Mark 1: 1-11
Theme: Salvation
A NEW BEGINNING
Have you ever longed for a new beginning? I would imagine that all of us wish we could do things over again. As my kids have grown up, I look back and there are many things I would have done differently. I think I would have spent more time with my wife and children. We tend to think in terms of the most important people and most important events in our lives. We would take back things we said and things we did. It must be the universal longing of the human heart to desire a second chance, a new beginning.
Israel was looking for a new beginning. They had a vision of the future that included gentiles and a new start for themselves. It was to be a world in which God’s will was done. Their past was marked with failures before God. Wouldn’t it be grand to have a new beginning? It was a great dream. It was also a promise of God.
Mark wrote with great excitement that the dream had come true. The title of Mark’s Gospel is "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Mark does not give us an account of the Birth of Jesus or his flight to Egypt nor says anything about him growing up. He is anxious to tell us about the gospel, the Joyful Tidings of Jesus Christ. Mark is deliberate in his choice of words. The use of the word "beginning" is reminiscent of the first book of the Bible. Just as there was a beginning when God created all things when all things were very good, this new era is a new beginning, it is an era of Good News, of Joyful Tidings.
Israel was never as close to God as they were when they escaped from Egypt. They dreamed of the day when God would once again be in the midst as he was then. This is the mature dream of God’s people. They knew what they had lost. If they could only be close to God again, to be in his presence. Often we dream of immature things, things that enslave us. We cannot imagine what God could do with us if we let him, if we were obedient to him. So we dream of making us safe or wealthy or successful. As a church we can dream of being bigger and successful. Nothing wrong with this dream, if it is rooted in the right motive. However, we can make an idol of our dreams if we are not careful. But, Mark begins with the deepest dream of all, to know God. And that is where all of our dreams should begin.
The prophets noted that one day, a messenger will come and he will prepare the way of for the coming of the Lord. Mark says that has happened! The one crying in the wilderness has come. John was that spokesman. He came as one who prepared the way for the coming King. This was a moment of cosmic importance because this was no ordinary king, this was the Promised One. No more waiting, no more hoping, the very desire of our souls was about to arrive.
The Hebrews were big on acting out events that took place in the soul. For instance, Passover was a yearly feast to remember not only God’s deliverance from Egypt, but his salvation as well. In that manner, John went into the wilderness of Judah to preach repentance. It was in the wilderness that it all began. It was in the wilderness that God took his beloved Israel to teach her about the ways of God. In the wilderness there are no distractions, it is just you and God. Even Jesus went into the wilderness to begin his ministry and he often went to a lonely place to pray. The wilderness became a symbol of renewal and new beginnings.
Word spread quickly that something was happening out in the country by the Jordan River. John, known as the Baptist, was preaching. He must have been a rugged figure. He was dressed in the garb of the old time Prophets, a camel hair tunic with a leather belt. He ate the food of the wilderness and the food of the prophets, locusts and wild honey. He was rugged and tough and the hand of God was upon him. His preaching was that of repentance, "turn away from sin." He called them to symbolize their repentance by being baptized in the River Jordan. It was a symbol of burying their old life and being raised up to a new life ready to follow the coming King.
Can’t you picture him, a hairy, rough cut man, the son of a priest who preaching was as powerful and straight forward as any prophet of old? He knew his place and his role. He said that one would soon come of whom he was not worthy untie his sandal. I come, He said, and baptize you with water, but he will come and baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And people came, Tax collectors and soldiers and sinners of every kind seeking to know God. Don’t be fooled! That is what we all need. If you think you need just one more thing to be happy or satisfied or fulfilled you are blind. Nothing can satisfy the soul except the long awaited Promise of God.
Then, Jesus arrived. It must have been an electrifying moment. This was the moment that the whole world had been waiting for, longing for even if they did not know it. And it was taking place by the Jordan River in this little, out-of-the-way place east of Jerusalem. And for a time, it became the center of the universe because God had become flesh and he was in their midst!
Jesus presented himself to John for baptism, an act of humility in and of itself. Matthew says that John was shocked, Jesus should be baptizing him and not the other way around. Was Jesus being baptized for the remission of sin? No! It was an act of identification with sinful man. He was fully plunged into our world. It was a declaration of something new. Here in the wilderness God had come among his people. Here in the wilderness was a new beginning. This was the beginning of the most profound event in human history. It was the most important moment since creation. And the people did not recognize it. They were like the Israel of old when they were delivered by God to the wilderness, they worried and fretted and longed for the onions and leeks of Egypt.
But, this was the moment. God verified it. When Jesus rose from the waters, the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and a voice from heaven boomed forth saying, "this is, My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased." Do those words remind you of something? Genesis? God created man and looked and said it is very good. What was happening, was on the order of creation. In fact, it was like creation all over again. Time was fulfilled and the kingdom of God was at hand.
It is part of being human to search for meaning and purpose, for a place to belong, for an identity, for restoration, for freedom, for a sense of completion. We try so hard don’t we. And all along we resist the only one who can help us. You can’t complete yourself. You cannot free yourself. You cannot restore your self, neither can you give yourself meaning nor purpose. We are sinners and we are fallen. In fact, in our fallen state, we are enemies of God, so it is natural for us to resist his grace. But, you cannot be made complete until God changes you. Your resistance to God in an indication of your problem, you are in rebellion to God, you are a sinner. But, even as a sinner you can feel in the depth of your soul the need of the Promised One. Even now, you are being called to the wilderness, the place of new beginnings. You are being called to repent, to turn away from your sin and to say yes to God by faith.
Are you thirsty for God? Does your soul desire something and nothing seems to fill it? Is there one thing missing that, if found, would cause everything in your life to make sense? Do you feel empty and worthless and condemned with no hope? There is One who has come to redeem you.
Jesus is our new beginning. When we come to Christ, we start all over again. He washes away our sins and makes us new before God. Is it time for you to leave the wilderness of your soul and come into the everlasting presence of Jesus who is our redemption, our salvation, the one who takes away our sins?