Sermon Tone Analysis

Mark 1:1-15

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Introduction

Gallery Owner: I have some good news and some bad news.

Artist: What's the good news?

Gallery Owner: The good news is that a man came in here today asking if the price of your paintings would go up after you die.

When I told him they would he bought every one of your paintings.

Artist: That's great!

What's the bad news?

Gallery Owner: The bad news is that man was your doctor!

I recently noticed that in the new section which comes with the Saturday Free Press they have a column in which they declare, “It’s been a Good Week for… and It’s been a Bad Week for…” Although life has its times of good news and bad news, we much prefer good news.

Is the Bible good news or bad news?

This week I would like to begin a series of messages on the gospel of Mark.

The main commentary that I will be using is written by Timothy Geddert who is Donna’s brother.

As we begin this series today, we notice that one of the first words in the book is “gospel” or “good news.”

Although not all of the message of Mark is good news, yet the overall message of the book is not a bad news story, but a good news story.

In fact, “good news” is a word that appears often in Mark and so forms a significant theme of the book.

Geddert says, “On the surface, things may look dark; but we are asked to look deeper.”

The text we will look at today is Mark 1:1-15 and it is the word “good news” which provides a bracket for this section.

The second word in the first verse is “good news” and the last word in verse 15 is “good news.”

We like good news stories and this is certainly one of the greatest.

There are two ways in which I would like to invite you to look at this text today.

Verse 1 talks about “the beginning of the good news.”

How did the good news which has come, start?

The first thing we will do is to see what this section says about the beginning of the story of Jesus.

The second way in which we will look at the text is to think about the meaning of Jesus’ coming.

Verse 1 also tells us that the good news is about Jesus.

What are some of the things we are to know about this good news?

On this day, so soon after Christmas, it is a good thing to look at Jesus.

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I.                   The Story of Jesus’ Coming

What is the beginning of the good news?

How did it all start?

Each gospel tells a slightly different story and emphasizes different aspects of the story.

What does Mark’s gospel tell us about the beginning of the gospel?

Although each of the other gospels has a birth narrative, Mark does not.

Yet that does not mean that he does not talk about the beginning of the coming of Jesus.

!! A.                 Rooted in Prophecy

The good news about Jesus is rooted in prophecy.

Why does Mark start his gospel with the prophecy about the messenger who will prepare the way for Jesus’ coming?

In doing so, he roots the beginning of the good news in all that God has spoken before about His coming one.

The message about Jesus is not a message which was concocted on a whim at the last moment.

The coming of Jesus is a part of a great plan which God has had from the beginning of time.

That adds importance to the good news and the place Jesus had in bringing that good news.

!! B.                 John the Baptist Prepared the Way

The prophecy is about John the Baptist, who was the cousin of Jesus, but more importantly was the one God had chosen to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus.

John stands in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets.

It says in the text that John “wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.”

In Zechariah13:4  it refers to prophets and speaks of “a prophet’s garment of hair.”

In II Kings 1:8 it is even more specific as Elijah is described as “a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist.”

Mark is intending for us to see this strong connection not only to the Old Testament prophetic tradition, but specifically to Elijah.

John was the one whom Malachi 4:5 prophesied about when it says, “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.

6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

The good news about Jesus begins with a time of preparation.

The preparatory work of John the Baptist was a work of calling people to repent for their sins.

Upon repentance, he also baptized them.

Many have speculated on the meaning of this baptism.

There were religious groups in Israel at the time, particularly in the area of Qumran, who practiced baptism as a rite of initiation.

If you wanted to go into the temple area, it was required to go first of all go into a mikveh, or ritual bath in order to wash and be clean before going into God’s presence.

John’s baptism may have been related to these two types of baptism, but was more likely something unique to John as a symbol of the cleansing of the heart which repentance implied.

People came from all over Judea and Jerusalem, so we understand that what John did was no small event in some remote corner of the nation.

It was an important event and recognized as such.

Geddert says, “The very fact of John’s appearance was an eschatological event of the first magnitude.”

He prepared the people to have hearts and ears that were open to the message of the one who was coming.

!! C.                 Jesus’ Baptism Introduced Him

As John was thus engaged, Jesus also came to be baptized.

John had been preaching repentance, but he had also been pointing beyond himself to the one who would come.

Now he came but in Mark it is not John who points to Jesus and says, “Here he is!”

In the gospel of Mark Jesus came to be baptized and there are no comment recorded about John’s comment or response as there is in Matthew 3:15.

He is simply baptized Him like he had done for the many others who came, even though we know that Jesus had no sins to repent of.

The introduction of Jesus at this point, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus happened when God Himself introduced Jesus.

God says, in Mark 1:11, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

From this point on the story is about Jesus.

The story has always been about Jesus, and even the prophecies and the preparatory work of John, all focus on Jesus.

With God’s words, we are introduced to Jesus and the story about Jesus actually begins.

!! D.                Jesus’ Temptation Prepared Him

Following this powerful experience of introduction and affirmation, Jesus was sent out into the wilderness.

There are some important things to think about as Jesus goes out to be tempted.

Why did Jesus go into the wilderness?

Moses fled to the wilderness and spent time there before he was prepared to be the deliverer of Israel.

For Moses it was a time of preparation.

The Israelites came out of the wilderness to inherit the Promised Land.

They also had to be prepared in the wilderness.

As I Kings 19:8, 15 tells us, Elijah also spent time in the wilderness.

In a similar way, Jesus had to go to the wilderness and begin there in the place of nothingness and emptiness in order to go out in the strength of God.

In the wilderness, Jesus experienced the tempting work of Satan.

It is in this experience of temptation in the wilderness that Jesus experienced the depths of what it means to be human.

Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that he was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”

It was in the beginning that Jesus had to thus fully experience humanity and also thus prove Himself.

The mention of wild beasts is interesting.

Cole says, “The desert was to the Hebrew, a gloomy place of terror, the abode of devils and unclean beasts.”

Lane says, “Jesus confronts the horror, the loneliness and the danger with which the wilderness is fraught when he meets the wild beasts.”

As he did so, He also experienced the comfort of God’s presence through the angels who attended Him.

Wilderness, temptation and danger are the places where Jesus is prepared for the work to which God had called him.

He experienced the power of temptation, the power of loss, the power of unknown danger and He experienced the strength of God’s presence with Him and care for Him.

!! E.                 Jesus Ministry Began

The final scene in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the actual beginning of his ministry.

The ministry of Jesus did not begin until John the Baptist was out of the way.

This note by Mark seems quite deliberate.

It was a matter of proper timing.

John did his work.

As soon as it was done and Jesus was ready, he was moved out of the way and Jesus began His work.