This pericope will actually come up twice in year B. First will be this coming Sunday in Lent and then with a slightly longer pericope (8:27-38) in mid-September. In September we’ll get the fuller scene as Jesus asks who people say he is and Peter answering that he is the Messiah. Then of course, this scene for this week becomes more comical (or sad depending on your take) because Peter is then immediately scolded for not understanding what Jesus must go through. But even though there are many months between these texts, it can be challenging to preach on the same text multiple times in a year. Especially if you are taking a narrative approach. And truthfully, Epiphany into Lent doesn’t do us any favors in understanding Mark in year B. There is very little narrative lead up to this text. And so, while I think we can take some time to remind folks that Peter did just proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, there’s only so much we can do to catch people up on the narrative. That will be much easier to do in September after we’ve been going through Mark chapter by chapter.

This pericope is short and packed with action that is all a part of this quick Markan prologue. It illustrates that Jesus’ coming and the ministry he will do is cosmic in nature. Before he even begins his teaching in Galilee, Jesus is already entering into the cosmic battle against the forces that defy God. He stands toe to toe with Satan and it’s such an easy win that it only takes one sentence. But I think there is something interesting in how that is then compared to the rest of the Gospel. Yes, we should treat this as a short prologue and introduction. Yes, Mark isn’t focusing on this part of the story and seems to may be trying to skip to the ministry part. But even still, it brings up an interesting point. Is dealing with humanity harder than dealing with Satan?

Year B can be particularly jarring as we move from the early story of Jesus’ ministry (not even getting out of chapter 1 in the Mark) and then jumping into the middle of the Gospel with the transfiguration. We skip over a lot: Teaching parables, the exorcism of Legion, the healing of Jairus’ daughter and the woman with hemorrhages, commissioning the twelve, Herod’s execution of John the Baptist, the feeding of the 5,000 (and 4,000), the Syrophoenician woman, and Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Messiah. Incredible stories and great imagery. While these are important, in many ways these are stories that already expound upon who we have seen Jesus to be even within just the first chapter. So what does the transfiguration show us that's different?

This week we get an all-encompassing transition scene. This is between two powerful moments, the exorcising of a demon and the healing of a man with leprosy, two circumstances that radically pushed people away from God and community at this time. So, in this transition, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law (so yes, Peter is married and that means Peter has left his family to follow Jesus), he heals and exorcizes many in the community who are brought to him, and finally he retreats away for some time for himself. So, what do we do with this transition scene? I think there are few interesting pieces that could lead us into some preaching possibilities.

I love this pericope because it comes with a good contextual introduction. Verses 14 & 15 are really the end of Mark’s apocalyptic prologue, but they also function as a transition into the calling of these first four disciples. In contrast with Matthew, Jesus does not open with the same words as John the Baptist. These are fresh new words. John alludes to the coming of Jesus but in Mark it is only Jesus who announces that the kingdom of God has come near. John is not transitioning authority to Jesus (like in Matthew). John is merely the herald. Only Jesus knows what the coming kingdom means. Now, John’s being arrested serves two purposes. First, practically speaking, John needs to step out of the picture. As a familiar character to first century hearers, there would have been questions of the importance of John. Mark sidesteps that. John is arrested and he is no longer in the story. Enter Jesus. But there is another purpose, too. John’s arrest is an apocalyptic foreboding as well. The bringing of God’s gospel (good news), even for someone who is merely the herald, is a dangerous gig. To embark in this work will mean entering into the fray against the forces that defy God (worldly and other worldly). The time has come. The kingdom is near.