Follow Jesus

Every journey begins by deciding who you are willing to follow. For the next several years, we will keep coming back to one simple invitation: Follow Jesus.

The Gospel of Mark is unlike the other Gospel accounts. There are no stories about Bethlehem. No shepherds. No wise men. No lengthy introductions. Mark gets right to the point in the first verse: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Before he tells us what happened, Mark tells us what it means. Before he unfolds the story, he gives us the conclusion. Jesus is the Christ, God’s promised King. Jesus is the Son of God. Then Mark essentially says, “Now come and see how we learned that.”

As we follow the story, it often feels as though we are running behind Jesus alongside the disciples. Before they can catch their breath, He is already moving to the next town, the next miracle, the next confrontation, the next lesson. The disciples rarely seem to understand what He is doing. They ask questions. They make mistakes. They argue about greatness. They misunderstand His mission. Yet Jesus keeps leading them forward.

And if we’re honest, that’s often what following Jesus feels like.

We want a map. Jesus says, “Follow Me.” We want explanations. Jesus says, “Trust Me.” One of the great lessons of Mark’s Gospel is learning our proper place. Not ahead of Jesus, but behind Him.

Peter struggled with this. When Jesus spoke about suffering and the cross, Peter tried to correct Him. Jesus responded with some of the strongest words in Scripture: “Get behind me, Satan.” Peter’s mistake was not simply that he was wrong. His mistake was trying to lead when he had been called to follow.

The same temptation confronts us every day. We want Jesus to fit into our plans. We want Him to explain Himself according to our expectations. We want to understand everything before we obey anything. But disciples do not walk ahead of their Master. They walk behind Him.

That is especially important because Mark takes us into places we do not fully understand. We will encounter demons, spiritual warfare, miracles, suffering, storms, death, and the mystery of God’s kingdom. Again and again we will find ourselves in territory where we do not have a map. But Jesus does.

The disciples do not overcome these things because they understand them better than everyone else. They overcome because they are with Jesus. They follow the King, and even the demons know His authority. That is why this Gospel is so important. Mark is not merely teaching us facts about Jesus. He is training us to follow Jesus. To trust Him when we understand and when we do not. To stay close when the road is difficult. To resist the temptation to run ahead and take control.

And ultimately Mark leads us to the place where everyone must decide what they believe about Him. The demons know His name. The wind and waves obey His voice. The crowds are astonished by His power. The disciples slowly begin to understand His identity. And at the foot of the cross, a Roman centurion finally says what Mark declared in the very first verse: “Truly this man was the Son of God.” That confession is the destination of the journey.

And yet it is only the beginning. Because the risen Christ does not stay in the tomb. He rises and goes ahead of His disciples once again, calling them to follow Him into the world. That invitation still stands today. The King is moving. The question is not whether you can keep up. The question is whether you will follow.