“The promised-yet-unexpected King”

Texts: Is. 40.1-11; Ps. 2.1-8; Mk. 1.1-15

The stories we live in

     What story are you living in?  This may, at first, appear to be a rather strange question.  It remains the case that we have all inherited stories from our family, our environment, our culture, our country of origin, etc.  The stories that we grew up in and that dictated the behaviour of the people around us were probably not spelled out very often, except perhaps on special occasions, like national holidays.  These stories provided us with a sense of identity, a sense of belonging to a certain people or place.  Personally, I grew up with an almost unconscious loyalty to England and the British commonwealth.  As a child, I always “knew” that, whatever book I was reading or whatever movie I was watching, the British were the “good guys”.  Since I grew up in a rural area of Québec, this was sometimes a problem, as my Québécois neighbours were living in a quite different story, one in which the “maudits Anglais” were the “bad guys”.  Growing up, my French-speaking friends would have had a very hard time convincing me – with a story – that the French were actually the heroes of Quebec history.

Mark’s daring story

     There is something similar going on as Mark begins his Gospel, his version of the story of Jesus.  Mark has a lofty aim – to persuade his readers that the central character of the story he is about to tell is not a tragic side-show to the centuries-long story of the people of God – as one may have assumed due to the way this character’s life came to an end.  Rather, Mark writes his Gospel in order to demonstrate that the hero of this story is actually the person that the entire history of God’s people had been aiming at.  For Mark, the Scriptures of Israel (Old Testament) tell a story whose final chapter is still unwritten.  To write this final chapter is Mark’s goal as he composes his Gospel.

Two prophets whose arrival was prophesied

     This is a bold move!  To dare to write the most important chapter of the story of God’s people, claiming that the person who had recently been executed as a heretic and a rebel was actually the person the entire story had been waiting for was a real tour de force!  Well, Mark’s Gospel is nothing if not daring.  Mark boldly proclaims his conclusion about Jesus in the opening line of his narrative:

“The beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah (the King)”.

In the second line, Mark hits us with the follow-up “punch”, as he quotes directly from the Scriptures:

            “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,’ ”

…so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness…” (Mk. 1.2-4).

     Mark introduces us to John the Baptist as one who is a direct fulfillment of Scripture, as someone that the Bible had spoken about.  As far as Mark is concerned, John is “Yahweh’s messenger”, the “one crying out in the wilderness”, the one who would prepare the way of “the Lord”, i.e. Yahweh, the God of Israel.  Let’s not forget that Yahweh had promised to return to his people after having abandoned them to their fate, to be exiled to Babylon six centuries before.

     While we are still reeling from Mark’s 1-2 combination, he hits us with a knock-out blow.  Mark introduces us to a second person whose coming had been predicted by the Scripture passages he quoted.  If John is the one who is preparing the way for Yahweh… well, what does it look like when the God of Israel finally returns to visit his people?  Enter Mark’s second character: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan” (Mk. 1.9).  This, Mark gasps, is what it looked liked for Yahweh to return to his people – it looked like a Galilean peasant who came to be baptized by John, to demonstrate his solidarity with John’s mission of covenant renewal.  This, by all appearances, “ordinary” individual from Nazareth is actually, dare Mark say it, Yahweh-in-person.

The royal Son of God

     As Jesus emerges from the Jordan River after having been plunged beneath the surface by John,

“he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mk. 1.10-11).

This image of the heavens being “torn apart” signifies that something “heavenly” is invading earth.  Something from God’s “space” (heaven) is coming into our space (earth).  The heavenly voice declares that Jesus is his “Son”.  Now, biblically speaking, this is nothing new.  As Psalm 2 says, the king of Israel was called the son of Yahweh (cf. 2 Sam. 7.14).  This is the first layer of meaning of this passage.  Jesus’ baptism is his “coronation” by God as the rightful king of Israel, i.e. the Messiah, the One anointed to be king of God’s people.

