The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight"

 

 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.  Today, following the commemorations of Nativity and the Christmas season, the lectionary begins a new daily cycle with Mark's Gospel.  It is the shortest and most brief of all the Gospels, with events happening in quick succession.  My study Bible explains that the word gospel is in Greek εὐαγγέλιον/evangelion, which quite literally means "good news" or "good tidings."  This was a Greek word commonly used in the Empire at Christ's time, as it was used for proclamations and messages coming from the Emperor and setting out policies or declarations.  So, in that sense, this is the gospel of another kind of kingdom.  It does not refer to Mark's writings per se according to my study Bible, but rather to the story of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the good news of our salvation.  Beginning, it says, points to the opening events of Christ's public ministry.  That is, the preparation by Christ's forerunner, St. John the Baptist, and Jesus' encounter with him.  

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.   John's first quotation is from Malachi 3:1, and he is declaring himself to be this messenger sent by the Lord to prepare the way for the coming covenant.  The second quotation is from Isaiah 40:3, a message meant to comfort a people in captivity and desperate for redemption.   These quotations would have been understood in the context of the time and the history of Jewish spirituality to invoke those prophecies of Malachi and Isaiah, and were given to a people under the power of another historical empire.  But this gospel is not simply political nor historical, and neither is the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.  John preaches a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  As we can see from the response of people from all of Judea and Jerusalem, the very center of Jewish life, they come to the wilderness (a barren region from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea) to the Jordan to be baptized for repentance, and confessing their sins.  To repent in Greek is μετανοια/metanoia, which literally means "change of mind," and indicates a deep change of heart, a total reorientation of one's life.  Note it is accompanied by confession of sins, and baptism, to be followed by a life of fruits worthy of the change.

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."  The clothing of John the Baptist evokes yet another prophet, as he is clothed in the manner of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8).  This is an indication that he fulfills the prophecy of Elijah's return before the Messiah, as prophesied in Malachi 4:5.  Note the humility of John the Baptist, whose life is dedicated to service of this coming Lord and His kingdom.  His life was the inspiration  and model for the monasticism that would develop in the early Church.  John prophesies the power of Christ and the divine nature of Christ's baptism to come.

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."  Christ's Baptism by John was commemorated by the early Church on January 6th, together with Nativity.  In the Eastern Churches, Christ's Baptism is still commemorated on this day.  It is often called Epiphany (meaning "showing forth" or "manifestation") or Theophany, which means a manifestation of God.  Manifest here in these short verses in Mark is the Holy Trinity as witnessed, with the Spirit descending upon Christ "like a dove" and the Father's voice declaring from heaven God's beloved Son.  

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 may read details of Christ's temptation by Satan in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13.  In each case, Jesus is challenged regarding His identity as Son, and His loyalty to the Father.  Forty is a significant number, evocative of the forty years that Israel was tested in the wilderness, proving to be at times both disobedient and disloyal.  Christ's responses to Satan in Matthew and Luke come from Deuteronomy, and the story of Israel's testing.

We might wonder why Jesus needs to be tested, and that this testing immediately follows His Baptism and the appearance of the Trinity, including Christ's divine identity as Son.  We understand the confession of sins of the people who come from Judea and Jerusalem, and their desire to receive a Redeemer, the Messiah.  But why does Jesus need to be tested here?  Why does One who is essentially sinless (as we've been taught) need testing?  This tells us something essential about our own journeys in the world and the spiritual life.  It does not matter what one has already understood and endured with prayer; we will be called upon for greater growth, new testing, and an expansion of our faith on this journey.  Repentance and redemption are not simply one-time incidents, but rather constitute a pattern and a lifetime of the growth of faith and reliance upon God.  Just as Israel journeyed on the forty year trek in the wilderness, so Christ is here driven by the Spirit into the wilderness.  (In the Greek language of the text, He is literally "thrown" or "cast" by the Spirit into the wilderness.)   The testing is part of the journey, and notable for its emphasis on worldly ways of thinking that question God's providence, our capacity for faith in what doesn't necessarily make pragmatic material sense to us.  Christ's responses in Matthew and Luke are all powerful rebukes that emphasize loyalty to God, and they are meant to be an example to us for our own lives.  What is more important to us?  Is there something God wants to teach us?  Is there a road of faith, a deepening and growth of faith?  Are there things in our lives we need to reject or "change our minds" about?  Whatever the path of faith, it is clear that a reliance on God is a journey and a struggle for growth, not simply a mental declaration or signing up for the teachings of one group or another.  Faith is a much deeper kind of encounter, an entrance into what Christ will repeatedly call the kingdom of heaven in His teachings.  It is not just a way of life but a way of being in the world, an awareness that our lives hold so much more than the material alone.  As Jesus teaches in Luke's Gospel, this kingdom is within us and among us (Luke 17:20-21).  He will say in John's Gospel, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), indicating to us that our faith is a "road" (the literal meaning of the word translated as "way"), and it is truth and life.  These words are not simple metaphors for a code or a set of values we ascribe to.  They denote the complete experiential reality of this lived faith which touches upon all of us and all that we perceive, including the struggles of we encounter.  There is nothing that is lost to this journey, nothing in which there is no hidden capacity for meaning or redemption, for this is truly the mystery of God -- that even at the Cross we may find our deepest faith and most powerful transformation and purpose in the redemptive power of Christ and the meanings we're given -- even the destruction of death and the transfiguring power of life in abundance, connecting us to what is eternal.  Let us follow this good news, this deepening power of faith, and open up to the confidence it may give us in a sense of who we are, and whom we are called to become, even as we walk through the challenges that meet us on the road of Christ.  The voices in the Gospel call to us from times past and all throughout history to prepare the way of the Lord.  Even the voices of the prophets echo to make His paths straight, for we do not journey on this road alone, but with the Lord, and with God's faithful.  That is and remains timeless, ever-present, if we are but mindful and awake to it.