Prepare the Way of the Lord

Mark 1: 1 - 8 (December 7, 2008)

1) The Text
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

2) The Context
There is no clear Old Testament precedent and prophecy for baptism with water. For its baptismal practices, the New Testament does not draw on Old Testament traditions, laws and practices, so much as on the Qumran community and its daily baptismal rites. The Qumran community was situated in the hills overlooking the Dead Sea, near and south of the town of Jericho. Many scholars think that John the Baptist was placed in the care of this community as a young child or infant and grew up practicing their daily baptismal rites of purification. These spiritual ascetics washed themselves several times a day as symbolic of an interior cleansing from sin. Thus, the rituals and rites of baptism likely had their origins in the Dead Scroll community of Qumran.

In the gospel for this second Sunday of Advent, Mark introduced the figure of John the Baptist. For Mark, John's appearance signaled the initial proclamation of God's Good News. Indeed, the key word for Mark was proclamation. In the time of Jesus, both official and unofficial news was communicated via heralds. The local town herald would proclaim news in the marketplace where people met for commerce and socializing. The contemporaries of Jesus were accustomed to hearing their news in this way. In addition to the town herald, visiting high officials would send advance men, who would prepare and proclaim the visitation. The advance men would arrive as emissaries; local officials would prepare for the coming visit. Shrubs and trees would be removed from road ways (i.e., the road would be straightened for the visiting dignitary). Another herald would immediately precede (literally walk before) the official to proclaim his arrival, like today's spokesperson. So, the official herald had three possible functions in the ancient world: proclaim news, act as a mediator between the local populace and the visiting dignitary, and immediately precede the official.

3) Interpretation
Mark 1:1-8 is not yet the good news. It is setting the scene for it. In 1:2-3 Mark makes a connection with hope. He cites the Old Testament, loosely, naming "Isaiah". In fact it is Isa 40:3 introduced by Exodus 23:20 (which is also very similar to Malachi 3:1). The Exodus passage originally refers to the angel who would go before Israel in the wilderness. Here it refers to John the Baptist. Malachi 3:1 speaks of a messenger whom God would send. These allusions combine well with the prophecy of Isaiah about a voice crying out that people should get ready for the Lord’s coming. The people who wrote the Community Rule of the Dead Sea Scrolls had already used this verse to explain their identity. They used the Hebrew text which speaks of preparing in the wilderness the way of the Lord. Mark uses the Greek text which has swapped ‘in the wilderness’ so that it now describes where the voice is crying.

The upshot of Mark’s opening sentences is that the good news which will come with Jesus follows God’s intention expressed both in biblical prophecy and in God’s action of inspiring John the Baptist. A sense of continuity is important for a community of faith: what happened in Jesus did not leave the past behind; it continued it. The God of Jesus is the God already known in actions of the past. This God means well; this God delivers.

John was calling people of all kinds and all levels of society down to the water as a sign of their commitment to turn to God’s ways and away from sin. It was dramatic. John, himself, plunged them beneath the water and earned for that the nickname, the baptizer or baptist, because water rites, including immersion, were usually self administered. Submitting to John symbolized submitting to God, the God who freely cleanses away sin.

The challenge of John to his own generation is reported by Mark so that his readers are forced to respond themselves to the challenge. The Christian church has given John the Baptist an important place in gospel tradition because he was the forerunner of gospel proclamation. His call to the people of Israel was the same call as that of Jesus and his disciples, and it is the call Jesus has commissioned us to make - "go and gather disciples out of every nation, immersing them in the Name (in the gospel), and teaching them", Matt.28:19-20.

The imagery presented in this passage is very powerful. There is value in seeing our own life in the terms of a move from Egypt, from sin, death and judgment, out into the wilderness to meet with our God. It is there we can experience, through Christ, the gift of his forgiveness and his eternal presence. We can then, under his guidance, take up the journey into the promised land.
There is also great value picturing evangelism in wilderness images. Our task is to call people out of bondage into the wilderness where they can meet with God - call on people to repent, to turn from self to Christ. Obviously, they must want to meet God and know they can't because they are slaves, i.e., the gospel is for the "lost" who want to be found. The gospel we proclaim announces that Jesus provides the way out of bondage into the presence of God where all can freely obtain his eternal acceptance. The gospel points the way to that eternal land.

4) Thought Exercise

Are you comfortable sharing your faith with others?

How can we, as a congregation, share our faith with others?