A story full of danger

     The story of Jesus’ baptism usually, I think, gives us a pleasant feeling.  However, there are dark undertones in this story.  To be a king is to be a target – to be the target of people’s anger, frustration, disappointment, hostility and rage.  All the more so when one is proclaimed king outside of the usual channels.  None of the official leaders of God’s people preside over Jesus’ baptism – no High Priest, no one from the Herodian family, none of the powers that be sanction this revolutionary act.  A grasshopper-eating prophet from Judea has designated a peasant from Nazareth as the king of Israel.  This is highly irregular – and trouble is sure to come of it.  Jesus is now a “marked” man.  He can no longer hide within the anonymity of his native village or the small town where he lives by the Sea of Galilee.  Think of all the trouble that David experienced once he had been anointed by the prophet Samuel to be Israel’s next king.  David spent years on the run, as King Saul tried, again and again, to kill him.  As Jesus is baptized, a flare is sent up to let the entire world – seen and unseen – know that the king is here.  Everyone who understands the signal is faced with a drastic choice – either to submit to this strange king or to resist his kingdom and perhaps try to destroy him.  The stage is set, and we are only 11 verses into Mark’s story.

The national Son of God

     Once Jesus has been baptized, the Spirit “immediately” (one of Mark’s favourite words) drives him into the wilderness where he is tempted by Satan for 40 days.  Here we see the second meaning of the biblical phrase “Son of God”.  Not only was the king of Israel referred to as Yahweh’s son, but the nation of Israel as a whole had been called God’s (firstborn) Son during the Exodus from Egypt (cf. Ex. 4.22).  As the “Son of God” in this sense, Jesus must “relive” the key moments of the story of God’s people, thus demonstrating that he – the individual Son – can succeed where the national Son had failed.  After the Exodus, the Israelites had spent 40 years in the desert; Jesus will spend 40 days in the desert, being “tested” (tempted) by Satan to see whether he will prove himself to be a faithful Son.

The good news of the kingdom

     In the fourteenth verse of Mark chapter 1, we find the first indication of opposition and hostility to what God is doing – we are told that John the Baptist is arrested.  We’ll have to wait several chapters before discovering what happens to him.  At this point, Jesus returns to Galilee and begins to proclaim the “good news of God”, i.e. the “gospel”.  Now, the word “gospel” is one we’re all quite familiar with.  Everyone seems to have their own definition of this word.  Indeed, entire denominations have been founded, claiming to offer the “correct” definition of “the gospel”.  Unfortunately, controversies often erupt around the most central and important ideas in the Christian faith – gospel, Lord’s Supper (or whatever term you prefer to refer to that ritual), baptism, etc.  These words easily become flashpoints for divergent opinions and interpretations.  While there is a time and place for debate and for “getting things right”, there is also a time to enjoy what God has given us, without having to prove that we’ve got the “right” understanding of it (but I digress).  Whatever we may think the word “gospel” means, it’s quite clear what Jesus thought it meant.  As far as Jesus was concerned, the “gospel” was all about the kingdom of God (another loaded term).  “The time is fulfilled,” Jesus said, “and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mk. 1.15).

God rules!

     As we read Mark’s story, it will soon become clear that the “kingdom of God” is not a place; rather, it is a reality.  It is the “rule”, the “reign” of God.  When God rules, reigns, exercises his kingship over the world, the world can experience true peace and justice.  Many of the Psalms celebrate the fact that Yahweh is king of the universe.  Jesus taught us to pray that God’s kingdom would become a reality on earth just as it is a reality in heaven (cf. Mt. 6.9-10).  When Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God had “come near”, he was saying that God was finally on the brink of exercising his rule over his world.  Ever since the Garden of Eden, the world has been in rebellion against its Creator.  Most people, most of the time, refuse to submit to God’s rule, to his kingship, to be a subject of his kingdom.  That’s why the world is the way it is.  In order for the world to know peace, it must submit to the wise and loving rule of its Creator.  For God to rule over the world is for God to save the world.  The kingdom of God means salvation for all those who submit to it.  As the king of the people of God, Jesus is the one through whom Yahweh will establish his kingdom and rule his world.  This is what Jesus was proclaiming, and he called this the “good news” (gospel).

