Mark 1:1-8 — “The Beginning of the Gospel…”

Mark 1:1-8 

 ¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

 ² As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
 "Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
   who will prepare your way,
³ the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
                'Prepare the   way of the Lord,
                       make his paths straight,'"

 ⁴ John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and                                

       proclaiming a baptism of repentance

                                    for the forgiveness    of sins.

 ⁵And 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.

⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair

                 and      wore a leather belt around his waist

                 and      ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷

                         And he 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. ⁸

           I have baptized you with water, but

           he will baptize   you with the Holy Spirit."

Comments:

Photo by Robert Murray on Unsplash

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight"(v.2-3) this quote from Isaiah is used in all four New Testament Gospel accounts. That means it was an important aspect of communicating the message of Christ to all four different audiences, and by extension should be important to us as well. So how do we make his ways straight? First, we need to ask how the original hearer/reader would have understood the passage. When those who had an understanding of the OT would hear a portion quoted, they generally knew it well enough that it would bring to their remembrance the whole passage in which it was contained. I would suggest that we take the time to read this passage in its original context in Isaiah 40:1-5. What can we learn about this quote from this larger context in Isaiah?

¹ Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
    that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
    double for all her sins.

³ A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
⁵ And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Did that change your understanding of this Isaiah quote and help you to perhaps understand John’s attitude and method?

So how do we “make his paths straight”? It would seem that it requires us to repent of our own crookedness. It means we don’t make him chase us all over the place like some rebellious sheep, but instead, we respond to his loving call. Because his values become our values we begin working to root out social and structural injustices in the world so that this land might be a place more fitting for the King of kings to reign. Also, a “baptism of repentance” is a death to self and the selfish actions of our past, and a choice to live humbly in a relationship with God. John the Baptist was a straight-shooter. He didn’t hold back from calling the “respectable” people to turn from their sin, but at the same time, he gave hope to the hopeless ones that the religious leaders had written off.

Here are a few other Bible passages that use similar terminology and deserve another look.

God leads us in a straight path:

• Psalm 107:7 “He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.”
• Proverbs 3:6 “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Prophetic judgment was also pronounced on those who make the way crooked in Micah 3:8-12,

·         But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
    and to Israel his sin.

⁹ Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
¹⁰ who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
¹¹ Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    its priests teach for a price;
    its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the Lord and say,
    “Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
    No disaster shall come upon us.”
¹² Therefore because of you
    Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
    and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

And in the New Testament, 

• Acts 13: 8-12  But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Will we make straight the paths of our heart in response to the poured out love of God?

Will we make straight the path of justice for others so that they can come to Christ without the roadblocks of oppression and injustice?

How will we respond to the good news that God has not abandoned us and in fact has made a way for us to be forgiven?