When something fantastic happens to children they immediately run to you, shouting while breathlessly telling you what just happened in short phrases that are not even close to complete sentences.  Sometimes they will shout a few words and just point in the direction to turn your attention to what they want you to see.  As children we’ve all done it, as adults we still do it when the news is so fantastic that we instinctively save time by skipping paragraphs of explanation and jumping right to the bottom line!

Mark’s gospel does the same!  Mark is exited to tell the Good News!  Mark jumps right in, wasting no time, in getting down to business—a single-sentence introduction, and not a digression to be found from beginning to end.  Matthew outlined the lineage and heredity of Jesus, his birth, along with information about his earthly parents and His training as a young Jewish boy.  Mark begins with an event that has taken place that radically changes the way we look at and experience the world.  Yes, Mark simply cannot wait to tell us about Jesus!  The sooner we get the message, the better off we will be, for the message is good, incredibly good: God is here, and He’s on our side!

Mark 1, The Message

John the Baptizer

^1-3 The good news of Jesus Christ—the Message!—begins here, following to the letter the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

Watch closely: I’m sending my preacher ahead of you;
He’ll make the road smooth for you.
Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!

^4-6 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey.

^7-8 As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”

^9-11 At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Hope has arrived. Take notice!  The Messiah has come!  God said it and it is happening!

John, Jesus’ earthly cousin born a few months before Him, was assigned by God from the birth to “prepare the way” for the Good News of the Messiah who was promised to come and save them.  Jesus is the promised one, The Messiah.  Jesus is also Son of Man and Son of God at the same time. 

Jesus’ baptism declared Who he was, the sinless One, who would wash away the sins of the world with His own blood.  The holy act of baptism signifies we believe in Jesus who washed away (removed) our sins from us!

Jesus, God’s Son, was connected to God and in complete obedience to God’s mission.  This pleased God greatly and could not keep from telling the world as God affirmed His Son! 

Wow, what a thought!  God split the clouds and spoke to His Son as He began His journey to fulfill what God said centuries earlier that He said He would.  “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”  In this statement, God affirmed Jesus, as not only Son of Man but above all, Son of God.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

So, God is on our side, too!  Go to Romans 8 as Paul explains how God is for us who believe: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.” Romans 8:29-30

AND…Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

^“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.  Romans 8:31-34

BEST NEWS EVER!!

To believe in the existence of God was not news, because believing in God or gods was common to daily living.  They relied on many gods through the centuries, superstitiously and faithfully, calling on them to give them good crops and protection from their enemies.  But it was not common to have a personal relationship or connection with God.  This is Good News!

“But that GOD is here right now, and on our side, actively seeking to help us in the way we most need help—THIS qualifies as news.  For common as belief in God is, there is also an enormous amount of guesswork and gossip surrounding the subject, which results in runaway superstition, anxiety, and exploitation.   So, Mark, understandably, is in a hurry to tell us what happened in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus—the Event that reveals the truth of God to us, so that we can live in reality and not illusion.  He doesn’t want us to waste a minute of these precious lives of ours ignorant of this most practical of all matters—that God is passionate to save us.”—Eugene Peterson, Introduction to Mark

Believe, repent to Jesus, and be saved for eternity.  God is for us, not against us. God is for you!  God is for me!  Take as personally as it was meant to be!

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 (Emphasis mine.)

Lord,

Thank you for affirming your children this morning through your Word as you commonly do.  Thank you for loving us so passionately with resolve to never stop loving us!  Thank you for being on our side when troubles come. Even when it’s our fault, you help us learn from it!. Thank you for walking us through the high waters. Thank you for your love that drives out all fears for today and worries of tomorrow.  You are God.  I am not. I believe in YOU.  You love me.  I trust you, dear Jesus.  You are Truth and the only Way to eternal Life.

In Jesus Name, for Your Glory, Amen.  Yes, and Amen!