TITLE: Realigning our lives
SERMON IN A SENTENCE: John the Baptist proclaims repentance.
SCRIPTURE: Mark 1:1-8
INTRODUCTION
And there are three things I want to share about John this morning.
"The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (v. 1). Mark begins his Gospel with a trumpet call, Now Hear This! He gets right to the point, and the point is "the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Even though Jesus Christ, used in this way, sounds as if they are Jesus' first and last names that is not the case:
-- Jesus is the name -- the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua, which means "Yahweh saves."
-- "Christ" is the title -- the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word "Messiah," which means, "anointed." In the OT, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil as a sign of their being set apart to their respective offices. Their service was imperfect, however, and the Hebrew people looked forward to the perfect services of the Messiah -- the perfect anointed one.
"the good news of Jesus Christ" (v. 1) can mean either the good news about Jesus Christ or the good news proclaimed by Jesus Christ. The first meaning makes more sense in this context, but it is possible that Mark's ambiguity is intentional -- that he wants us to savour both meanings --see v. 14, where Jesus proclaims the Gospel as well as embodies it (France, 53). In other words, Jesus preaches the good news and he is himself the good news
The Jewish people expect the Messiah to be, not only of the descendant of King David, but of the same type -- a strong ruler who will re-establish Israel as an independent and great nation -- a warrior/king. The suffering Christ whom Mark will reveal is very different from the warrior/king whom the Jewish people expect. However, this is not a gloomy book. Mark tells us from the beginning that this story is Good News.
"the good news (Gospel) of Jesus Christ" (v. 1). "As far as we know, this is the first use of the word gospel (good news) to refer to a written account of the narrative about Jesus Christ" (Craddock, 12). Mark's use of the word gospel leads to the use of the word Gospels to refer to the four books of the NT that tell the story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
Mark adds that Jesus is the Son of God. This Gospel is written for Gentiles, and the title, Christ, does not have the same authority for Gentiles as for Jews. The title, Son of God, however, speaks to Gentiles of an all-powerful being. By including both titles, Christ and Son of God, Mark denotes Jesus' authority in terms that both Jews and Gentiles can appreciate.
We should not miss the first word of this Gospel, "Beginning". We are reminded of the book of Genesis, which also begins, "In the beginning." Just as that book describes the beginning of all creation, this Gospel describes the salvation work of Jesus Christ -- the climax of God's creative relationship with the world.
The beginning, for this Gospel, starts not with a baby in a manger, but with a prophetic word. The quotation is from Isaiah which establishes that Jesus Christ is not a recent fix to a creation-gone-bad, but has instead been central to God's plan all along. Given that this Gospel is written for Gentiles, "It is all the more remarkable...that Mark begins his story with a reference to the OT" (Edwards, 26). He does so to establish "that there is no way to Jesus that does not lead through the Torah and the Prophets" (Bartlett). Jesus does not reject the salvation work that God has done through the Jews, but fulfils it (Matt. 5:17).
"As it is written in the prophet Isaiah" (v. 2). Mark identifies Isaiah as the author of the prophecy in vv. 2-3, but these verses actually incorporate portions of three OT books. The three scriptures in Mark's vv. 2-3 are as follows:
(a)"I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared" (Exodus 23:20). In the Greek, angelos can mean either an angelic or a human messenger. In Exodus, God sent an angel to lead the people on their wilderness journey. In this Gospel, the messenger is John the Baptist (Marcus, 142).
(b)"See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me" (Mal. 3:1). "In its original context it is a threat. In Malachi's day the priests were failing in their duty. The offerings were blemished and shoddy second-bests; the service of the temple was to them a weariness. The messenger was to come to cleanse and purify the worship of the temple before The Anointed One of God emerged upon the earth" (Barclay, 3). Mark reinterprets the verse to identify John as Elijah, who comes to prepare the way for the Christ as foretold by Mal. 4:5.
(c)"A voice cries out: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God' " (Isaiah 40:3). Isaiah wrote this verse during the Babylonian exile. The people were in despair, but Isaiah spoke of a new exodus. "Just as God led the people of the exodus through the desert on their way home from Egypt, God would lead the people of the exile through the desert. There would be a highway through the wilderness" (Arthur & Nestingen, 14). This, in fact, happened when the Jewish exiles were allowed to return to their homeland.
"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you" (v. 2). John will not only proclaim the coming of Jesus, but will also be a forerunner of Jesus in several ways:
-- The wilderness will be important for both their ministries.
-- Both will call people to repentance.
-- Both will be betrayed and arrested (paradidomi -- betrayed, delivered up, put in prison). Mark 1:14 tells of John's paradidomi, and 3:19; 9:31; 14:18 of Jesus' paradidomi (Brueggemann, 19-20).
The wilderness (v. 3) is key to Israelite history. The wilderness "is more than a geographical place; it is the place where God meets, reveals himself to, tests, and saves his people" (Brooks, 40). "Salvation traditionally comes from the wilderness. Moses, Elijah, and David all had to flee to the wilderness (Exod 2:15; I Sam 23:14; I Kgs 19:3-4). Likewise, Jesus will emerge from the wilderness to begin preaching the good news and will return there several times (Mark 1:35, 45; 6:31-32, 35; 8:4)" (Perkins, 531). It was in the wilderness that God tested the people and it was in the wilderness that they rebelled. It was in the wilderness that God saved them again and again, and the wilderness was the crucible where they became a nation. The wilderness was both a route to the Promised Land and a place of exile. It was a place where people sinned and where they also repented to restore their relationship with God.
Application:
Transitional Sentence: This is John’s Mission and I pray that it is ours too. What about John’s appearance?
It seems strange that John would go to the wilderness to proclaim his message. Why not go to the city, where people live? The answer is that the wilderness has special meaning to the Jewish people, as noted above. The answer is also that John the Baptist is the embodiment of Elijah the prophet, who was associated with the wilderness (1 Kings 17:2-3). The scriptures promised the return of Elijah (Mal. 4:5). John's dress and diet link him with Elijah (1:6). Later, Jesus will tell us that Elijah has, indeed, returned (9:13). This clearly points to John, whose arrest is mentioned at 1:14.
John comes preaching "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (v. 4). "It seems...likely that John's baptism recalls and revives God's foundational covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai in which the entire people were summoned to be a 'kingdom of priests and a holy nation' (Exod 19:6; 23:22; also 1 Pet 2:9).... The Israelites signified acceptance of their covenant relationship with God by washing their clothes and purifying themselves before entering into the covenant at Sinai (Exod 19:10)" (Edwards 30).
John's is "a baptism of repentance" (v. 4). We tend to think of repentance as feeling guilty for our sins, but guilt is just one aspect of repentance. The Greek word, metanoia, means a change of mind or a change of direction. When we change our thinking, we will respond by changing our direction as well.
"The Greek word (for repentance -- metanoia)... has been immeasurably deepened by the influence of the Jewish concept of tesubah (lit. 'turning' or 'return'), which has its root in the call of the OT prophets for the nation to return to its God and implies a total change of spiritual direction" (Marcus, 150). "The text makes clear that repentance, baptism and forgiveness of sins belong together" (Williamson, 32). Jesus will also call people to repentance (1:15).
It has been more than three hundred years since a prophet was active in Israel, and the people think that the age of prophets is past. Now, learning of John the Baptist and his wilderness proclamation, they flock to hear him. "All the people of Jerusalem" (v. 5) is clearly hyperbole (exaggeration for effect), but it clearly means that the people of Jerusalem are drawn en masse to hear this new prophet, who was promised (Mal 4:5), but who nevertheless appears unexpectedly.
Not only are people willing to travel to the wilderness to hear John, but the wilderness is part of the attraction. Big city people dream of the countryside -- an idyllic, quiet, peaceful, innocent place. Drawn to the city by the promise of money and excitement, they find themselves yearning for the uncalculating neighbourliness, uncomplicated friendship, unvarnished truth, uninflated prices, and unpretentious living that they left behind.
John's location in the wilderness identifies him, not only with Jewish history, but also with a freshness that makes it possible for people to repent and to receive forgiveness for their sins. People who were once attracted to the excitement of the city now find themselves attracted to the excitement of a new prophet in the wilderness. They go "confessing their sins" and seeking baptism (v. 5).
Applications:
Transitional Sentence: Finally, we look at…
The people throng to hear John, but he redirects the focus to the one who is coming. He identifies that one as more powerful than himself, no small claim given John's great charismatic power. Nobody has seen such prophetic power for three centuries. Not in living memory has any person has ever seen such power -- but John says that his power is nothing compared to that of the one who is to come.
John says that he is "not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals" (v. 7). The task of untying someone else's sandals is so menial that disciples are specifically exempted from such duty (Marcus, 152). It is a task for slaves, but not Jewish slaves. Only Gentile slaves are required to perform such service (Edwards, 33). When John says that he is unworthy to untie the thong of the sandals of the one who is to follow, he is saying that the social distance between him and the one who is to come "is greater than that between a master and a slave" (Perkins, 533). The point is not that John is so unimportant, but rather that the one who is to come is so great.
"I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (v. 8). This will not be the first time that the Jewish people have received the Holy Spirit in the wilderness. During the Exodus, God "put within them his holy spirit" (Isaiah 63:11), and "the spirit of the Lord gave them rest" (Isaiah 63:14). "As the first exodus had been a going forth into the wilderness under the leadership of God's Spirit, the prophet announces the second exodus as a time when there will be a fresh outpouring of the Spirit (Isa 32:15; 44:3)" (Lane, 52). "Therefore, the Baptist was declaring the dawn of a new day of salvation, not simply a new baptism" (Guelich). He also introduces Jesus as both a dispenser (v. 8) and a recipient (v. 10) of the Spirit.
Now, after centuries of prophetless, spiritless history, John promises that Jesus will baptize (immerse, submerge, overwhelm) them with the Holy Spirit. It is an exciting promise indeed -- Good News for sure! "The final purpose of the coming of Jesus is to bring about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness, spiritual healing, restoration of right relationship, deliverance from the demonic, incorporation into the people of God, and a host of other things matter. Yet they are all subordinate to one overarching goal; the baptism in the Holy Spirit secured by Jesus Christ" (Abraham, 163).
Applications:
Conclusion:
There is much to learn from John in his mission in life, and how he lives out that mission in his message throughout his life and in constant awareness that Jesus receives all the glory. May we be like John in His Mission, His Message, and His Master.