Why Start with the Baptist?

By Rev. Larry Covington

This Sunday we hear the beginning of the Gospel of Mark.  Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark
has nothing to report about the birth of Jesus.  Not surprising.  Mark’s gospel is earlier than the others.Christians in Mark’s day were not retrospective about the life of Jesus.  No need to be.  He said he was coming back soon, and that message overwhelmed everything.  Mark’s Christians lived urgent lives of expectation. 

There wasn’t much curiosity about how Jesus came into the world the first time.  All focus was on what was down the road and just around the corner.  So, instead of shepherds and angels, stars and mangers Mark gets right down to business. He begins his gospel like a breathless messenger with an unexpected announcement.  With a quick fanfare of: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ…” he barrels right into the story of another messenger, John the Baptist who has his own news to share.  Mark wastes no time pointing to John the Baptist.

This beginning is a hint that what follows and is worth paying attention to.  The world is in a state, and there’s this guy named John who has a word of prophecy about what’s about to go down, and if you’re smart you will take a good hard look at yourself and get on board with the program.   John isn’t calling attention to himself but to the “one who is to come.”  The preparation for this is repentance and confession which is nothing less than facing the truth about ourselves and changing the direction of our lives.  Who wants to do any of those things?  This “good news” sounds more like bad news to us. Repentance and confession both require searching and an honest look back.  There are no shortcuts.

I have always been fascinated by how someone who offers such an unrelenting message of challenge could draw such crowds as he did.  His words, however, seem to strike a note that resonates with hearts longing for what is just out of sight.  Perhaps this is the draw and why people travelled such great distances to hear him speak.  He is tapping into an inescapable yearning for God that resides in the human heart.  He puts his finger directly on the longings of the human heart.  Advent is a way of saying that the Christian story begins with longing with John’s purpose of pointing us to Jesus.

St. Mark teaches us to see God by looking to Jesus.  But to understand Jesus, Mark looks way back to the prophets of Israel.  He sees them looking forward in anticipation of God’s direct intervention.  When he stands with them and looks as they look, he sees John the Baptist in line with them and looking in the same direction.  As Mark looks at John looking at Jesus, he sees himself in perspective.  And so, with eyes trained by the prophets to look repentantly and trustingly for God, Mark too looks to Jesus.  We are invited by him to see ourselves in a different light.

We are like the crowds listening to the prophet John, seeking direction for our future.  We look for God’s definitive intervention to set things right.  John points us to Jesus, who came so long ago and for us is yet coming.  As in the past, Jesus may shock us when he comes and show us who we really are before God.  Our only hope is to join with John in confessing our sins and looking to the coming of the Mightier one.  And so we wait. No innkeepers, no shepherds keeping watch, no angels singing from on high…just a direct invitation to the essential kerygma of the faith. 

There is a God.  That God loves us.  When we sin, we separate ourselves.  God longingly calls out to us through his prophet and God sends us himself clothed in flesh to show us a better way.  That same God made flesh takes all our sins to himself where they are nailed to the cross.  God shows us that death never has the last word and then invites us to clothe ourselves in him forever.  Doesn’t that sound like a really good deal and worth the watching and waiting?

Blessed Advent,
Fr. Larry