Mark 1.1-8
The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in the prophets, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’
John was baptizing in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.
And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong 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.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In recent days we have read much from what are often called the Nativity Narratives. These are the passages at the beginning of the Gospels of Saints Matthew and Luke which tell us of the conception and birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Saint Matthew tells us of the Magi, Herod’s plot to kill the infant Christ, the escape to Egypt, and the visions Saint Joseph had telling him how Jesus had been conceived, that he should take Mary and the Child and flee to Egypt, and when it was safe to return. These visions lead many to believe that it was Saint Joseph himself who was the source for much of the information that Saint Matthew used for this part of his Gospel.
Saint Luke, on the other hand, tells us of the Archangel Gabriel, the journey to Bethlehem for the census, the laying of the Baby Jesus in the manger, the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, the appearance to them by the angelic host, as well as the story of the conception and birth of Saint John the Baptist. Given the details that Saint Luke records, many consider that it must have been the Holy Theotokos herself who was the primary source of the information he used for the writing of his infancy narrative.
Saint John’s Gospel makes no mention of our Lord’s childhood. Instead, we have what is called his Prologue, a passage in which he explains that Jesus is the pre-existent Word of God, through Whom all things were made, and that Word was made flesh and came to dwell among us. What is Saint John’s source for this? Well, we may recall here that he is the one referred to in the Gospels as the disciple whom Jesus loved. I think it is safe to say that he knew exactly who Jesus was, because he heard Jesus said and saw what Jesus did.
And then we have the beginning of Saint Mark’s Gospel, which we read today. This has no accounts of prophetic dreams, angelic appearances, visiting wise men, or evil kings. It does not even make reference to Christ’s virginal birth and conception. Indeed, it makes no mention of the Holy Theotokos at all. Instead, we get a single short and rather stark line: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Now, as I’m sure you are all aware, Saint’s Mark’s is the shortest of the four Gospels. Even so, this seems brief even for him. However, given his tendency to focus on the bare-bones essentials in his Gospel, it seems reasonable to assume that he considers that this single line is sufficient, that it tells us everything that he thinks that we need to know for his purposes. This is not to say that what the Gospel writers tell us is unnecessary. What I mean to say is that they have their approach to the story and Saint Mark has his. And his approach requires only this one line.
So, what does this line tell us? It starts by saying that this is the beginning of the Good News. The word ‘beginning’ is significant. It has echoes of the very first words of Sacred Scripture ‘in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ We are reminded here of Divine Purpose and Action. Then, God created the world. Now He sets about the Salvation of Man.
In what way is that Salvation beginning? By the Good News of Jesus Christ. The word ‘Gospel’ means good news, so another way of saying this is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saint Mark chooses to begin his account of that Good News, his Gospel, at the beginning of our Lord’s earthly ministry. The other Gospel writers choose other places to begin. The choice each one makes does not make the choices the others make more or less important. All are part of the Good News; all are written men under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Even the fact that Saint Mark says it is the Good News of Jesus Christ is important. We are so used to hearing our Lord referred to in that way, it is easy to forget that it would have been an unusual enough way to speak of someone in that time and place. For Christ is not a name, but a title. When Saint Mark calls him this, he is not simply telling us the name of a man Who once walked the earth; he is telling us Who He truly is. He is Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the One God promised he would send, the One the Father did send into the world for the Salvation of mankind.
And then come the final words of that single line, the words that tells us that that the promised and long-awaited Messiah is more than man could have expected, hoped or prayed for. For this Christ is no mere man. He is the Son of God Himself.
So, there is a huge amount of information packed into these few words. And they tell us all that Saint Mark felt was necessary to begin his account of the Good News of our Lord and Saviour.
But, given that I spoke above about who might have been the sources for the information contained in the beginnings of the other Gospels, we might well wonder who the source for the beginning of Saint Mark’s Gospel is. Well, tradition tells us that it was Saint Peter who was the main source of what is recorded in this Gospel. And we know that elsewhere in the Gospels that, when Jesus asks His disciples Who do they think He is, Saint Peter responds by saying ‘You are the Christ! You are the Son of the Living God.’ And our Lord responds to this by saying ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For you did not learn this from man, but my Father in Heaven has shown you this.’ Christ Himself tells us that Saint Peter was given a direct revelation from God the Father as to Who Jesus really was. And given that, perhaps it is little wonder that Saint Mark thought he needed to say only the few words he used to begin his Gospel. For he understood that what the Father revealed, the Son confirmed, and the Holy Spirit inspired him to write was enough. Amen.
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