This week marks the second week of Advent – the time in which we prepare ourselves to celebrate the coming of Christ. Last week we talked about how it was important for us to live our lives in preparation for the second coming of Jesus. We are to live as people of Advent, who are eagerly expecting the second coming of Jesus. The simple truth is that we don’t know when he will return, but we do know that it is going to happen. We know what we are preparing ourselves for, now the question turns to how do we do this? I guess the simplest answer would be to listen to the voices.
Today’s passage comes to us from Mark 1. I have spent a fair amount of time in today’s passage over the years because Mark is one of my favorite books in the Bible, and he begins by quoting another one of my favorite book - Isaiah. So, to translate, this passage is my version of a Buy One Get One Free sale. Before we go too far into the passage, I want to give just a little bit of background to place it in context.
The author of this gospel is John Mark, who appears in Acts 12-15 as a companion of Paul on his first missionary journey, which is recorded in Acts. Mark left Paul to return to Jerusalem before the completion of this first missionary jouney, which caused him to be the focal point of a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. Paul did not want to bring him on their second missionary journey, but Barnabas did, which resulted in them going their separate ways prior to leaving for this journey. In time, Mark ended up in Rome with Peter, and that is where he wrote the gospel. The Gospel of Mark is actually Mark’s recollection of Peter’s message. So, whenever you read Mark, you are reading the teachings of Jesus as related by Peter.
Mark does not have a birth narrative like Matthew and Luke, nor does he have a theological reflection like John. Mark does not waste any time in his gospel. It is almost like he is trying to write down everything as quickly as he possibly can. In fact, one of the more common words found in Mark is “immediately” – the Greek word is found 41 times in Mark’s 16 chapters. The story is always in motion, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that he starts off with a very brief introduction, and then begins the story at the point when Jesus’ ministry really starts, which is following his baptism by John. But, believe it or not, there is a lot of punch packed into these very few verses, and there is a lot that we can learn from them.
The first verse alone makes a couple of profound statements about Jesus. Marks begins by saying, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Now, on this side of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we take certain words and phrases for granted, but when Mark was writing, “gospel,” “Christ,” and “Son of God” were some bold statements to be making.
First of all, “Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew concept of Messiah. So there is everything that goes along with the claim that Jesus is the Messiah – the expectation that Jesus is the long awaited savior of Israel from the line of David.
“Son of God” is a pretty straightforward phrase as well. A son is one who has the characteristics of the father. Whenever people see my dad and I together, there is no doubt that I am his son. We share many of the same characteristics, both physical and personality-wise. In the same way, Mark is making the claim that when one looks at Jesus, one is looking at God. This is also a highly subversive term in the Roman Empire. In the Roman Empire, the only one who would be the Son of God would be the emperor. It was believed that emperors became gods following their death, and that the ensuing emperor was his son. Likewise, we have the word “gospel.”
“Gospel” in this context would have also been highly subversive. This is the one whose real meaning is probably lost the most on many of today’s readers. “Gospel” comes from a Greek word which literally means “good news” or “good message.” However, in the Roman Empire, the concept of gospel was reserved for a particular purpose. “Gospel” in the Roman Empire had to do with celebrating the ascension, or birth, of a king or emperor. So, when Christians started proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, it was perceived as a threat to the Roman emperor. It was understood as treason in the Roman Empire to claim anyone but Caesar as the emperor. So, in one very short sentence, Mark manages to get his audiences attention in a big way by basically claiming that Jesus is the Messiah, and using words that were reserved for news about the emperor. In the midst of Rome, this is a very dangerous beginning to a document that is not about Caesar, and we’re only in verse 1!
Verse 2 brings us to the Buy One Get One Free sale, and, realistically, that’s not even accurate. Verses 2-3 are more like the super sale at Wal-Mart where it’s buy one, get two free. You see, even though Mark attributes the quote to Isaiah, the first part is actually found in Malachi 3:1. Mark is making a connection between two passages that both point to a significant figure that would arrive prior to the coming of the Lord.
Now, when a New Testament author quotes something from the Old Testament, he is not only bringing to mind the verse that he is quoting, but the entire context that surrounds that passage as well. Many of the Jews in Rome would have been very familiar with the Old Testament, and would also be very familiar with the context of Old Testament quotes. There was not the need for a long teaching to give the background because the background was already known.
Malachi 3 discusses the messenger who would be sent before the Lord would come. In chapter 3, there is not an abundant amount of discussion on the characteristics of this messenger, but in Malachi 4:5, the prophet Elijah is said to be the one that will be sent prior to the coming of the Lord. This led to speculation that Elijah, who never actually died in the Old Testament, would come back before the Messiah. You can pick up this expectation in some of the questions that are asked of John the Baptist in John 1. He is outrightly asked if he was Elijah. He replies by saying that he isn’t, and literally speaking, he wasn’t Elijah, but he fulfilled that role which is first discussed in Malachi. He was the one who turned hearts and prepared the people for the coming of the Lord. Mark also points to John’s fulfillment of the role of Elijah.
