12052020 – Mark 1. 1-8 Advent 2B
There are numerous reasons for my love of “this particular gospel.” Remember the word GOSPEL, means “Good News.”
The WORLD of the writer of the first gospel account has SOME similarities to that of our own.
These ARE NOT THE BEST OF TIMES…as you well know…and certainly understand.
The WORLD of Isaiah was a world of great calamity, despair, loss, and chaos. You did NOT know WHO or WHAT to believe. CONFLICT was on all sides. The future seemed dark and BLEAK.
The way things HAD BEEN were now suddenly CHANGED and GONE FOREVER. The FUTURE was unknown and uncertain. People were AFRAID and FRIGHTENED. NO one knew which way to turn…WHERE to go, WHAT to do.
HOPES get dashed.
DREAMS fade.
PEOPLE die. TIMES are UNCERTAIN.
Seemingly, EVERYTHING withers and perishes.
Sadness PREVAILS.
In the days of Jesus, and of John Mark, the Roman Armies were conquerors. They turned once-mighty nations into their slaves and INTO their servants. The Emperor was a god. He and he alone RULED SUPREME. It seemed like the whole world was IN bondage and IN servitude, IN captivity.
And it is into THIS DARKNESS, this dreariness, this sadness that Mark boldly dares to write the first hastily written account called “GOOD NEWS.”
It has been said that ONE of the most deeply felt needs is that of HOPE. The LONGING for a better day. The CHANCE or the opportunity for things to TURN themselves AROUND and GET BETTER.
A moment of RESPITE. A moment of COMFORT. A time to enjoy LIFE.
And it is into this world of CONFLICT, TENSION, DIVISIVENESS, and LOSS that the Gospel of Mark announces a time of HOPE.
It ANNOUNCES it, it PROCLAIMS it, it SCREAMS it from the mountain tops.
And it was IN the appearance of this strange, wild, ascetic, prophet-like- character who would first announce it.
Appearing in of all places…in the hinterlands, the outer lands, the wild regions of the wilderness across the Jordan River. A wild and wooly character, unkept, untrained…but an individual to be RECKONED with.
In the god-forsaken territory. In the land of thieves and robbers AWAY from all that is settled, and sacred and wholesome.
And here, in this region, a voice is heard above the sweltering heat of the day. Crying out…
Like a HERALD, like an EMISSARY, like a FORERUNNER he proclaims the beginning of the “GOOD NEWS.”
But before we get to the Baptizer (himself)…this Author is smart…kind of…
Before he INTRODUCES JOHN – he first TUGS on the strings of the heart.
He reminds ALL of his hearers of ANOTHER PROPHET…another MORE ANCIENT spokesperson. He reaches into the memory-banks of his people and addresses the anonymous 6th-century prophet – known to us as being Deutero-Isaiah.
Unfortunately, his ignorance is showing…while he tells us he is quoting from the Prophet Isaiah, those of us in the KNOW, understand that he is really combining, Isaiah 40. 3, Exodus 23.20, and Malachi 3.1. THIS OVERSIGHT on the author’s part gets him off to a bad first step or start.
IMMEDIATELY – Eyebrows are RAISED.
GRUMBLING can be heard.
FINGERS are pointed. And BEARDS are stroked. Are WE to take this guy SERIOUSLY? And, we have only got to verse 2 of his writing! Oi!
But introduce the forerunner, the herald, the emissary, he does.
AND STEPPING OUT on a “Mediterranean stage” is one John, the Baptizer…
And the first words out of his mouth, the first words of his lips…are IF you want to TURN things around, IF you want the days and the times to GET BETTER, if you LONG for HOPE, then you had better repent.
You had better CONFESS.
You had better GIVE IT UP to the Lord.
Turning around, going in a different direction starts here and now…but it starts with CONFESSION.
You know all that stuff you’ve been thinking…all that stuff you’ve been doing…all those words that you have been saying…it is TIME to stop right now. God’s SEES, God KNOWS, God HEARS, you are fooling no one, only yourself.
The TIME to get ready is NOW. The TIME to get ready is HERE.
He is coming. He is approaching…his footsteps can almost be heard.
BEFORE HE COMES get yourself RIGHT. I tell you; he is COMING SOON.
Amen.