The King Authenticates His Kingdom

Mark has shown us that Jesus was formally announced as king, that he was fully approved as king, that he was freely anointed as king, and now he finally appears as the king. And from Mark 1:16 to the end of the first chapter, he is saying to us in essence: since Jesus has demonstrated his mastery over the devil and his demons; since he has demonstrated his majesty over disease; since he has demonstrated a ministry of mercy and compassion; since he has demonstrated an ability to unfold the mystery of truth with authority, surely this must be the Messiah, the King of glory! Repent, therefore, and believe in him for the king has come and brought his kingdom with him. And his kingdom is accessible and available to enter NOW!

Mark also shows us that Jesus wasted no time in getting about His Father’s business. A glance at the first chapters of Mark’s Gospel indicates almost continual motion: Jesus came from Nazareth (1:9); the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness (1:12); Jesus came into Galilee (1:14); and passing along (1:16); and going along a little farther (1:19); and they went into Capernaum (1:21); and immediately he left the synagogue (1:29); he rose and went out (1:35); and he went throughout all Galilee (1:39); he returned to Capernaum (2:1); he went out again (2:13). These indications of movement come from the hand of the evangelist, and show Jesus endlessly on the move, urged on by a sense of mission.

The Call of King Jesus to Follow Him as Disciples Who Will Be Making Disciples – 1:16-20

Mark 1:16-20 presents the basic outline of the vocation to disciple-making that will remain important for all the subsequent activities of the disciples in the gospel story. Jesus calls people to follow him; they are to be associated in the critical, ongoing inbreaking of the kingdom of God. There is no place for a half-hearted response. It will cost no less than everything. Here we have a deliberately designed narrative that establishes a paradigm for any and every disciple’s vocation.

From our perspective almost 2,000 years after Jesus’ call of his first disciples, it is hard for us to appreciate the remarkable thing that happened here. The Lord comes along unexpectedly and without explanation he tells these men to drop what they are doing, to leave their livelihoods, effectively to leave their families – at least to some degree and for some time – to follow him. “Follow me,” he told them, as if in saying that he had said everything. He made this outrageous demand, and he gained their instant obedience. Imagine yourself in the same situation, with your job, your bills, your wife, your children, and imagine yourself doing the same thing.

We know from the Gospel of John that these men had had some contact with Jesus before this. They were not completely clueless as to who and what he was. They knew that John the Baptist had identified him as the one coming after him. Still, Jesus demanded a great deal of them all at once, and they did not hesitate. They dropped what they were doing, they left the business with which they provided for their families and followed Jesus. Indeed, leaving their nets at Christ’s command apparently made perfect sense to them. Such is the authority of the Lord when he calls a man or a woman. Just as the wind and waves will later obey his voice, or the demons, or even the dead, these men can do no other. Christ has summoned; they must follow him.

There is nothing else that makes a man or a woman a disciple of Jesus Christ apart from this conviction about Jesus and this relationship to him. There are no prerequisites, no natural abilities or virtues. The Gospels never once commend these men to us as somehow special. We are never given any reason to think that Christ chose them because they were particularly gifted, or virtuous, or because in someway or another they were better qualified for the work which he had for them to do than other men might be. They were fishermen. No one would have chosen them to be the founders of a worldwide movement or to be the authors of the most influential books that would ever be written. They never imagined such a thing about themselves. These were very ordinary men. Had Jesus not appeared that day on that lakeshore, we would never have heard of any of them. There is nothing about them which attracts attention to them, nothing which made their contemporaries regard them with any special honor.

There is a most important lesson in this simple fact. There are no natural or worldly prerequisites for Christian discipleship. You not only may, but you must also answer Christ’s call and follow him, as you are, where you are. You may have thought that you had first to learn more, or become more religious, or put away some of your bad habits before the Lord would call you or before you could be his disciple, but nothing could be further from the truth. Coming to Christ, giving your life to him must be the first step. It is your relationship with him that matters; all the rest comes after. If he is calling you, you must answer and follow!

