Summary: What do you believe are some of the turning points of history? Was it the season of conquest by the Church states? The industrial revolution? Hitler's romp toward power and a Holocaust that threatened to extinguish a people? Some would point to the emergence of an information-based economy. Surely a World War might have been a turning point. All these are but a few of the moments we can look to and suggest that the world has not been the same since. In fact, the responses would vary as much as the people we might ask this question. Would you count among those, then, the season in which Jesus walked along the shore enlisting disciples, and then began his teaching ministry? Probably not. But, esteemed New Testament professor Jaroslav Pelikan would. In his book, Jesus Through the Centuries, chapter two begins with exactly these narratives from Mark 1. The chapter is entitled, "The Turning Point of History." For Jesus' ministry of healing, his demonstrative senses of ethic and justice, his teachings on the coming Kingdom of Heaven - they all formed a faith that has driven the Church in its best moments all the way up until today. In this section of Mark's gospel, we hear a bold assessment: that in Jesus' arrival the time had been fulfilled for God to bring the kingdom of heaven near. In fact, our Lord said as much in his teachings during these early days. Our story begins by noting that Jesus quickly formed a custom by going to the synagogue on Sabbaths to teach. The newly chosen disciples accompanied him there, and were listening intently, it seems. They were astonished at his teaching. His authority stood out in comparison to the apparently bland offering the people were used to. Have we become so casual in our faith, so used to hearing the Gospel, that we are rarely astonished at anything we hear these days?
