on account of Him Mark 13 : 23 . Jesus in advance told them everything that might happen soon to Him , and to the disciples themselves and...