Proclaiming the Good News - Mark 1:14-15

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus' ministry, after his baptism by John, begins with his proclaiming the, "good news of God", in Galilee.  Let's start with the, "where", and explore why the community of Mark may have had Jesus start his work in Galilee.

In the time of Jesus, Palestine was divided into three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee.  Galilee, particularly the northern portion, was home to a large Gentile population. The Upper Galilee included the whole mountain range lying between the upper Jordan and Phoenicia. To this region the name "Galilee of the Gentiles" is given in the Old and New Testaments. (Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:16)  http://biblehub.com/topical/g/galilee.htm

The ATS Bible Dictionary describes the view held of Galileans by the Jews of the other provinces:

...other Jews affected to consider them as not only stupid and unpolished, but also seditious, and therefore proper objects of contempt,Luke 13:1 23:6 John 1:47 7:52....Many of the apostles and first converts to Christianity were men of Galilee, Acts 1:11 2:7, as well as Christ himself; and the name Galilean was often given as an insult, both to him and his followers.

Starting Jesus' ministry in Galilee would suggest the priority placed on the marginalised and rejected.  The Jesus of the community of Mark does not hold the common biases and prejudices of the day and acts in opposition to them.

Now let's look at the, "what", of the message he preached.  His message was the good news that the time had come and the kingdom of God had come near.

The expected time he is talking about is the establishment of God's kingdom foretold in the book of Daniel.

“Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him” Daniel 7:27

The writings of the book of Daniel were quite important to the Jesus of Mark with him quite often referring to the figure of the, "son of man", from that book. But, the main reference is to the idea of the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

The presence and arrival of the Kingdom of God was the central message of Jesus in Mark and the other Synoptic Gospels, not his death, or some afterlife, or ones fate there.

The term "Kingdom of God" occurs four times in Matthew (12:28; 19:24; 21:31; 21:43), fourteen times in Mark, thirty-two times in Luke, twice in the Gospel of John (3:3, 5), six times in Acts, eight times in Paul, and once in Revelation(12:10). Matthew actually prefers the term "Kingdom of heaven" which he uses over 20 times in his gospel. http://www.theopedia.com/kingdom-of-god

We will take a closer look at what the Jesus of Mark's Gospel meant by the, "Kingdom of God", further into the study. For now, let's look at how Jesus' called the people to respond to his announcement that the, "Kingdom of God has come near".

"Repent and believe the good news!”

Let us first look at the word, "repent".

g3340

μετανοέω

 μετανοέω metanoéō, met-an-o-eh'-o; from G3326 andG3539; to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction):—repent. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3340&t=NIV

The Greek word given as, "repent", in most English translations mean to, "think differently", or, "reconsider".  Jesus here is telling the people to, "think differently", in light of the news that the kingdom of God has come near.

He also preaches to the people that they should, "believe", in this good news, to put their trust in and give their allegiance to the implications of this news.