     Now, at the time of Jesus, there were several theories around about how the kingdom of God would be established and how the kingdoms of this world (e.g. Rome) would be dealt with.  Many believed that they should use violence to defeat the enemies of God’s people and that once they took up arms, God would intervene in their favour and grant them victory and thus establish his kingdom through the violent efforts of his people (e.g. Saul of Tarsus).  Others thought that the kingdom would be established through a small community who would manage to obey the Law of Moses perfectly.  As we shall see, Jesus had a very different vision of the kingdom of God…

In your face

     Mark has, without much warning, thrown us right into the thick of things.  Yahweh, the God of Israel, the Creator of heaven and earth, has finally acted to fulfill his promises and save both his people and the whole world.  But he has chosen to accomplish all this in a very unexpected way.  Mark confronts us with the figure of Jesus, about whom we are given almost no information whatsoever.  Mark tells us the name of his hometown and bestows the title of “Messiah” upon him; beyond that, we don’t have much to go on.  We see how God calls Jesus his “Son”, the beloved.  We “hear” the first words that Jesus speaks, and they concern the kingdom of God.  If we know our Old Testament, we know that through his story, Mark is promising us that the ancient story of the Scriptures is finally reaching its resolution.  All the hints and hopes, all the promises and prophecies, are now said to be coming true.  Jesus says, “Believe in the good news” (Mk. 1.15).  Perhaps that’s easier said than done.  Is this the news we wanted, the news we were expecting?  Mark is saying, as we do, this is what it is.  This is what you’ve been waiting for, perhaps without even knowing it.  This is how Yahweh has chosen to establish his kingdom in the world.  Believe it!  Celebrate it!  Become part of it!

The gospel of God

     One of the first things to strike us about the message of the “gospel” as Mark presents it is that it’s not about us!  The “gospel” that Jesus proclaims is about God’s kingdom.  It’s not a message about my feelings, or even my destiny.  It’s news about God and God’s purposes, what God has done and is going to do.  Of course, God’s purposes concern God’s creation, including you and me.  But that’s not where we should start.  When it comes to the gospel, we should start by asking, “What is this message telling me about God?”  It is within the purposes of God that we discover the benefits of the gospel for us.  But let’s always be sure to start with God.  After all, as Mark said, it’s “the gospel of God” (Mk. 1.14).

Good news for the people of God

     Another aspect of the “gospel” as Mark presents it is his emphasis on the people of God.  Yahweh had chosen the nation of Israel to be his people so the Israelites could be his representatives and servants in the world.  Israel was called to be Yahweh’s instrument of salvation.  However, it soon became clear that Israel needed to be saved just as much as the other nations of the world.  Once Israel had proven herself to be a faithless covenant partner, Yahweh promised that he would save his people first, and once Israel had been saved, salvation would then be able to spread to “the ends of the earth” (cf. Ac. 1.8; Mt. 28.19-20).  This is why the emphasis of Jesus’ ministry was to heal and restore Israel (cf. Mk. 7.26-27; Mt. 15.24).  The “gospel” that Jesus proclaimed was good news for the people of God, for Israel.  Jesus said that God was about to fulfill his purposes for his people – so that the people of God could finally accomplish its mission of spreading the gospel of God to all the nations of the world.

Good news from the king

     We often call Jesus the “Saviour”, and that’s absolutely true.  However, we must never forget that Jesus can save precisely because he is the king of Israel (the Messiah, the Christ) and the Lord of the world.  As king, Jesus has been invested with absolute authority from God the Father (cf. Mt. 28.18).  Jesus is the king; he rules with God’s own authority and power.  This is why the appropriate stance for us to adopt towards Jesus is that of a servant, a disciple (apprentice), a subject.  We can humbly serve Jesus without fear because Jesus is a king who loves his servants, and elevates them to the status of friends (cf. Jn. 15.15).  Indeed, Jesus died for his friends.

     This is the kind of story that Mark is telling as he writes his Gospel (his book about Jesus) within which he describes Jesus’ gospel message of the kingdom of God.  It’s a strange story – it’s all about how God kept all his promises to his people in a way that no one had expected or could have predicted.  It was only after Easter that the disciples could go and read their Bibles again and finally understand what the Scriptures had been talking about all along.  May we get to know our living Lord better and learn how to better serve him as we read Mark’s story about him.  Amen.