Our Lord declares that He came to be a preacher

We see, for another thing in this passage [Mark 1:35–39], a remarkable saying of our Lord as to the purpose for which He came into the world. We find Him saying, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

The meaning of these words is plain and unmistakable. Our Lord declares that He came on earth to be a preacher and a teacher. He came to fulfill the prophetical office, to be the prophet greater than Moses who had been so long foretold (Deuteronomy 18:15). He left the glory which He had from all eternity with the Father to do the work of an evangelist. He came down to earth to show to man the way of peace, to proclaim deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. One principal part of His work on earth was to go up and down and publish glad tidings, and to offer healing to the brokenhearted, light to those who sat in darkness, and pardon to the chief of sinners. He says, “That is what I came for.”

We ought to observe here what infinite honor the Lord Jesus puts on the office of the preacher. It is an office which the eternal Son of God Himself undertook. He might have spent His earthly ministry in instituting and keeping up ceremonies like Aaron. He might have ruled and reigned as a king like David. But He chose a different calling. Until the time when He died as a sacrifice for our sins, His daily and almost hourly work was to preach. He says, “That is what I came for.”

Let us never be moved by those who cry down the preacher’s office and tell us that sacraments and other ordinances are of more importance than sermons. Let us give to every part of God’s public worship its proper place and honor, but let us beware of placing any part of it above preaching. By preaching, the church of Christ was first gathered together, and by preaching, it has ever been maintained in health and prosperity. By preaching, sinners are awakened. By preaching, inquirers are led on. By preaching, saints are built up. By preaching, Christianity is being carried to the heathen world. There are many now who sneer at missionaries and mock those who go out into the highways of our own land to preach to crowds in the open air. But such persons would do well to pause and consider calmly what they are doing. The very work which they ridicule is the work which turned the world upside down and cast heathenism to the ground. Above all, it is the very work which Christ Himself undertook. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords Himself was once a preacher. For three long years He went to and fro proclaiming the gospel. Sometimes we see Him in a house, sometimes on the mountainside, sometimes in a Jewish synagogue, sometimes in a boat on the sea. But the great work He took up was always one and the same. He came always preaching and teaching. He says, “That is what I came for.”

Let us leave the passage with a solemn resolution never to despise prophetic utterances (1 Thessalonians 5:20). The minister we hear may not be highly gifted. The sermons that we listen to may be weak and poor. But after all, preaching is God’s grand ordinance for converting and saving souls. The faithful preacher of the gospel is handling the very weapon which the Son of God was not ashamed to employ. This is the work of which Christ has said, “That is what I came for.”

—J.C. Ryle, ‘Expository Thoughts on Mark’