The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 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. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 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. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
———————————–
Grace to you and peace, from God our creator and Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.
The verse from this Gospel reading that hangs out in my mind is the very first verse. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It kind of haunts me a bit. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.” Now this first verse in Mark functions as an introductory sentence. It sets the tone for the whole Gospel of Mark – but it does a lot more than that.
Beginnings go hand in hand with endings. One of the examples I like to point to is in Hawaii – the word “Aloha.” It means both hello and goodbye. The same word for the beginning and the end of a conversation. This simple little Hawaiian cultural trait means something far beyond hello and goodbye. It’s that beginnings and endings are the same thing. One doesn’t happen without the other.
Next month is New Year’s. When people celebrate New Years – they celebrate the beginning of a New Year. They also celebrate the end of the old year. The year that just passed. Most every beginning in our life, just like New Years, has an end. Think of all the milestones that happen in our lives.
A baby’s first breath in this world. Birth. When they belt out and wail and cry for the first time, it’s an end to the womb. A beginning into life here in our world. I vividly remember the look on my daughters face right after she was born. It was a look of utter desperation. That was a beginning.
A Baby’s first word. First steps. The beginning of toddlerhood. An end to infancy. An end to being utterly helpless. The beginnings of independence.
A first kiss. A first date. A first job. A first car. All beginnings. Beginnings of being a teenager. But all are endings. An end to childhood.
High school graduation. The beginning of adulthood. An end to being someone who isn’t an adult. In a way, an end to the teenage years.
Marriage. The beginning of a new life with someone else. The beginning of being joined. An end to a life of being single.
The First child. The beginning of being a parent. Of being responsible for a new human being. An end to rest, peace, and tranquility.
The First grandchild. Retirement. The beginning of “the golden years.” The beginning of the later years of life. But also an end to youth.
And finally, death. An end to life here on this earth – as we know it. The ending of death is usually emphasized. But really, another beginning. A beginning into the life after death.
In scripture. There are these same beginnings and endings:
In Genesis, the first three words in the bible. “In the beginning.” It was the beginning of the Heavens and the Earth. It was the end of a formless void.
And in the end of what we consider the books of the Bible, Revelation. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”
The Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. And the word became flesh.”
Now in today’s Gospel text from Mark we have “The Beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” How does this Good News begin? With a prophecy from Isaiah. The prophecy itself came from the time of Cyrus of Persia, shortly before the fall of Babylon. It was prophesied among exiled Jews hoping for a beginning and an ending. That is, the restoration of Jerusalem and an end to exile. An end to Babylonian rule. An end to being in a foreign land. The beginning of a new Israel.
And its usage in Mark? The prophecy points to John the Baptist. John the Baptist had quite a few followers. But then John says something. He prepares the way for the messiah. He gives his own prophecy: “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. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
What John the Baptist is pointing to is the beginning. He’s pointing to Christ. The Messiah. The anointed one. See, John the Baptists is pointing to Jesus – because Jesus is the beginning.
Jesus is the beginning of salvation. The beginning of eternal life. The end of death. The beginning of our restoration. The end of sin. The beginning of healing. The end of suffering. The beginning of wholeness. The end of broken-ness. The beginning of forgiveness. The end of our sin. The beginning of freedom. The end of our enslavement. And if we go by the words of John the Baptist, even the beginning of how we as people are recipients of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the beginning of our relationship with God. The end of our estrangement.
And on this second Sunday in Advent. Here today. When the second candle was lit. We celebrate that we are at the beginning of the Church Year. We look forward to the ministry of Jesus Christ. Prophesied in the time of Isaiah. Prophesied in the time of the Gospel of Mark. Prophesied in our times as well – by many many witnesses.
The beginning is Christ.
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
