A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (22)

 


“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 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 the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” (Mark 1.1-4, 9)

     We have just discussed Peter’s confession of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah of Israel.  Jesus’ relationship to the people of God is that he is their king.  But what about Jesus’ relationship to Yahweh, the God of Israel?  What about Jesus’ “divinity”?  Many Bible readers assume that Mark has spelled it out in the very first verse of his Gospel; after all, he says that what follows is the good news of Jesus…the Son of God.  For many Christians, it’s case closed.  “Son of God” is taken to be synonymous with saying “Jesus is divine”.  Connected to this is the assumption that the title “Son of Man” refers to Jesus’ humanity.  Simple…right?  Actually, Mark’s way of identifying Jesus with Yahweh is much more subtle and multi-faceted.  As we’ve had occasion to see, the title “son of God”, biblically speaking, refers to the king of Israel (cf. Ps. 2.7; 2 Sam. 7.14; or the entire nation of Israel: Ex. 4.22; Hosea 11.1).  So how does Mark seek to draw our attention to the fact that Jesus is much more than a prophet, a priest or even a king?

     Mark doesn’t waste any time in pointing out that Jesus does what, in the Scriptures, Yahweh does.  Mark opens his narrative with two prophecies from the Hebrew Bible – Malachi 3.1 (=Mk. 1.2) and Isaiah 40.3 (=Mk. 1.3).  Both of these prophetic oracles describe Yahweh’s return to Zion (i.e., Jerusalem) after the 70-year captivity of the Judahites in Babylon (cf. Jer. 25.11-12; 29.10).  Yahweh would send a messenger to prepare his way, a “voice crying out in the wilderness” who would summon people to pave the road upon which Yahweh would journey back to his “house” (i.e., the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem; cf. Ez. 11.22-24).  Immediately after quoting these two predictions of him who would “prepare the way”, Mark says “John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness” (1.4).  Mark could not make his case any plainer – John is the messenger, the one who prepares the way…of the Lord.  But who is “the Lord” for whom John prepares the way?  Enter Jesus from Nazareth (1.9).  Mark introduces Jesus as the fulfillment of the Jewish hope for Yahweh to return to his people following the judgment of exile.  Jesus is the very presence of Yahweh with his people.

     The next way that Mark shows that Jesus is to be equated with Yahweh is Jesus’ endowment with divine authority.  This first comes to light when Jesus begins to teach in the Capernaum synagogue (1.21-22).  The people immediately recognize that Jesus’ teaching is unique in its authority.  Next, Jesus performs an exorcism – unclean spirits must submit to Jesus’ authoritative word of command (1.27).  The next time Jesus’ authority is on display happens when he is at home, teaching a large crowd of people.  A paralyzed man is carried to Jesus by four of his friends, and “when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven’” (2.5).  The scribes immediately spit out: “…Blasphemy!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (2.7).  Exactly.  Jesus then declares that “…the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (2.10).  What is he talking about?  If “Son of Man” was simply a way for Jesus to refer to himself (as a human being), this statement seems to be a non sequitur.  But, when we look at the biblical origins of this phrase, a richer picture emerges.  In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel has a dream in which he sees “one like a son of man approach the Ancient of Days (i.e. God) on the clouds of heaven in order to share God’s throne and receive an eternal kingdom” (Dn. 7.9-10, 13-14).  For a human being to be given a place on the divine throne is for that person to receive authority to act in God’s name; more than that, to act with divine prerogatives, as God.  As it turns out, “Son of Man” has a lot more to do with Jesus’ divine nature than “Son of God” does!  Malachi, Isaiah, Daniel – Mark is demonstrating how Jesus of Nazareth does what, in the Scriptures, Yahweh does (or what those to whom Yahweh delegates his authority, his reign, his kingdom, do).  But we’ve only scratched the surface…

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