Teaching through entire books of the bible is the most profitable manner of reading and studying the Scriptures. God passed down these Scriptures to us as a unified, comprehensible story. The whole story God tells is made up of 66 different books. And each book tells part of the whole. Each book individually tells a complete story, but all 66 books in the bible form the whole, the whole story of the gracious king establishing his kingdom of glory. Individual passages make the most sense, and their complete sense, when they are placed in the context of the whole. So when you come to an individual book, like Mark, the best way to read, is the let the story building upon itself. Start with the beginning, and let the story build.
The passage before us this morning sounds like it’s about fasting. But in reality, it’s about how a person responds to the eminent magnitude and greatness of Jesus. Mark has been advancing a storyline. The story is that the Lord God, the eternal God, came to earth in the flesh, the very Son of God. And this Son possesses all the authority of God himself; authority to teach, overcome Satan, fulfill the law, forgive sins, and call people to repent, turn from their own way, believe the good news of Jesus, and follow him as Lord. And then people started following Jesus. Peter and Andrew left everything and followed. James and John left everything and followed. Levi left everything and followed.
The question is, who else? Who else will follow? Who else will leave everything, leave all past allegiances, leave all ties to sin, leave personal pursuits and pleasures, and follow Jesus? That’s the call. But often, when people come to Jesus, they fit Jesus to themselves, rather than fit themselves to Jesus, and that’s the theme of the passage here.
