2023.12.10 Is That All?
Notes
Transcript
Is That All?
Is That All?
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 • Mark 1:1-8
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
2 just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending My messenger Before you, Who will prepare your way;
3 the voice of one calling Out in the wilderness, ‘prepare the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight!’ ”
4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.
7 And he was preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals.
8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Christians today spend most of our time in the New Testament. Heck, some prominent pastors even recommend we discard the Old Testament as irrelevant to today’s believers.
I’m sure I could think of less intelligent advice, but I’d have to think pretty hard about it.
We say Jesus is - the Messiah - the Christ of God - Savior of the Universe. But we can’t understand how true any of those statements are without knowing and understanding the Old Testament.
If we look at the second half of the reading today, we’ll see a brilliant example of this. Without an Old Testament background, John would appear to be a random figure in the story of Jesus.
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Our artistic depictions of John the Baptist make him look like a normal guy.
Let me tell you … He was not a normal guy! He appeared in the wilderness, preaching about repentance and baptizing people. People were confessing their sins and being baptized by this strange man.
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Check it out …
John wore camel’s hair clothes (imagine wearing a t-shirt and jeans made out of burlap). Not only did he eat locusts and wild honey, but Mark says HIS DIET was locusts and wild honey. So, this guy wore a burlap suit and lived on nothing but locusts and wild honey.
Still think he’s a normal guy? What a weirdo!
And he’s talking about someone else coming later who is mightier? Let’s be real. This dude is weird, man!
The timing of his appearance seems random, too. He shows up out of nowhere, and does all these strange things. We’d probably tell our kids to stay away from that guy, wouldn’t we?
But Mark writes that all of Judea and Jerusalem were coming to be baptized by him. Why? They were coming to him … because they knew the Old Testament.
They knew John fit perfectly in the slot of the person expected to come right before Messiah. John’s appearance meant nothing to the Gentiles because they didn’t know the Old Testament. But the Jews recognized that John could very well be the signal they’ve been waiting for!
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Is That All?
Is That All?
John’s “origin story” is found in Luke’s Gospel, in the New Testament. But that origin story really starts in the Old Testament. John’s dad, Zechariah, was told he and his wife would have a child. (They were both too old to have children by the way, so Zechariah didn’t quite know how to react to the angel’s story.) That sounds a lot like Abraham and Sarah - even the least knowledgeable Jewish people would recognize that parallel.
On top of that, Zechariah was a priest, and being his son, John would have been considered a priest as well. We know absolutely nothing about that office if we discard the Old Testament.
Maybe we should back up a bit, and ask the question What’s a priest?
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Let me answer indirectly. Have you ever used a wire nut?
It’s a hunk of plastic, with some very important metal on the inside. An electrician will take two wires and wrap them together. Then, she’ll screw a wire nut over the connection. The wire nut solidifies the connection between the two wires so that power can flow freely and safely from one wire to the other.
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According to the Old Testament, that’s what a priest does.
The priest is a human who connects God with other humans and makes sure the connection is solid enough for God’s power to flow through to human beings. The New Testament teaches that all believers in Jesus are priests, but most Christians today reject the notion that they are priest. That’s largely because our idea of priesthood is not the same idea as Jesus’ idea of a priest. We would know the role of a priest if we knew the Old Testament. And we only know this simple concept of a priest if we understand the Old Testament.
Back in the Summer, we talked about John the Baptist a few times. If you remember, the Pharisees sent priests to Bethany beyond the Jordan to ask, “Who are you?” They were seeing Old Testament prophesies potentially being fulfilled in John, and John’s response to them was dripping with Old Testament implications.
We see those same implications in Mark’s statement about John at the beginning. He directly quotes a few places in the Old Testament.
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Maybe we can understand better if we put these quotes back in their Old Testament context:
1 “Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies.
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3 The voice of one calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
If we know the Old Testament, we know that John’s arrival on the scene is not random at all. John’s arrival should be reason for great celebration, because he is fulfilling the role of God’s messenger laid out in Malachi: He is preparing the way for the Lord in the wilderness … just like Isaiah prophesied.
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And this is “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
Jews of Jesus’ day would’ve understood that the “more powerful one” John talks about is Messiah. He is the GOD that stands between God and humanity making wire nut connections so God’s power can flow to humanity!
If the Jews knew the Old Testament, no one could have thought, “that Jesus guy showing up sure was surprising.”
The Lectionary Commentary, Volume 3: The Gospels (The Third Readings) Second Sunday of Advent, Year B (William J. Abraham)
The coming of Jesus is no bolt from the blue; it happens in God’s good time once the platform has been put in place through the centuries.
The pinnacle of the mountain is coming. The hook of the song is about to drop. The resolution of thousands of years of preparation is coming soon.
And this is only the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Is That All?
Is That All?
The Jews of his day should have been ecstatic when they saw John, because his fulfillment of prophecy meant Jesus was about to arrive.
But that’s not all! It’s only the beginning!
Christians of today, should be ecstatic about Christmas, not because we hope to see an Xbox or a new phone under a tree. We should be ecstatic because we also know the Old Testament prophecy about the end of time, and the New Testament teaching about the signs of that day coming.
We should be excited because Christmas is a reminder that Jesus DID come to Earth, and that gives us courage and hope that his RETURN is not some fairy tale we’ve been told!
JESUS IS COMING BACK! And we get to work for that day in great anticipation of seeing him face-to-face as he rights all the wrongs in this world and ushers us into eternity.
►►► Say it like you mean it!
CHRIST HAS DIED
CHRIST IS RISEN
CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN
Glory to God indeed! Glory to God in the highest!
Let us pray … [Communion]