Day 770 - Mark's Good News - Who Is Jesus?

A Sermon for Urban Outreach Ministry, Chattanooga, TN, January 19, 2015

OT Readings: Exodus 23:20-22; Malachi 3:1-2, 4:5-6;  Isaiah 40:1-5 

NT Reading: Mark 1:1-15

     Over the next few weeks we are going to walk through the gospel of Mark, the gospel for the Abused.

     The word “gospel” comes from Greek and it means “good news.” Mark is the only writer who calls his Jesus story the gospel. He begins his story with the words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It is not even a sentence but it is the way the writers begin their story, with its title.

     That title is packed with significant “hidden meanings.” What does “Christ” mean? It is a word that means “The anointed one,” or “The Messiah.”

     The first thing we need to be sure about is what is Mark’s “good news?” Is it the presence of Jesus? Or is it this whole book of actions, words, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as it changes our relationship with God? I argue it is the latter, the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus?”

     What is the first thing the title tells us about Jesus Christ? He is the anointed one. Samuel first signified the King of Israel by anointing his head with olive oil. But, Mark tags “Son of God.”

     If we go back to 1 Samuel8:1-18, the elders of Israel demanded Samuel give them a king much to Samuel’s anger and hurt, But the Lord told Samuel, don’t worry, they aren’t rejecting you, the are rejecting me their only King. So give them a king and tell them what misery they will receive by their desire.

     And so now, after many kings who ruled as despots, and tyrants, and after years of captivity in Assyria, Babylon and Persia, after the rule of Alexander the Great and the scourge of his generals after he died, and now of Rome, Marks is telling the reader that an anointed King has come finally who has no human equal, the Son of God.  

     All of this in one short part-sentence that is the title to Mark’s gospel.

     If the reader does not get it, Mark continues by quoting (loosely and erroneously) from Isaiah words that call up the deep history of Israel and its hope for the Messiah, 

          “²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

          “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

                 who will prepare your way;

             ³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

                 ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

                  make his paths straight,’”

(Although Mark attributes them to Isaiah, he has actually drawn text from the passages in Exodus, Malachi and Isaiah in the OT readings.)

     When the Lord told Moses to lead his people from captivity in Egypt, they became fearful and even resentful of God for the time they spent in the wilderness of the desert, but the Lord brought them manna to eat and sprung water from the rocks for drink.  Afterwards he gave them the commandments by which holy people live with the choice to chose life or death. In Exodus 23:20-22, the Lord makes a promise, 

          “20   I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you 
          on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.  
          21 Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel 
          against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my 
          name is in him.  22   But if you listen attentively to his voice 
          and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies 
          and a foe to your foes.” 

     Mark is connecting John the Baptist with the angel God sent to guide his people home.
     In Malachi 3:1-2, the prophet says, “1 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

     Verse 2 refers to the refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap. When one refines copper or silver one burns wood in it to pull out all the impurities making the metal strong and malleable. Fuller’s soap was used on freshly woven cloth to clean it and make it suitable for wearing. So Mark in his reference to this passage tells us the anointed King of Israel, the Son of God is going to purify his people.

     To bring this message home, the passage also recalls Isaiah 40:1-3,

            "¹Comfort, O comfort my people,

                        says your God.

            ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

                        and cry to her

            that she has served her term,

                        that her penalty is paid,

            that she has received from the LORD’S hand

                        double for all her sins.

(This part reinforces Malachi’s reference to the refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap, God’s people will be made clean and whole.)

            ³A voice cries out:

            “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,

                make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

     Mark closes his introduction to his Gospel with verses 1:9-13 with the validation (epiphany) of whom this man labeled the anointed King, the Son of God truly is:

            ⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by

   John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he 

   saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on 

   him.  ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; 

   with you I am well pleased.” ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out 

   into the  wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by 

   Satan; and he was with  the wild beasts; and the angels  waited on him.

     
     And then Mark ends his introduction or synopsis of the Good News and our welcome and implicit offer, much like given in the wilderness to the Israelites on the way to the Promised Land (Choose life or choose death), in v14-15:

            ¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of 
           God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; 
           repent (turn your ways around), and believe in the good news.”

     In fifteen verses before he sets out to give us the whole Gospel, that can mean story, history or witness to the “Christ Event,” Mark gives us the summary answer to “Who is Jesus.”

Thus begins Mark's Gospel. Amen.