This morning we are beginning a journey through the book of Mark, which will take us all the way through to the end of August – a chapter a week. So, what do we know about the book of Mark? We know that it is the shortest of the accounts of Jesus’ life that appear in the Bible. It is likely that it was the first one written down, probably about thirty years after the events it describes. It is based on the eye witness testimony of people who were there, who saw these things happen for themselves. It is probable that the author, Mark, saw some of them for himself.
That is a bit of background about the book, and we will discover more about it as we journey through. One of the first things that might strike us is what is missing. It doesn’t start at the beginning of Jesus’ life. There is no Christmas story here, no account of his birth or of his early life. You see Mark is in a hurry. He wants to get on with it. As we read through, we’ll find him keeping the pace up – immediately and straight away are some of his favourite words. The action keeps coming.
So, if he doesn’t start with the birth of Jesus, what does he start with? He starts by telling us what he’s going to write about – what the book is about. He writes, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah”
There are three things that I want to highlight from this introductory verse.
Mark believes that what he is sharing is good news. I wonder what you think of as good news. One of the things we’re doing this morning is celebrating Atlas, and the good news of his birth and the joy that he brings to his family and friends. Maybe for you good news would be a successful job application, or the exam results you need, or a successful medical treatment.
Sometimes I fear that Jesus is thought of as bad news. Someone who wants to stop you having fun, lots of rules, maybe you have an idea that God is someone to be scared of, or who is so far away that they’re not approachable.
But Mark claims that the story of Jesus is good news, it is something to celebrate, something positive and life giving.
And this leads me on to the other two things I wanted to draw out from his introduction. I wonder if you know what your name means? I don’t know why Tamara and Stefan chose the name Atlas. In the western tradition the name Atlas comes from the Greek titan who was thought to hold up the world and symbolises strength and endurance.
The name Jesus has a meaning as well. In Hebrew it means, “God Saves”. So Jesus’ name summarises the good news that he brought. Whatever we need to be rescued from, whatever shame or guilt or addiction is holding us down, Jesus comes to bring God’s rescue, to save us.
There’s another word in that introduction that isn’t one we normally use in English – Messiah. This is another Hebrew word. Sometimes we use the Greek word that means the same thing – Christ. When we talk about Jesus Christ, it’s not that Christ was Jesus’ surname – like mine is Carter. Christ or Messiah was a title for Jesus. It means “God’s chosen”. It means that Jesus was the one that God had chosen and sent to rescue the world, any everyone in it. This is all good news for us.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to go through every verse in such detail – you will get to your baptism party, and home for lunch.
After the introduction, to the book, we hear about John the Baptist and the way in which he prepared the way for Jesus, as a messenger going ahead of him. We find here that baptism, which in that time would have meant being dunked in the river, was something that was around before Christianity. It was a way of people showing that they had put their past behind them, were sorry for the things that they had done wrong, and that they wanted to turn over a new leaf, to live differently. This what it means when it says that John preached a baptism for repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
As he’s doing this, John is telling people that someone else is going to come, some one who won’t just baptise them with water, but with the Holy Spirit.
This is what is added to the meaning of baptism in the Christian understanding. Not only is does it symbolise the washing away of sin, but when someone is baptised, the Holy Spirit works in their lives to help them live for Jesus for the rest of their lives. That is what has happened for Atlas today, as we have made declarations on his behalf, and have promised to help him grow up as a follower of Jesus.
And now, Jesus comes onto the scene, we meet the person who is going to be good news for the whole world. Notice how Mark introduces him. “Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee.” Jesus is introduced as a man who had a home town, a place, up north, that he was from. As I said earlier, we don’t have the Christmas stories, making the point that Jesus was a real human being, but in this short sentence, Jesus is rooted in a real place, in the real world – a real human being.
And then Jesus is baptised, he goes down into the water, and comes up again, and as he does this amazing thing happens. He saw the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit came down on him and his Father spoke from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love.”
Here we see all three persons of God, at the same time: God the Father speaking, God the Son hearing, and God the Holy Spirit descending. Today is a special day in the church year when we particularly think about God the Trinity. This can be a difficult thing for us to get our heads around. How can God be three and one? Our human brains can’t cope with it. We have no real experience of anything else that is one being in three persons. And to be honest, I’m OK with that. If my human brain could understand everything about God completely, I think that would be a bit disappointing and unexpected. God should be beyond our understanding, it’s good practice in humility for us.
What is really important for us to understand that whatever else we say about God, love is at the centre of who God is. The Father says, “This is my Son, whom I love”. Tamara and Stefan know what it is to love a son, for there to be someone who is the apple of the eye, who is their priority, who they would sacrifice for.
The other thing that I want to highlight from this is that by calling Jesus, “Son”, God is showing that Jesus is truly God. We’ve already seen how Mark presents Jesus as truly human – he was from Nazareth – a real place, at a real time. And now we see Jesus presented as divine – truly God. The Christian claim, Mark’s claim, is that Jesus was both God and human. It is because he is both that when it came to the end of his earthly life, death couldn’t hold him, and he could return to life and on to heaven, where he is now. It is because he is both, that he can be the good news, that he can rescue us from whatever is we need saving from.
Finally, having been baptised, having received the Holy Spirit, having heard these encouraging words of love from his Father, Jesus is sent out into the wilderness to face hardship and trials, being tempted by Satan, the accuser.
No one should think that living as a Christian, following Jesus, is easy. It’s not. It often involves facing trials, temptations, difficulties. It did for Jesus. This is one of the reasons that we prayed for Atlas, that he might stand bravely against all the powers of evil. You see baptism is a commissioning for a life of service and of struggle. Not only have we said on Atlas’ behalf that he is going to turn away from all the dark forces in the world and towards the light, but we have commissioned him to fight for the light against the darkness.
It is my prayer for him that he will live up to his name and endure and persevere in that fight, and that he will overcome. And it’s my prayer for all of us that we will hear the good news of Jesus, be freed from all that holds us captive, be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit that we can share that good news with others, just as Mark did.
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