SERMON REVIEW

Promises Made and Kept

Mark 1:1-8 (NRSVUE)

Author and poet Maya Angelou once said, “I have great respect for the past.  You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been.”  The gospel of Mark starts off that way, going back long, long ago.  He doesn’t choose to begin with Jesus’ birth, and he goes further back than John the Baptist.  Mark wants to establish the arrival of Jesus as an idea that “began long, long ago in the mind of God,” according to Barclay’s Commentary, and the time of fulfillment of those promises is coming soon.  Advent reframes our patient waiting for the Second Coming by placing it in the center of a scripture passage that goes back to the early prophets, announces its fulfillment with the Incarnation, and then implies its future realization with the Second Coming.

Our sermon text in Mark 1:1-8 ties closely with Isaiah 40:1-11, announcing that there’s a prophet in the wilderness who is preparing the way for God (Isaiah 40:3) and proving that this God is actively involved in the process.  In fact, Isaiah 40 conveys God’s heart and desperate love for humanity.  Let’s set the stage by reading Isaiah 40:1-11.

Notice the urgency and the shepherd’s heart reflected in v. 11:

He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the mother sheep. (Isaiah 40:11, NRSVUE)

Our sermon text from Mark reaches back to these past promises and brings them forward to show their first fulfillment in the Incarnation, implying the promise of the Second Coming is just as certain.

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ² As it is written in ^[a]the Prophets:

⁴ John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance ^[b]for the remission of sins. ⁵ Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

⁶ Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. ⁸ I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

To begin our understanding of this text, we need to explore the context for this passage in Mark with its apocalyptic elements of Jesus our deliverer, truth telling, and outside expectations.

The gospel of Mark: its context and apocalyptic themes

Jesus Our Deliverer

As we discussed last week, Mark’s gospel can be considered apocalyptic because it stylistically reveals God’s intentions and Jesus’ identity in the beginning verses, setting Jesus up to be God’s strong deliverer:

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight,’ ”… [John] proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:1-3,7-8 NRSVUE)

Mark sets up Jesus as the “strong man” or deliverer in the opening verses and establishes God’s intention for the Divine to make way into our world that is fraught with evil, injustice, and unrest.  This is one of the characteristics of apocalyptic literature in that it offers hope and a higher and longer-term view of challenges in this world.

Mark continues to offer examples of Jesus’ “strong man” status by the early thematic organization of his gospel found in the first chapter:

• Mark 1:9-11 – The Baptism of Jesus – validating Jesus’ identity as the Son of God
• Mark 1:12-13 – The Testing of Jesus – summarizing Jesus’ victory over Satan’s testing
• Mark 1:16-20 – The Calling of the First Disciples – revealing the compelling call Jesus made
• Mark 1:21-28 – Man with an Unclean Spirit – showing Jesus’ authority over evil spirits
• Mark 1:29-34 – Healing Many at Simon’s House – showing Jesus’ authority over disease
• Mark 1:35-39 – Preaching in Galilee – reporting Jesus’ authority in proclaiming the good news
• Mark 1:40-45 – Healing a Man with a Skin Disease – showing Jesus’ authority over disease

Notice that the entire first chapter of Mark is devoted to establishing God’s intention to be present in our world and identifying Jesus as that presence, that strong deliverer.  This illustrates some of the stylistic elements that characterize apocalyptic literature in the Bible, but more importantly, “With the good news of Jesus Christ, God has already entered the struggle” that we face in living our human lives (Boston University Homiletics Professor, Rev. Dr David Schnasa Jacobsen).

Truth Telling

Mark isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to telling the truth about the Incarnation.  He begins by quoting Isaiah 40:3, but Barclay’s Commentary points out that similar wording can be found in Malachi 3:1, and in that context, its connotation is threatening due to the priests failing to fulfill their duties during the prophet Malachi’s time.  Their temple service was without joy or standards, and the “messenger” would purify the temple worship before the Christ returned.  Mark’s throwback to the prophets, stating that this was “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ” (Mark 1:1), illustrates how the Incarnation was “destined before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20).

John the Baptist was known as a truth-teller, forcing people to see what they would rather not see, and he was God’s messenger sent ahead of Jesus, who also spoke hard truths.  For example, John told an audience well-familiar with the ritual washings that were part of the Jewish law that they were unclean.  One can assume that this message would not be welcomed with open arms by those who prided themselves in keeping the finest details of the law.   This was the sin that Jesus entered: “the powers that perpetuate sin, the nations that nurture sin, and the structures that situate sin as justifiable” (Lewis, “A Truth-Telling Advent”).  Not only did Jesus enter our humanness and the sins associated with that, but also our institutions and cultural stories that enable sin and hide the truth of God’s love for all human beings.

The truth-telling relationship and parallels between John’s story and Jesus’ story should be noted.  Both began their ministries in the wilderness with the focus of proclaiming God’s restoration.  But true to the apocalyptic nature of Mark, John proclaimed Jesus’ supremacy, humbly offering that he was “not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.” (Mark 1:7), and then Jesus asked John to baptize him anyway (Mark 1:9).  Though John was not “worthy,” Jesus still wanted him to participate in moving the Good News forward.  It works the same way with us if we make ourselves aware and available.

Outside Expectations

In contrast to beginning his gospel with a factual genealogy (like Matthew) or a compelling story about conceptions and births (like Luke), Mark begins somewhere outside our expectations for a good, heartwarming Christmas story.  He offers no frills but shows how God has been bringing about the Incarnation – God with Us – and talking about it since the time of the Old Testament prophets.  In this manner, Mark tells us that we can look at this “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10) as a series of promises made and kept by God.  It gives us fuel to imagine the Second Coming could also be fulfilled outside our expectations as well.

Mark relies on disrupting our human expectations about how John the Baptist, Jesus, and even the Father should behave. John the Baptist, with his clothing of camel hair and his meals of locusts and honey, was outside the expectations of the Jews of his day. Jesus also did not meet the expectations of his culture. He had a humble beginning, and as an adult, he chose to spend his time with those deemed worthless by Jewish culture, such as children, women, the poor, and the sick. Mark’s gospel helps us to rethink our expectations for God, the Second Coming, and our interactions with others: “God’s good news of grace announces God’s presence on the fringe, God’s love that goes beyond the boundaries of where we thought God was supposed to be, and God’s promise that there is no place on earth God will not go or be for us” (Lewis, “Beginnings and Endings”). It’s this out-of-the-box approach conveyed by Mark that makes patiently waiting for the Second Coming possible. We can’t imagine the good God intends for us.

The examination of Jesus our deliverer, truth telling, and outside expectations helps us approach the second week of Advent thoughtfully. Mark 1:1-8 holds up an accounting of promises made and kept by the Incarnation. The fulfillment of those promises with the Incarnation did not always make people feel comfortable, and sometimes their realization took place outside the typical boundaries people expected. The constant assurance of Jesus our deliverer, though, helps us imagine the reality of the Second Coming while we wait and celebrate the gift of the Incarnation now.

Call to Action: This week, reflect on how Jesus our deliverer has shown up in your life. This could be something dramatic or it could be a simple knowing you had of God’s presence during a time when you needed it. Next, think of an instance when God revealed a truth to you that you didn’t want to see or posed a truth that was outside your expectations and comfortable boundaries. Offer thanksgiving for both if it seems right to you, and pray that you will be aware of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life, willing to hear and respond even when it’s difficult.