They come back from having gone, as they were instructed by Jesus, to the towns and villages, to preach the good news, and to show the good news in action as they healed those who were impaired. And they come back now and they come back to Jesus, and they’re filled with excitement for what they were able to accomplish. But Jesus also sees something in them.

Throughout the gospel of Mark, one always comes up with these incidents where Jesus acts in a certain way, and yet the disciples remain somewhat disbelieving and want not yet sure of who this person is. And certainly this is one of the incidents where we see that, but Mark has that as one of the elements that he builds throughout his gospel in the sense of saying that faith is a very challenging part of our lives.

One of the more prominent expressions and focuses within the gospel of Mark is the Kingdom of God. You might remember at the very beginning of Mark’s gospel, after he says he’s going to tell the story of Jesus, the Son of God. The first words that Jesus utters, is repent and believe. The kingdom of God is at hand.

The selection of today’s Gospel is from the early part of John’s gospel, and it begins with two disciples who were walking with John the Baptist, and John the Baptist sees Jesus walking and he points to him and he says, Behold the LAMB of God.

Now, one might wonder, why would he use that phrase? Well, I think part of it is understanding the gospel of John. The Gospel of John is written probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 to 110 A.D. But John writes something before that, which is of critical importance in being able to understand John’s gospel, and that is the Book of Revelation, which is a vision that John has as he’s on one of the islands, the island of Patmos.