Mark 1:1-8 I think that most of us—when asked about the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ—would talk about his birth. A baby in a manger and virgin mother and shepherds worshiping and angels singing is the greatest story ever told.
But the nativity of our Lord is not the beginning of the Gospel. The beginning takes place many, many years before. St. Mark writes about the beginning this way:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
The beginning of the Good News of our salvation in Jesus starts with a promise made by God—a promise that he would send a Savior to rescue us from all that Satan and our own sins have done to us. That promise of a new life was renewed again and again throughout salvation history in the words of the prophets.
Zechariah promised that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem as a king. Micah promised that he would be born in Bethlehem. Moses promised that he would be a great prophet. David promised that he would be surrounded by mockers in his death. Isaiah promised that he would be born of a virgin and be pierced for our transgressions and rise again.
That is what the Old Testament is: the story of Jesus--hundreds of prophecies given by the Spirit of God over thousands of years--the very words of God through his chosen prophets telling the world the Good News in the Savior to come—a Savior who would have a messenger, a forerunner who would go before him and prepare the people to receive salvation. God said: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,
In a few moments we are going to hear the message of John the Baptist and it is a hard message to be sure. That is why it is important that we understand just exactly who he is: that he is God’s messenger—chosen and sent by God as his representative. The words that he speaks and the work he undertakes is not done on his own authority but rather by the call of the living God of the universe. John the Baptist is:
the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
Just like all the faithful prophets who came before him (each of them with their own role to play in preparing the world for its Savior) the message of John the Baptist rebukes our sins and calls us to sorrow over our sins and amend our lives accordingly by abandoning those sins. And as we hear that message we need to remember that this is God’s Word to us for John the Baptist is God’s messenger.
John doesn’t undertake this work on his own. He doesn’t speak this own words. This is the work and word of the Lord and his message of repentance is the only way to be prepared to meet the Lord and receive his gifts of forgiveness and salvation because it strips away any mistaken ideas we have about our own holiness.
Often times people will chafe under this message of the law and it is a hard message to be sure! We don’t want our sins pointed out. We don’t like to hear that even our best works still bear the stain of sins. We don’t appreciate someone butting into our lives and telling us we have to change and to do it now!
We would much rather be told that we are better than others. That we are building up brownie points with God. That he is content with our best. That all of our human righteousness will somehow avail for our salvation on the day of judgment. But none of that is true!
John the Baptist—God’s messenger—came to speak God’s word like all the prophets before him so that we could understand our great need for a salvation that lies completely outside of us and rather than get angry at the voice of God through John, we ought to take it to heart like so many did in his day. St. Mark writes that:
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
A promise of God through the prophets was made, that God’s messenger would come before the Messiah to prepare the people for salvation and John appeared—doing that work and speaking those words and the people took it to heart and recognized that John was telling the truth-- that they had a need and they confessed that they were sinners.
None of that was any easier then, than it is now-- but neither is it any less necessary. The work and words of John the Baptist is still what is required if we are to be saved.
Our personal, individual salvation begins with acknowledging that we are sinners and confessing those sins for what they are: an offense against almighty God. That understanding of our sinful condition is not something we can do on our own—it is a work of the Holy Spirit accomplished in us through the Word of God.
What our fleshwants to do is make excuses for our sins and blame others. What the worldtells us to do is to compare ourselves to others and discover that we are not all that bad after all. What the devil tells us is that our sins are no sins at all but rather legitimate choices.
That is why we chafe under the accusation of the law—because our spiritual enemies are working as hard as they can to tell us that God’s Word of law is not really true—that our situation is not really as bad as all that—that od’s judgment really doesn’t apply to me.
What needs to take place instead is what was happening on the banks of the River Jordan—people took John’s message to heart, confessed their sin publicly, and acknowledging their need for salvation and forgiveness.
You see, they had given up on trying to save themselves. They had forsaken any notion making a way to heaven on their own. They had recognized their great need for God’s work in their lives and walking into the waters of the River Jordan their sins were washed away and they received God’s forgiveness and their lives from that moment on were different because of it—just as different as the one who baptized them. St. Mark writes that:
John was clothed with camel's hairand wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
There are two reasons that the Gospel writes mention John’s clothing and diet—one that applies just to him and one that applies to all of us.
First of all John’s clothing was like that of the prophets who came before him—especially of Elijah. That’s especially important because God had promised through his prophets that the forerunner of the Messiah would be a new Elijah and the rough clothing and simple diet of John was the same as Elijah’s.
The point is this: not only John’s words reveal the truth of who he was but so did every detail of his life—that he was the one promised by God who would prepare the way for the Messiah and that when he pointed to Jesus and said: behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world we can trust that John knew what he was talking about when it came to the identity of the Messiah.
But there another reason why John’s lifestyle is mentioned by the Gospel writers—because it indicates in a powerful, visible way that those who have confessed their sins and received God’s forgiveness are called to amend their lives in such a profound way that we are distinctive from the world around us.
Even for the people of that day who dressed very simply and lived very modestly, John’s mode of dress and diet stood in stark contrast from the rest of the world. Who he was, his identity as a servant of God, was revealed in his lifestyle and the words of Jesus that we ought not concern ourselves with food or clothing but learn to be content with God’s provision were fulfilled in his life.
So it was for all those who were baptized. Our lives are to be different because of what we had received from God. That doesn’t mean that we have to follow John’s example in every detail but it does mean that he shows the way to a life that is founded on the essentials of our relationship with God: sorrow over sins and faith in the forgiveness of Jesus.
That we have confessed our sins and received God’s forgiveness in the waters of Holy Baptism means that our lives will be recognizably different than the world around us—that how we live and the choices we make and the values we hold shows that we are not consumed with the values of the world but instead are people who trust Jesus’ promise that our heavenly Father knows our needs and will meet our needs because he has already met our greatest need in the gift of a Son. St. Mark writes that John…
preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
There is an old English proverb that says that good beginnings make for good endings and so it was in the ministry of John the Baptist. His work of preparation was not everything—but it was a necessary beginning and a promise from God that there was more to come.
That promise of more to come was fulfilled when Jesus of Nazareth walked down into the sin-filled waters of the Jordan River and identified himself with a world full of sinners, carrying those same sins to the cross where they were washed away by his shed blood, left behind in a dark tomb when he rose again.
All of the blessings of the Gospel that God intends for us were poured out upon us as Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the world to call us back to a life with God, making us his children and heirs of eternal life.
During this Advent season may we listen to God’s Advent messenger and heed his words of repentance! Amen.
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