Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun
Come Lord, join us here this morning
When our feelings grow large
When our emotions swamp us
And we lose our minds
And forget all the other
Things that are true
And real
And present
Help us to
Return
To You
Your presence
Inside
Helping us to abide in you
As you already abide in us
Often we think,
I think,
(Despite what we might
Otherwise claim),
That proof of your presence,
Of the Holy Spirit within,
Is a loud, dramatic
Display of fire
And power
And maybe
On a rare occasion, it is
But mostly we need you
To tenderly console us
To quiet and soothe our hurts
To encourage us forward
To our next little step
Mostly we need to know
You still love us
Still have our best interests
To heart
Still helping us along
Mostly
We need assurance
That it is safe
to trust you
Just now
Just like this
And all
Shall be
Well
With you
Amen
Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.
Intro: I’m thinking I should begin with an apology
I want to go through the Gospel of Mark for my own sake
– not as another “Bible study,”
• but to draw close to Jesus and spend time with him
◦ I need to listen to him– observe him– fill my heart and mind with him
• so I am going to take you with me
◦ and Mark will be our guide, our eyes and ears
◦ his stories will bring Jesus within reach
– my personal need is a recalibration
• I’ve acquired too many “priorities”
• when Martha was in a similar spiritual/mental state,
Jesus told her, “you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary . . .” (Lk. 10:38-42)
◦ that one thing was for her to sit awhile at Jesus’ feet
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ” (New Revised Standard Version)
At last! Some good news
– good news is always a relief, always hopeful
Some ancient manuscripts include “the Son of God” at the end of this first sentence
– but I’m not sure that Mark wants to reveal that aspect of Jesus’ nature too soon
• in fact, that’s sort of his primary goal in the story,
◦ to allow the characters in his story to gradually make this discovery
◦ Jesus did not make that a big announcement about being the Son of God
• in his first sermon in synagogue, a demon blurted out
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? . . . I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
◦ Jesus immediately shut him up and cast him out
– halfway through Mark Jesus asks his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
• even when Peter answered correctly, he told them not to tell anyone else (Mk. 8:27-30)
◦ it’s only after his death on the cross that the Lord’s identity was made clear
“And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mk. 15:39)
◦ that is the one place where we find someone outside of the disciples discovering the truth
– I think this is a central theme of Mark
• that as Jesus’ ministry unfolds, his full identity is revealed
• and following him, this is what we discover about him
Mark begins the story with a quote recorded hundreds of years earlier
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’ ” Mark 1:2-3
The prophecy is found in Isaiah, at the beginning of the final section of the book
– this is the first really good news to be pronounced on Israel, promising a bright future
• this section of Isaiah begins,
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem
and cry to her,
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned . . . (Isa. 40:1)
• after this comes the prophecy of a messenger coming to announce God’s arrival
Compared to Matthew and Luke, the next events fly by us
A couple of weeks ago, after reading this section of Mark, I made the following observations:
“Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life begins with a genealogy, revealing him as a person who descended from a long line of persons, and the lineage itself reveals a numerical symmetry. Luke provides a very formal introduction, with a clear statement of exactly what he intends to address. John opens with the spectacular beginning of the cosmos through the agency of the divine Logos. Mark, however, immediately gets down to business, reporting the good news of the kingdom of God embodied in a person
“[and] so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins” Mark 1:4-5
The concept of baptism was not new to Israel
– God’s design for his sacred tent included a large basin filled with water
• the priests would wash up before entering holy place
◦ they would also wash portions of ritual offerings
• it was a cleansing ritual
◦ but they were not washing away dirt or germs
◦ but “spiritual” contaminants — iniquities and imperfections
– this was based on idea that world consisted of two zones:
• the common or “profane” zone of daily life and the zone of the sacred
◦ but the traditions had expanded by time of Jesus
◦ homes of priests excavated in Jerusalem reveal baptismal pools in private homes
(Some scholars conclude that these homes belonged to temple priests; people qualified to have contact with holy things and holy spaces)
• John’s message and ministry of baptism were about preparation
◦ people came, confessed their sins, and were purified
◦ they were preparing themselves for the One who would reveal to them the kingdom of God
Mark paints a vivid picture of John
“Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey” Mark 1:6
His appearance and diet were consistent with a desert hermit
– someone who lived off the land (he has often been compared to Elijah)
• for me it’s important to recognize it was a statement
◦ he wasn’t conformed to the values of Israel’s society
• his role required absolute integrity
◦ any compromise with worldliness would disqualify him and ruin his work
Mark cuts out John’s longer speeches found in Matthew and Luke
He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” Mark 1:7-8
Mark is interested exclusively in Jesus, and emphasizes two points:
First, that Jesus is a much greater person than himself
Second, that what those who followed Jesus received would be superior to what John could give them
– what would Jesus bring that was unique? Extra special?
• water was a symbol, without any energy; in itself, water was inert
• God’s Holy Spirit, however, is living and transforming
◦ the Spirit isn’t restricted to the surface of a body, like water
◦ he penetrates a person’s interior
– Spirit baptism is the entrance of God into a person’s life
And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5)
Mark continues to rush through other critical moments
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, 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.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him Mark 1:9-13
Mark’s account of Jesus’ temptation leaves out the specifics
– both Matthew and Luke relate the three specific temptations Satan offered Jesus
• Mark also combines Jesus’ Baptism and temptation, moving directly from the one to the other
◦ but in doing this, I think he gives us something more than the other two Synoptic Gospels
– here, at the moment Jesus sets out to begin his mission,
• Mark creates a definite sense of the transition– FROM:
◦ his family and carpentry to multitudes and ministry
◦ and from Nazareth to the world
• Mark relates the transition as if it were a rite of passage
◦ cultures that celebrate rites of passage usually emphasize the transition from childhood to adulthood (when they become an independent and full-fledged member of the group)
– depending on the culture a rite of passage may include:
• a ritual in which a person symbolically crosses a threshold (this would be comparable to Jesus receiving his Father’s endorsement at his baptism)
• and an “ordeal” (a trial by fire), in which the candidates must prove themselves
◦ they face the monster, as it were, as Jesus did regarding Satan’s temptations
Conclusion: In Mark, two dramatic events are linked at the beginning and the end
The heavens were “torn” open at his baptism
The only other place in Mark where the word “torn” appears is in temple when Jesus was crucified, and the veil separating the holy place from the most holy place was torn
All the barriers between God and his people were removed
Through Jesus, God makes himself accessible to us
Then we have the moment where God spoke from the sky,
owning his Son at the beginning of his ministry
But then, when Jesus is dying and calls out his Father,
there is the terrible mystery of God going silent at the end
At the end of his book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg writes:
“Believing in Jesus in the sense of giving one’s heart to Jesus is the movement from secondhand religion to firsthand religion, from having heard about Jesus with the hearing of the ear to being in relationship with the Spirit of Christ. For ultimately, Jesus is not simply a figure of the past, but a figure of the present. Meeting that Jesus—the living Jesus who comes to us even now—will be like meeting Jesus again for the first time.”
Yeah, let’s do that!