You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased

 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in the Prophets:

"Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You."
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make His paths straight.'

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  And he preached, saying, "There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.  I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.  Then a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.  And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.

- Mark 1:1-13

 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in the Prophets:  "Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You."  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.'"  Today the Lectionary begins Mark's Gospel.  The "gospel" is the "good news" of Jesus Christ, the story of the One who comes for salvation.  This "beginning" is the start of Jesus' public ministry.  John first quotes from Malachi 3:1, "I send My messenger before Your face," indicating what he is doing, and his own identity.  Secondly, he quotes from Isaiah 40:3, the announcement of the coming of the Lord, the time of the Kingdom is at hand.  The quotation from Isaiah is so important to this beginning of Jesus' ministry that it appears in all four Gospels.  There is an essential message in this proclamation of John the Baptist.  The advent of the Kingdom does not come in isolation, but in harmony, as part of the process through the centuries of God's work in the world, and particularly in the spiritual history of Israel, in the work of the prophets before him.  In John's Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples, "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”  It's important that we as faithful understand that we are part of a very long lineage, entering into the work of countless others, who have come before and will come after us in the great communion of life in this Kingdom. 

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.  We see the expectation here; John has many followers.  Even those from Judea and Jerusalem come out to Him in expectation and preparation for the Kingdom, taking a baptism of repentance as preparation.  All go out to him.

Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  And he preached, saying, "There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.  I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."  John's clothing and habits tell us something about him.  His dress is like that of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8), who was prophesied to return before the Christ (the Messiah) came.  He follows in the footsteps of the great prophets before him:  his life is fully dedicated to God, sacrificing everything else for this life.  His prophesy is to prepare the people for the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.  He teaches in all humility before the One who is coming.

It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.  Then a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."    This declaration forms the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, and it gives us theology.  We have a picture of the Trinity in the voice of the Father, the declaration that Jesus is Son, and the Spirit descending like a dove.  It teaches us of the fullness of who Christ is, and what He has to offer to the world.  In being baptized, we say that Christ sanctifies the waters of the world for our own baptism.  It is a type of Eucharistic act; in some way the waters are given to Him even as He is submerged in human form, and returned to us for something greater, a baptism of water and Spirit.  It is an image of the Resurrection that begins His public ministry.

Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.  And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.  We see the action of the Spirit; He is driven into the wilderness, impelled.  In the Greek, He's thrown into the wilderness.  There's a sign here of what kind of ministry this is to be, what kind of purpose and meaning:  Jesus is also humble, even as He is Son, and divine!   Everything is in harmony with Father and Spirit.  His Incarnation is by the work of the Spirit (see Matthew 1:18).  His ministry doesn't begin with a great public declaration by Himself; it begins with temptation as human being -- forty days in the wilderness, with the wild beasts and the angels.  This is the preparation for ministry.

It's important to understand the concept of humility if we are to grasp anything about the spiritual life.  Humility before God characterizes all that we read in the Gospel today.  It is the character of John the Baptist, considered the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  His entire life is dedicated, focused on God and on his mission as given by God.  His radical poverty teaches that.  Even his working and living in the wilderness, like other prophets before him, is a sign of total obedience to God, eschewing every other worldly distraction to this purpose and to the prophetic ministry he's given.  In the Old Testament, it was the false prophets who lived in king's houses and did their obeisance, preaching false prophecy by command for the powerful and wealthy.  Humility is the act of service to God, defining how we live our lives, what we do, and how we treat others and all the things of the world around us.  Christ is Son, fully God, Second Person of the Trinity, but His human life is characterized by obedience and humility.  Nothing is done but in service and harmony with Father and Spirit.  His great love for us is an echo of this kind of humility.  He does not come into the world to compel or force anyone to do anything; He comes to the world offering love and salvation and truth.  It is our choice whether or not we will respond.  Do we want to be with Him, or not?  Can we respond with faith -- with the faith He apparently puts in us?  All of this is a force and focus of love.  His entry into our world not as all-powerful God, but as human being, speaks to us not only of the love and goodness with which we are created, but also of the humility of God who is willing to live as one of us, subject to the same things we are.  The first act of this ministry, after submitting to baptism by John, is to be thrown into that wilderness and tempted by Satan, the enemy.  He doesn't live in a palace or a king's house, and He doesn't have an easy life.  He prepares for ministry by facing the things we face, our weaknesses, our temptations.  We can read of those temptations (see Matthew 4:1-11), and understand how they are common to all of us:  of natural hunger and need, worldly glory, desire for possessions -- all our weak spots.  But Jesus responds in a way that we must come to understand:  with humility -- humility to God.  This is the weapon that destroys the devil, the false temptations, the things that delude us when we think we need them.  God always comes first and sets relationships aright:  our relationships with the world, how we use the things of the world, how we respond to the choices the world offers us.  Let us remember this beginning; it is the secret to Christ, and to how we follow Him.