Oct 4, 2015
Jesus came preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand (1:15). He claimed the authority of God to forgive sins and to govern the Sabbath (2:1-12; 23-27). The Kingdom of God was at hand because Jesus was both the promised Messiah and the Son of God possessing the authority and power of God to establish the Kingdom. Jesus came offering the promised Messianic Kingdom to His people, Israel, but their response was mixed.
The crowd viewed Him as a healer, His family thought Him insane, the leaders of Judaism accused Him of being demon possessed (3:7-30). Only a few were open to His claims - those He appointed apostles and a few from the crowd whom Jesus likened to "good soil" (3:13-19; 4:20).