Isaiah 40. 1 – 11
Mark 1. 1 – 8
Fr Alex
In this new Church year we’ll be reading through the Gospel of Mark on Sundays – last year was Matthew’s, and next year is Luke’s – and today we hear the very beginning of his account of the life of Jesus.
Although Mark’s Gospel comes second, after Matthew’s, in the Bible as we have it today, everyone agrees that Mark’s account was written first – and that Matthew and Luke drew on Mark’s account in writing theirs.
So we’re hearing the first words of the first account of Jesus’ life. And Mark calls this account the ‘good news’ – the Gospel. It’s the only Gospel account that uses this word to describe itself.
So what is this good news?
Despite being the bginning of the first Gospel account of the New Testament, what we’ve just heard is packed with allusions to some of the most important events of the Old Testament.
Mark begins by quoting Isaiah directly, in language very familiar to Jewish listeners: “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.” Elsewhere, the prophet Malachi uses almost identical words: “I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me.”
By channelling these two great prophets, Mark is calling to mind the great calamity of the people of Israel – their exile and captivity in Babylon; and God’s promise to return them to their home.
And it goes back even further than that. The same sort of language is recorded in the Book of the Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament, when the people leave their slavery in Egypt and begin their long journey to the promised land.
The Lord says to Moses: “I am sending my messenger ahead of you … to the place I have prepared.”
In conjuring up these two foundational moments for the people of Israel, Mark is setting the arrival of John and the good news of Jesus right at the heart of the salvation history of God. He is telling us this is a big moment.
The description of John’s clothing reinforces all this, as he’s dressed like an Old Testament prophet might be, in camel’s hair with a leather belt; and he does Old Testament prophet stuff, like eating locusts and wild honey in the wilderness.
John is presented as a second Elijah, who in the Second Book of Kings is described in a similar way: “A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.”
And what John does when he appears puts us in no doubt. He baptizes – people come out to him at the great river Jordan, and pass through the waters to a new way of life.
If any inattentive Jewish listeners had missed the significance of the opening language of this Gospel, or even the details of John’s clothing, they surely could not miss the significance of this new ritual washing.
On their Exodus the people of Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea to escape the Egyptians, who were swallowed up as they tried to recapture them.
They then passed through the same waters of the Jordan to enter their promised land.
Later, when Isaiah promises the deliverance of the people from their exile in Babylon, he says: “But now thus says the Lord… When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”
We ourselves enter into this great salvation history at our baptism – our own passing through the waters. The prayer over the water recalls these events before asking God to bring the candidates to their own new birth, and to full and eternal life.
So what is happening here at the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel is clearly something of cosmic significance for the people of Israel. John is the most important person to appear on the scene for centuries.
But this great new prophet goes on to say that he is not worthy even “to stoop down and untie the thong of the sandals” of the one who is coming after him. “One who is more powerful,” who will “baptize [them] with the Holy Spirit,” not just with water.
This is the good news of Mark’s Gospel. Not just that God is making a new promise through a new prophet that all will be well in the future: but that all God’s promises, every single one of them, are about to find their fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
This is the good news that we prepare to celebrate throughout Advent; and it’s a gift to us today to be able to remind ourselves of the incredible significance of it all, in amongst the busyness and festivities of December.
We have this short period to enter into this salvation history afresh ourselves – not by another baptism, but rather by considering how we might listen to John and Isaiah, and make the path of our own journey of faith straight again.
What are the mountains and hills in our lives that prevent us from seeing the glory that God has promised to reveal to us? Where are the rough places and the uneven ground that trip us up when we try to come closer to God?
Where might we need to stop relying on our strength, and offer it in prayer to Jesus? The one whom, Isaiah says, will “feed [us] like a shepherd; will gather [us] in his arms, and carry [us] in his bosom, and gently lead [us.]”
May we be ready to greet him with joy when he comes. Amen.