On Line Bible Study - For the week November 3 - 9, 2008

Lesson 360

Mark 1: 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." (From The Message - Eugene Peterson.)

"Good news" - "Message" (added by Peterson) - "Preacher" ("messenger" in the NIV Translation) - What's being proclaimed (good news / message) and the "proclaimer" look like this in the Greek:

ευαγγελίου (good news). αγγελόν (preacher / messenger)

If we were to "transliterate" the first (in other words, not translate, but simply use the letters in English that correspond to the letters in the Greek), it would look like this:

evangeliou. And the second would look like this: angelon.

You should be recognizing a word we have in English, contained in these two Greek words. The word is "angel" - it means "messenger". Peterson captures the essence of the passage, if not the literal translation. Here is the beginning - it begins with what Isaiah prophesied. (Remember how many times Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah?) And it moves to John (the Baptist) whose message is: Change your life! Before Jesus shows up on the scene, the point is being made: This message is a life-changer. And if your life isn't changed, you don't get the message (or the message hasn't gotten you!).

The change will be from the inside out. Last week we referred to the radical nature of the "gospel" - the "good news". Boundaries are going to be expanded, and Jesus is going to do the work. It had always been (for as long as anyone could remember) that the covenant with God manifest itself outwardly. Circumcision was the sign. This was what determined who was in or out. A family was inside the covenant if the pater familias and male children were circumcised. (See Exodus 4:24-26.) This was about to change.

Then Jesus shows up on the scene, is baptized, the sky split open, the Spirit alights on Jesus, the voice from heaven proclaims: You are my son . . .

We are only 11 verses into the first chapter of the Gospel. St. Mark sends up the implicit "flare" - Hang on to your hats! This is going to be a ride - fast, life-changing - a turn-your-world-upside-down kind of ride.

Where do the other synoptics "begin" the story? What do Matthew and Luke have that Mark doesn't? And whereas Matthew describes Jesus baptism as "heaven opening", Mark puts it this way: He [Jesus] saw heaven being torn open ["split open" in Peterson's rendering] . . . Mark wants us to know that what we are about to hear will be life-changing; earth-shattering; heaven-splitting.

Hang on to your hats, indeed.

For next week we will continue in our consideration of the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark.