Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent, December 10, 2023

Isaiah 40:1-11+Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13+2 Peter 3:8-15a+Mark 1:1-8

For the past four weeks, a group of us have been meeting after this service to discuss the gospel of Mark. As we begin a new liturgical year, it seemed a good idea to take a look at the gospel with which we will be spending a lot of time over the next 12 months. Of course, Mark is the shortest of the gospels, so there is a healthy dose of John's gospel that we will encounter, as well, but, for the most part, this is the year that Mark takes center stage.

One of the fascinating aspects of this gospel is that Mark always seems to be in a hurry. He uses the word "immediately" an astonishing 41 times, or half the number used in the entire New Testament. Mark is in such a hurry that he can’t even begin with a complete sentence. "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1:1). Where's the verb, Mark?!

Mark is in such a rush that we get none of the Jesus backstory - no genealogy, no birth narrative, no childhood. We don’t even start with Jesus, but with John the Baptist. And while Mark has Jesus repeatedly telling those he heals to keep it all a secret, Mark gives away the ending with those opening words, "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." He will never be accused of burying the lede. Mark wants us to know from the outset who this Jesus is and what the implications of that are, so the way his version unfolds is, as one scholar put it, "a passion narrative with an extended introduction."[1]

There is also a subtle clue - at least for modern-day readers - that this narrative is announcing a messiah who is putting Rome on notice. You may recall that in John's gospel, the expulsion of the moneychangers happens at the beginning of the story (John 2) rather than at the end as it does in the other three.  Mark is not so obvious. The "good news" with which Mark launches his narrative - εὐαγγέλιον/euangelion - is the same word for good news sent out by the emperor when he wanted to give an update on some project or event, like the completion of a road or construction of some other public works project. That is not the kind of good news Jesus was about. Jesus was about a new world order, one that says that the first will be last and the last first, so those emperors trumpeting good news will find themselves at the end of the line when God's reign comes.

And who is it that gets to announce this new world order? None other than that wild man of the desert, John the Baptizer. He's out there calling people to repentance, preparing the way of the Lord. It is an interesting pairing of the Old Testament prophecy about a messenger (Malachi 3:1) crying out in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3), the full text of which is our first lesson for this morning, because while John might not be on the guest list of your next dinner party, he is the announcer of the Good News that is coming just as Isaiah was the one promising the exiled people of Israel that they would be ransomed.

Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her 

that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,

that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40:1-2)

John, for all his terrifying wildness, is bring a word of comfort. "God has heard your cries of distress and is sending the messiah to save us. So, get ready. Repent of your sins, of the ways you have missed the mark, be cleansed in the waters of baptism, and turn around toward the One who is coming, the One who is greater in every regard than I am."

Mark may not begin with a warm and fuzzy story of Jesus' birth or in giving us a list of his ancestors to make a case for his identity. Mark is getting straight to the heart of it all to tell us what a true messiah looks like. The kind of power he wields is not the kind that will overthrow the empire with worldly might. It will overthrow it with self-sacrificial love for those who have been at the end of the line, the back of the bus, for far too long.

Even today, we are called to repent of our sins, dip our fingers into the font and cross ourselves as we leave here today to be reminded of our baptism, so that we will be ready to greet the messiah when he comes. That is the kind of Good News Mark has to tell.

[1] https://abmcg.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=e0uiv