Mark 1:1-12
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet:
‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way—
a voice of one calling in the desert,
Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’
And so John came, baptising in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Many of our younger family members will be starting a new academic year at the moment. And so, at the start of this new academic term, we're going to start at the very beginning; the beginning of Mark's Gospel, which many believe to have been the first Gospel written.
It says at the start of that very Gospel, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” This new series is going to be looking at Mark's Gospel and specifically Jesus' interaction with various people. This morning our focus is on John the Baptist in his role as ushering in Jesus' ministry.
John was given the role of pulling back the curtain and revealing the King. And John the Baptist referred to himself as like the ‘best man’ to Jesus, the ‘groom’. And so to help us understand our passage this morning, I'd like to use the image of a wedding ceremony to look at three moments in our passage. First of all, the context, then the conferment, and then at the end, the commission.
So to begin with, the context. When we take weddings, the bride comes in and stands next to the groom. And then we don't immediately go to the vows at that point, get them done and then get on with the rest of the service. Rather, the minister will give a little speech to put what is happening into context; that God has ordained marriage for certain purposes, that the couple will be entering marriage with our hope after serious thought, etc., etc.
In the same way, Mark's gospel begins with setting the scene; with giving the context. That's why after an introductory sentence in verse 2, Mark quotes from our Old Testament passage, quoting from the prophet Isaiah. He's telling the audience, this is the background; the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would come, but not before a messenger was sent before him to prepare his way.
John the Baptist fulfils this perfectly. Isaiah gives the Old Testament context for Jesus' arrival, and John's actions provide further context. Look at what verse 4 says after the Isaiah quote; “and so John came baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
So this messenger comes, funnily enough, with a message. And that message is this; the king is coming with a purpose, a single purpose, repentance and the forgiveness of sins. And then we're told in verse 5 that the people of Judea and Jerusalem flocked to John and responded in the right way, confessing their sins and being baptized in the Jordan River.
And so at this beginning of Mark's Gospel, we see two crucial elements of context before the king is revealed; that his coming is right in line with the story of God's people in the Old Testament, and that his coming is focused on repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
It's good for us at this point, I think, to step back and look at the context of what we're doing here this morning, why we are all sat here. We too are part of the great story of God's people stretching all the way back into the Old Testament. So when as Christians we feel marginalized, we feel powerless, we feel alone, this reminds us that we are still key players in the most important story in the universe. And it's also good to be reminded to keep the main thing the main thing, as they say. Namely, that the Bible, this service, the whole Christian faith are focused on repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
So that's the context. And now we move on to the next bit, the conferment. In the wedding ceremony, after the vows, we say the words, “I now pronounce you, or I now pronounce thee man and wife, and then there's a big cheer, and then they normally kind of kiss the bride or whatever it is. But here, whoever's taking the service is announcing or conferring a new status on the couple. They're the same human beings, but the ceremony and our words are the public declaration that they are now conferred with a new status, a new purpose in their lives.
In the same way, we read in verse 9 of our reading that Jesus came and was baptized by John in the Jordan, like everybody else. And as he was coming up out of the water at the completion of the ceremony, the voice of God the Father was heard. “You are my Son, whom I love. With you I am well pleased.” The presence of the Holy Spirit was then conferred on Jesus in the symbol of a dove descending upon him. And this is the climax of the passage. It's the revealing of the King. Jesus is the same human being that he was before. But this is the public declaration of the conferment upon Jesus of his status and purpose. It's not that Jesus became the Son of God at this point. Rather, it is at this point that he's publicly revealed as the Son of God. That all can see and hear the other members of the Trinity, the Father and the Spirit, conferring recognition and power upon him. And this is where I'd like to tie in our own baptism.
Baptism is meant to involve a public declaration of the conferment of a new status and purpose. If it's for a child, the parents and godparents are meant to voice this declaration. And that's why we have the ceremony of confirmation. It's the necessary act of the person, now come of age, to publicly declare their faith for themselves, just as there was a public declaration over Jesus when he came up out of the water.