They committed themselves unalterably and unconditionally to Christ’s cause. They got in alignment with his assignment and prepared to spend their lives extending his kingdom in the world. Compared to this – their actions indicate, however clearly or not they may have articulated this to themselves or to one another at the time – every other purpose in life seemed to them, and rightly, bare and pale, dull and insipid. This and this alone mattered for eternity. Heaven and Hell were at stake, the interests of helping others to see the glory of God in the face of King Jesus and his kingdom were now to be their life’s work.

And in all of this, they were only the original and the representative disciples of Jesus Christ. Nothing else is demanded of any who would follow the Lord Jesus today. Nothing else is required of us but that we live our lives for his sake or cause and for the cause of his kingdom in the world. “Thy kingdom come” is not merely our prayer, it is our agenda for life, our calling: that by word and deed, in our own hearts, in the life of our families, in the church, and in the world, the Lord’s great commandment and great commission is accomplished by our being in co-mission with His mission. This is what it means to follow Jesus.

Before proceeding, we need to allow Jesus to define what he meant by being and building followers of Himself. He said to His first disciples in Mark 1:17, “And Jesus said to them, “Follow me (literally “walk after me”), and I will make you become fishers of men.”  In this statement, Jesus reveals three key points of being a follower of Christ. A follower, or disciple, of Christ, is one who is:

Committed to Christ's person -- ("follow me")

Changed by Christ's power -- ("I will make you")

Commissioned by Christ's plan -- ("fishers of men").

The Authority of King Jesus that Features His Demonstrating Kingdom Power – 1:21-34

What is most striking in these opening chapters in Mark’s Gospel, is the manifest Authority of Jesus Christ. That authority is displayed in a variety of arenas and settings. But that authority is absolute; it is astonishing; it is amazing; it is unparalleled; it is like nothing that mankind has ever seen. His authority was seen first of all in His teaching; also in His ability to command evil spirits to obey Him; in His power to heal diseases; in His power over nature so that even the wind and the seas obeyed Him; in His authority over the Sabbath and over man-made regulations that had obscured God’s true intentions for His law; in His power even over death. What amazing and astonishing authority!

There are three attention-getting words in Mark 1:22, 27: “Astonished”, “Authority”, and “Amazed”.

(1) Astonishment – 1:22 "they were astonished." There are several New Testament words that can be translated astonished. This is the strongest, “ekplesso”. One lexicon says it means, “To strike a person out of his senses by strong feeling.” He, in our vernacular, blew their minds. They had never heard anything like it.

(2) Authority – 1:22c, “…for he taught them as one who had authority,”; 1:27b, “…they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority!

(3) Amazed - 1:27, “…And they were all amazed (thambeō),” Amplified Bible: “And they were all so amazed and almost terrified that they kept questioning and demanding one of another, saying, What is this? What new (fresh) teaching! With authority He gives orders even to the unclean spirits and they obey Him!” The people were to astonished and terrified.

Two Powerful Keys in Kingdom Life is Power and Authority.

Authority - exousia" – the Greek word means “out of the being.” It is “the legal right to act” and is used 108 times in the New Testament, and it always relates to people. It is a personal right, either because of status or by delegation, to assert power, whether in legal, political, social, or moral ways in the human world or in the spiritual realm.

Power - "dunamis" - is the latent ability to act (i.e., the resource). It occurs 118 times in the New Testament and is translated power, might strength, and miracles.

What type of Authority did Jesus have? We answer, “divine authority.” True, but in the redemptive purposes of God, his authority was given him by the Father. In his last words before ascending back to heaven, Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-19a, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” His authority involves His relationship within the Trinity as well as His dual nature as fully God and yet fully man. Operating in dependence upon His heavenly Father, he laid aside the independent exercise of His own authority and operated as a man, anointed by the Spirit of God to do the will of his Father.

His command to His disciples after His resurrection imparted his authority to them then, and to us now, as we are “going to make disciples of all nations.”

We will see in Mark’s gospel account that Jesus demonstrates His Kingdom authority and power by documenting that he has authority over disease, over disciples, over disaster. He has authority over nature and nations. Jesus has authority over demons and over sin. Jesus has authority to save. He has authority over death, over disability, and over the Devil.

