“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”.
That first line we heard in this morning’s Gospel reading is Mark 1:1. It’s the very first verse of his account of Jesus’ story. And then, after just a quick nod to the prophet Isaiah, at verse 4 we are up to John the Baptist. As my Biblical Studies professor used to say, Mark hits the ground running.
No genealogy, no angels appearing to virgins, no cousins getting together to swap pregnancy stories. No star, no shepherds in the field, no heavenly host, no nothing. If it had been up to Mark, there would be, God forbid, no creche to set on Christmas eve. No, for Mark, the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begins elsewhere.
“The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. This first verse of Mark’s Gospel is believed by many to actually be its title. But notice Mark doesn’t call it “the good news”. He calls it “the beginning of the good news”. That is important, and we’ll come back to it later.
For now, though, Mark is grabbing us by the hand, taking us up to a spot overlooking the Jordan River, and pointing to the crowd gathered on the shore and the masses still streaming down. “People from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem” were going to see John, he says. It’s the 1st century Palestinian version of the 10 West at rush hour...(read more)
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