So here's the question. Have you ever publicly declared yourself as a follower of Jesus? If you've been baptized but never confirmed? What's stopping you from publicly affirming your faith? If you are confirmed, you have made that public declaration. However, do people around you know that you belong to Christ? How public are you in your everyday life about your faith? And if you've never done either, maybe it's time to stop being anonymous and to declare your faith publicly.
So here's a challenge for this week. See if you can say something aloud, perhaps in front of someone else, that makes it clear that you are a follower of Jesus. Maybe that's as simple as telling a friend what you did today, coming to church. Maybe it's thanking God in front of your family. Maybe it's even telling a Christian friend, you know, “I want to grow in my faith.” Maybe I need to attend a Bible study.
Don't keep it hidden. Faith in Jesus is personal, yes, but it's never private. Our culture wants to say, keep your faith to yourself. Don't tell anybody about it. But we can't do that. Just as Jesus was publicly declared as the Son of God, so we need to publicly declare our faith.
So we've seen the context, we've seen the conferment on Jesus of his identity, his calling, his mission. And so finally, we come to the commission. And this, I think, corresponds to the address in the wedding service. I don't know how other ministers do it, but I use it as an opportunity to look forwards, to talk about what married life looks like according to God, and to insist that the couple are going to need his help for it.
It's so important that after the climactic moment of Jesus' sonship being revealed, the Spirit comes upon him and then does what? A little bit surprising, perhaps. He doesn't go straight into healing people or preaching the gospel, no. The Spirit leads him straight into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. But very importantly, very profoundly, this is Jesus now fulfilling the commission given to him by the Father. Because he comes not to be some aloof, far-off king who doesn't know what life is like for us. He comes to have solidarity with us, to sympathize with us in our own temptation by Satan. Jesus comes to get us covered in all the dirt and muck of life as the rest of us.
But even more than sympathy with us, this temptation did something crucial for us. Remember that the focus of Jesus' ministry is repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And the Bible describes sin as a great debt which we could never pay back; billions and billions of pounds worth of debt. And Jesus paid this debt on the cross.
But think about it. If your bank balance was minus £50 billion and a kind benefactor paid off that £50 billion overdraft, what would your balance be? Would it be back to zero? Is that a good place to be? Well, not ideally. Because as soon as you start spending, you go back into the red again. That's why Jesus not only paid off our overdraft, he also paid his own £50 billion into our account.
When it comes to God, our account is not one of money but of righteousness. We had a severe lack of righteousness that made us enemies with God. Jesus took away that lack of righteousness. He took away our sin. But he did more than that. He also pays his perfect righteousness into our account. Martin Luther called it the great exchange, our sin for Jesus' righteousness.
So when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and yet did not sin, he was earning for us that perfect righteousness so that he could pay it into our account. And so, as we consider this beginning, this revelation of the King by John the Baptist, let's end by thinking about our own righteousness, our own temptation.
The first thing we need to say about temptation is we need the Spirit to show us when we're actually being tempted. Most of the time, temptation and subsequent sin almost happen simultaneously without our notice. Something annoys us, we get angry. We don't even realize that the annoyance, the temptation, the anger, have all happened in a split second. The Spirit's job is to show us that that's happening. So in a minute, I'll pray that the Spirit will help us to begin to identify more of our daily temptations.
Next, when we realize we're being tempted, we can cry out to Jesus to help us. He knows what it's like. He spent those forty days being tempted by Satan. He knows how hard it can be. He calls on all who are heavy-laden with temptation to come to him for rest. (Those wonderful, comfortable words we'll hear in a few moments' time.)
And finally, when we give into temptation and we do sin, as we always will, let's not wallow in fear, in condemnation, as if we've gone and racked up another £50 billion overdraft. No, such a thing is impossible for a Christian. Jesus wants us to repent, of course, but more than that, he wants us to rejoice that he has given us his own righteousness, that nothing can separate us from his love, that when we come to him, we will never see a frown, we'll never see a ticking off, we'll only see open arms saying, “come to me, know what it is to be forgiven by me. Nothing you can do can separate you from me. Now come and enjoy my love.”