After calling disciples, Jesus enters the synagogue at Capernaum. There, His authority shines in three ways:

Authority in teaching (1:21–22): The people were astonished because He taught not as the scribes, but with inherent authority. He didn’t cite other rabbis - He was the final authority. We read in Mark 1:22, “for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” Someone said that the scribes spoke from different authorities but King Jesus spoke with divine authority. Jesus' preaching and teaching were not inspirational in the typical sense of that word. He did not dispense hopeful thoughts, give principles for success or teach about how to feel good about yourself. His sermons and teachings were anointed by the Holy Spirit and were expositions of power. They were confrontational, and when he spoke, something happened.

Authority over demons (1:23–28): “unclean spirit”. i.e. “morally impure.” This is a general term used 22 times of demons; 10 times in Mark.

We wonder how many synagogue services that man had attended without revealing that he was demonized. It took the presence of the Son of God to expose the demon; and Jesus not only exposed him, but He also commanded him to keep quiet about His identity and to depart from the man. The Savior did not want, nor did He need, the assistance of Satan and his army to tell people who He is.

The demon certainly knew exactly who Jesus is (see Acts 19:13-17) and that he had nothing in common with Him. The demon’s use of plural pronouns shows how closely he was identified with the man through whom he was speaking. The demon clearly identified Christ’s humanity (“Jesus of Nazareth”) as well as His deity (“the Holy One of God”). He also confessed great fear that Jesus might judge him and send him to the pit. There are people today just like this demonized man: in a religious meeting, able to tell who Jesus is, and even trembling with fear of judgment — yet lost! (see James 2:19)

“Hold thy peace!” literally means “Be muzzled!” Jesus would use the same words when stilling the storm (Mark 4:39). The demon tried one last convulsive attack, but then had to submit to the authority of God’s Servant and come out of the man. The people in the synagogue were amazed and afraid. They realized that something new had appeared on the scene - a new doctrine and a new power. Our Lord’s words and works must always go together (John 3:2). The people kept on talking about both, and the fame of Jesus began to spread.

Warren Wiersbe suggests that our Lord did not encourage this kind of public excitement for concern that it would create problems with both the Jews and the Romans. The Jews would want to follow Him only because of His power to heal them, and the Romans would think He was a Jewish insurrectionist trying to overthrow the government. This explains why Jesus so often told people to keep quiet (Mrk_1:44; Mrk_3:12; Mrk_5:43; Mrk_7:36-37; Mrk_8:26, Mrk_8:30; Mrk_9:9). The fact that they did not obey created problems for Him.

Perhaps the demon sought to show acquaintance with Jesus to discredit Him and make it appear that He was in league with the demon world, but Jesus put an end to this by casting him out, thus proving that He was their enemy and showing that He had power over them.

When confronted with an unclean spirit, Jesus simply commands, “Be silent (be muzzled), and come out of him!” The demon obeys instantly.

Authority over sickness (1:29–34): Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law, then many others who were sick or oppressed.

Jesus has authority in every realm of life - over truth, over evil, over brokenness. The kingdom of God is not merely words; it is power.

Think of a king who not only issues decrees but enforces them with strength. Jesus is not just a wise teacher; He is the King whose word has power to set captives free.

The Compassion of King Jesus that is Fueled by Communion with the Father – 1:35–45

After a long night of ministry, Jesus withdraws to pray (v. 35). His ministry is fueled by communion with the Father. Then He moves on to other towns, showing that His mission is broader than one village.

Finally, in vv. 40–45, we see a leper approach Him: “If You will, You can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus does the unthinkable—He touches the leper. Rather than Jesus becoming unclean, the leper becomes clean.

• Compassion expressed: Jesus doesn’t keep His distance from the outcast. He draws near.
• Compassion with power: His compassion is not mere sentiment—it heals.

This is the heart of the gospel: Jesus doesn’t shrink back from our uncleanness; He enters into it and makes us clean. No sin, no shame, no past is beyond His touch.

Mark 1:16–45 shows us the King in action:

• He calls ordinary people to follow Him.
• He commands with unmatched authority.
• He cares with deep compassion, even for society’s outcasts.

So the question for us is simple: Will we respond like the fishermen - immediately, wholeheartedly - or will we cling to our nets?

Jesus still calls today. He still casts out darkness. He still makes the unclean clean.

Follow Him. Trust His authority. Rest in His compassion. And proclaim, like the healed leper, what great things the Lord has done for you.