Remember, Mark doesn’t waste any time when it comes to writing his gospel. He doesn’t put in a lot of details that aren’t important in moving the story forward or making a particular point. That being the case, we need to really look at what he says in verse 6. Mark writes, “Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.” If Mark is in such a hurry to write his gospel, why would he comment on what John was wearing? Was the Jordan River the red carpet of the first century? Of course not! The answer to why Marks makes this comment can be found in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings. In chapter 1, Elijah is described as wearing a “garment of hair and a leather belt around his waist.” John’s clothing further emphasizes his connection to Elijah the prophet, who was to come and prepare people for the coming of the Lord.
And, while John’s ministry was important, he was always careful to make his ministry about Jesus. He is constantly drawing people to himself for the sole reason of pointing them to Christ. He recognizes his place in the pecking order, if you will, and realizes that no matter what, his ministry is about Jesus, not himself. In fact, even in Mark, he plays down his role, as we can see in verses 7-8. There’s an important lesson that we need to learn from this. We do ministry so that we can point others to Jesus, not to ourselves. We don’t do ministry so that we can look good to others in our congregation or even our community. We do ministry in order to point others to Jesus. If there is a point in which we are doing something so that we look good, then we have missed the point entirely. Okay, now that I’ve gone to the end of the road with the Malachi quote in verse 2, let’s take a look at the context of the Isaiah quote, which is found in Mark 1:3.
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord,’” Is found in Isaiah 40:3. The context of this passage also points to a significant event in the lives of the Israelite people. Throughout the book of Isaiah, the prophets weaves in a theme that is known as the New Exodus. For the Israelites, the exodus from Egypt was their defining event. It was what they referred to time and time again as a landmark event in their history, demonstrating God’s care for them. The Passover was celebrated each year as a way of remembering this event. Many Jews, even today, will celebrate the Passover as a way of remembering God’s faithfulness through the generations. However, in Isaiah, there are several places in which God himself claims that he will do a new work that will be remembered for generations to come (chapters 42, 43, and 48). The new thing will be so incredible that the former things (that is, the exodus from Egypt) will be forgotten.
At the end of Isaiah 39, King Hezekiah is told that the day will come when all of his possessions and all in his house will be taken away to Babylon. Hezekiah responds with, “Well, at least I don’t have to deal with it.” Now Hezekiah’s response is not exactly the kind of attitude that God is looking for when it comes to something like this. He is definitely an example of how not to respond in such situations. Realistically, though, he serves as a good attitude check for us, and perhaps we need to use this chapter from time to time to remind us that our decisions now often have effects that go down through the generations. However, we are going a little too far down a rabbit trail here. The bottom line that we need to remember as we head into Isaiah 40 is that the people of Israel will undoubtedly face exile for their unfaithfulness, but what are the first words of Isaiah 40? They aren’t words of condemnation; they are words of comfort. In fact, that’s how it starts, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”
Isaiah 40 seems to pick up after the exile. The penalty for their sin has been paid in full, and they are pardoned. The people will return to the land of their forefathers. There is a voice that is crying in the wilderness that the way needs to be prepared for the Lord. The valleys will be raised, and the mountains and hills will be laid low. The rough terrain of the desert will be smoothed out for the Lord. This was the ministry of John the Baptist.
He was the one who cried out in the wilderness for people to prepare their hearts for the Lord. In preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins, John was raising the valleys and lower the mountains and hills. Let’s also not forget about the symbolism of where John is located. He is at the Jordan River. The same river that reminded Joshua and the Israelites of the exodus from Egypt. The same river that stopped flowing even though the banks were overflowing at the time. The same river that the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land on dry ground. It is no accident that John’s ministry happened here.
John was preparing the way for the Lord at the Jordan River because it was time. The time had finally come when the former things were forgotten and the new thing that God was doing was going to take place. This was the time when all of the promises of the Old Testament would be more than just something to hope for; it was the realization of all the hopes of the Old Testament. Mark realized the significance of this time, and he didn’t want to waste any time letting his readers know of it significance. Everything that the Israelites were waiting for was finally happening. No longer would the people be in a state of spiritual exile, but now, because of what happened in an insignificant region of the Roman Empire, all people – not just the Jews, but all people around the world - were invited to return from exile.
I stand here today to let you know as well. The time has come. We no longer live in exile. God has indeed done a new thing, and in doing so, all people are invited to live in relationship with Him. Today we celebrate the Lord’s Supper because it is a reminder of what God has done. God has destroyed the barrier that exists between Himself and humanity. We no longer live in a state of spiritual exile. We are invited to return home and live in a renewed relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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