Pastor Jonah Sage preached Mark 1:1-13. He said that Mark is a book of good news about promises coming true. Lector: Kara Tichenor
Pastor Jonah Sage preached Mark 1:1-13. He said that Mark is a book of good news about promises coming true.
Lector: Kara Tichenor
Some of the greatest stories ever told begin with the ending.
Saving Private Ryan is a movie all about saving a...private...named...ryan.
Very first scene is a man with his family over a grave, thanking soldiers.
We know the end from the beginning...but we're still caught up in Ryan's life
By starting this way, audiences are immediately hooked.
We're thrown right into a story with characters we may not know yet, curiosity spiked, anticipation building...we're hooked.
Pulp Fiction, Memento, Fight Club, even Forrest Gump...they all do this, and they are some of the greatest stories of all time.
The Gospel of Mark is the same. He tells us the end from the beginning.
Mark's is a gospel filled with secrets and tension
We have to prepare ourselves for an unfamiliar Jesus
We Americans tend to sanitize him, reform him into our image
We don't like Jesus leaving a whole town asking for healing
We don't like Jesus telling stories without giving explanations
We don't like Jesus asking questions without giving answers
We don't like heroes that are homeless, suffering on the outskirts.
But that is the Jesus Mark presents to us. And the Jesus of the Bible will disorient us.
Jesus as Mark presents him will leave us with unresolved tensions hanging in the air from Galilee all the way to Jerusalem
But Mark is a story that starts with the end, because Mark was written to people like us
It was written in a language called Koine Greek.
Written for people who did not look, talk, or think like Jesus.
If it had been, it would have been written in Hebrew.
But something happened...an announcement was made, and word spread.
Mark writes to people who don't know the Jewish language, traditions, or beliefs.
See, Jesus did not come just for Jewish people. He came for everyone.
To carry us through the confusion and unfamiliarity, Mark starts with the ending.
Opening line could not be more significant:
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
-Mark 1:1
This verse will carry us through all of Mark. Every word important.
"the BEGINNING." This is how the book of Genesis begins in Greek.
Alarm bells ringing for those with ears to hear...according to Mark, the introduction of Jesus into the world is no less significant than the creation of the world.
Through Jesus, a NEW CREATION is at hand.
This is why Mark can say this beginning is GOOD NEWS, or GOSPEL
Mark is a book of GOOD NEWS about JESUS
Mark's Greek speaking audience would know this word GOSPEL.
Most often it was used to announce victory in battle. Troops won. War is over. GOSPEL. GOOD NEWS. The war is over.
Mark is announcing good news like a man on fire.
He doesn't get bogged down in Jesus' birth, barely talks about Jesus' teaching.
Instead, Mark is announcing a new creation, he's announcing a VICTORY
And that victory is seen in the next two phrases, titles he gives to Jesus
Mark is good news about Jesus THE MESSIAH
Means chosen one, anointed one, fulfiller of promises.
This would not have been clear to Mark's Greek audience.
They probably thought it was Jesus' last name, like many still do today.
But in just a moment, Mark will begin tipping his hand.
Mark is good news about God's chosen/anointed one, Jesus who would fulfill God's promises...and then we get the next title... the SON OF GOD.
Not someone interesting, not someone with a new teaching...God himself.
And so we begin:
Mark is a book of Good news about promises coming true.
As we journey together, when stories seem unresolved, when the pace seems urgent and intense, remember: This is good news about promises coming true
And what remains in the first 11 verses are stunning pictures of what this means.
Vv 2-3 quote the prophets Malachi and Isaiah...a promise is being fulfilled
Remember: we are starting with the ending in mind.
But like a masterpiece of film or literature, we're going to receive glimpses, pictures...
The explanation will be REVEALED in time, but for now let's consider what we are seeing.
First, these verses from Isaiah and Malachi promised someone would come to prepare the way for God himself
This person is John the Baptist. He appeared in the wilderness, just as it was promised
And he was preparing people for the Lord, just as it was promised.
Look at what he's up to:
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
-Mark 1:4
The promise was a voice in the wilderness would cry "PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD"
The fact that John was preaching wasn't special, but what he announced was.
He said the LORD was coming, God was on his way...what should we do?
First, he says repent. Not a popular word these days, amen?
Before we get to what it means, can we talk about what it implies?
Repentance requires some actions to be healthy, some destructive.
Some actions to be human, some to be de-humanizing.
Some actions to be God's design, some to be sinful
And we don't like that message today, do we?
Those implications are accurate, regardless if we like it or not...but our understanding of what repentance means has grown shallow and corrosive
We see it as eroding our personal desires and preferences. Let's do a little history.
"Repent" was originally a Hebrew word. It was their idea. And the idea of that word was...
Repent = "to take a deep breath and sigh."
What do you do after you said that to your spouse in anger?
What do you do when you're sitting alone in a quiet house after breaking a promise to your child?
What do you do in the car driving after you've done that thing again?
Don't we take a deep breath and sigh? Can you see it? Can you feel it?
Eugene Peterson says that
Repentance at the root...seems to have the idea that you realize that you have done something wrong...and you feel it deeply; it gets down deep inside you, and you groan or sigh or your breathe deeply.
-Eugene Peterson, A Month of Sundays p.51
That's where repentance began, but the Hebrews saw it was inadequate.
A deep sigh didn't mean you wouldn't do, say, or think that thing again.
So they substituted a feeling word, like deep sigh, for an action word.
Soon, they started translating it differently:
Repentance = "turn around and go"
They realized that the feeling may be appropriate, but it wasn't guaranteed...especially if you keep doing that destructive thing long enough.
What really matters is not your feeling but your response.
You don't repent by taking a deep breath and feeling better...
You only when you turn around and GO toward God (Peterson, 52)
This kind of repentance is pretty much the only thing John preached about
Turn around and go toward God, because God is coming toward you.
For John, repentance was a preparatory response to God keeping his promises
How do we respond? BAPTISM.
This may not seem odd to us, but remember the world John is preaching in.
The Jewish religion prescribed many forms of ritual cleansing.
"Baptism" was not unusual...ritual washing before meals, entering the table, or other prescribed times.
"Baptism" was something that happened over and over and over again...because people kept sighing deeply over and over and over again.
But John's baptism happened one time. A singular baptism, a singular cleansing...
And John's baptism was not something you did yourself...someone did it for you.
All the deep signing, and the effort...meant to bring us to the deepest sigh of all:
We need to be saved.
John tells us what this means:
After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
-Mark 1:8
We are seeing the end at the very beginning.
John's baptism of preparation would give way to a baptism of presence.
This one who is to come would not offer us a ritual cleansing alone...
But he would baptize us in his very presence.
Just as people were submerged under the water of John's baptism, soon people would be IMMERSED IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD in Jesus' baptism.
We would be united with God
That is our ultimate healing: restored to fellowship with God.
Forgiven and healed. Saved, not over and over, but one time, once and for all.
And immediately after that, we see what this means.
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just 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."
-Mark 1:9-11
A promise made...a promise fulfilled. We are seeing the end at the beginning.
Mark is good news about promises coming true.
A promise that the Lord would come: his name is Jesus
A promise that the Lord would save: we would be immersed in his presence
A promise that the steadfast love of the Lord would rescue: his voice speaks over his son within us, telling us he loves us, he is with us, and he is pleased.
Mark is GOOD NEWS about promises coming true.
If you hear this news, prepare and respond.
Prepare by turning and going to the Lord.
Respond by being baptized, become united with Christ by faith.
Good news. The promises are coming true. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
LET'S PRAY.