A Character Breaks In – Mark 1

A text – Mark 1:1-8

1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
1:2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;
1:3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'”
1:4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:5 And 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.
1:6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
1:7 He 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.
1:8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

A reflection:

Where do you start the story of the God who takes human form to bring us the life we couldn’t even have imagined? Umpteen places you could start. But Mark is like an excellent drama director. He gives us one verse for a title, and then before we even take a breath, a character is striding across the stage. And this is a character we cannot ignore. Look how he’s dressed. Look at what he’s eating. And by all means hear his two-sentence proclamation that tells us his relation in status to the leading character in the play, the one who will make an entrance in a few minutes.

How was this unusual man received by the ordinary people of his day? People came from far and wide to see him, to be baptized by him, to have their sins forgiven. It’s a good start. And this character John points to bigger things to come: the arrival of a man that will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Advice to writers of novels and plays: Start in the middle of something. Start in the middle of a loud noise or a crazy costume. Start in the middle of a fight. Start with things already underway. The audience will just grab onto something and hang on for dear life. No calm analysis or musing from a distance. Why? Because when God breaks in, God BREAKS in. The Kingdom of God surely came with John’s preaching and baptizing, and it broke into people’s lives bearing forgiveness not all of them knew they needed. And when you get forgiveness, it changes things. God knows it will. That’s why God does it.

Let us allow Advent to break in this year. Be on the lookout for John the baptizer…anyone in weird dress, really. Watch for that person and hang on while she breaks in. Then look right behind him or beside her. God will probably be close by. The Kingdom is at hand.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for breaking into our world with your Kingdom. Help us not to miss it when it comes near to us. Because it surely will. Amen.