The First Followers

BY JULIUS SCHNORR VON CAROLSFELD, LEADER OF THE NAZARINE SCHOOL IN RECENT GERMAN ART.

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"Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye ?"-John, 1, 38.

E ARE told that after Christ had vanquished

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Satan, angels came to minister to His starving body. Then, calm and unpretentious as ever, Jesus returned to the Jordan valley. Once more He approached John; whereon the Forerunner raising his staff pointed the Master out to all the multitude, crying those ever blessed words, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

Jesus passed on in silence while the multitude marvelled. The next day John pointed Him out again, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

At that, two of John's disciples approached Jesus reverently. They were Andrew, the brother of the apostle Peter, and one unnamed who was probably John the writer of the Gospel, the only narrator of this particular event. Following Jesus, they held converse with Him during a rapt two hours. Then Andrew sought his brother, and telling him they had found the Messiah, brought him also to Jesus. Jesus changed the newcomer's name from Simon to Peter. Probably the three disciples then journeyed back to Galilee with Jesus, listening with solemn joy to His words, to the first divine teaching of the Christian faith on earth.

The writer of this Gospel is usually identified with that Mark or John Mark mentioned in Acts, 37. This Mark was not of the twelve apostles; he was a cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4, 10), and apparently the son of that Mary in whose house the apostles lodged in Jerusalem. Hence he belonged to the next younger generation, and may or may not in his youth have been an eyewitness to many of the events he describes. He was at any rate in constant communion with the twelve great teachers, especially with Peter, and learned the entire story from their lips. He accompanied Peter to Rome, where he is generally supposed to have written his Gospel about the year 70 A. D. for the instruction of the Roman converts. Thus it was written under Peter's supervision, and has been regarded as embodying Peter's thought, in distinction from the Gospel of St. Luke, which expresses the teaching of Paul.

This gospel is the briefest of the four. It contains very little not told by Matthew, but its viewpoint is distinctly different. It is addressed not to Jews but to Gentiles; hence it explains Jewish customs when these are mentioned, and it omits most of the references to the Old Testament. In brief the writer aims to show of Jesus not that He was the promised Messiah of the Hebrews, but that He was a wonderful God-man, come to teach and save all mankind.

Chapter 1

1 The office of John the Baptist. 9 Jesus is baptized, 12 tempted, 14 he preacheth: 16 calleth Peter, Andrew, James and John: 23 healeth one that had a devil, 29 Peter's mother-in-law, 32 many diseased persons, 41 and cleanseth the leper.

HE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God;

2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

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3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;

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MARK I-JESUS BAPTIZED

7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

12 And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. 14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. 19 And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.

20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.

22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.

23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.

26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commanded he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.