Sin is the Reason for the Season
Mark 1:1-8
Introduction
What are the images that we have of Christmas? Probably the typical nativity scene. We see a proud Joseph and Mary with adoring shepherds and wise men and submissive animals, all surrounding the Christ child sleeping peacefully in the manger. We are left wondering what the purpose of all this is for? You would almost think that all God wanted was to give us an image of peace in a world of chaos. But is that really what God wanted? We are going to try and discover the answer to that as we look to the beginning of Mark’s Gospel. That might seem rather strange as Mark does not give us a Christmas story. There are no shepherds, no Mary, not even a baby Jesus. Mark just jumps right into things with Jesus as an adult. This is interesting because scholars believe that Mark is our earliest Gospel, so when people first started to read the story of Jesus, this is what they read. We see that unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark does not have a nativity story. I don’t think Mark was lacking in traditions about Jesus’ birth, I think Mark purposely starts the way he does. We have been suggesting that beginning of each Gospel sets the stage for the rest of the Gospel. That is true for Mark as well.
Good News
Where is Mark’s Christmas story? Here it is: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1 NIV) This is another example of us being too familiar with something. Mark speaks of the beginning of the Gospel. What is a Gospel? We know what a Gospel is, it is a story of Jesus, we have four of them in the New Testament. The only problem is that when Mark was writing, there was no genre called a Gospel. No one would have interpreted Gospel as a type of writing. They would have understood the word as what it literally means: good news. The beginning of the good news about Jesus. Good news had a very specific meaning in ancient times. It was not just a fairly pleasant experience. One would not use this word to express their happiness at finding that pair of socks you have been looking for or when the soup of the day is the kind that you like. This word really means the good news that one army has defeated another. The good news was the message that was sent to the city waiting to find out if they were going to be invaded or if they were going to be enjoying the spoils of victory. So when the readers came across Gospel or good news, their reaction would not be “Whatever” but “Oh boy, this is going to be good!” Thankfully, Mark gives us a bit more detail. It is the good news about Jesus Christ. Remember, Christ is not his last name, it is a title that means the anointed one. Mark is reminding us that this story is not just about any godly man or even a prophet, it is about the long awaited Christ, the one everyone was waiting for. But this story is not just that. It is the story about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus did not generally go around calling himself the Son of God, he was much more subtle than that. He spoke of God as his Father in a way that was more intimate than the way the average Jew thought about God. Mark portrays the disciples as never quite figuring out what Jesus‘ Sonship means. In fact, Jesus is identified as the Son of God only three times in Mark’s Gospel but not by who you would expect: twice by demons and once by the Roman centurion on guard during the crucifixion. But we as readers are supposed to see what most missed: that this was not a minor footnote in what God was doing, this was God sending his only Son. That is good news. But as the infomercials say: “Wait, there’s more!” The good news is not just about who Jesus was, it was about his purpose in appearing.
Sin
Once Mark makes his opening statement about the Gospel, we would expect some story of how Jesus was born. But that is not what we find. Instead, Mark begins to describe the ministry of John the Baptist. Excuse me? Mark just said that this was the Gospel about Jesus, not the Gospel about John. Why would Mark do such a thing? Just as Mark wants no confusion about the identity of Jesus, he also wants us to understand clearly the mission of Jesus. God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus, so it would make sense that if we understand what John was doing, we would have some clue as to why the Son of God was making his appearance. The question is: What was John doing? As the Baptist, it probably was something to do with baptism. But we have to understand the meaning of baptism. It was not like in some churches where baptism means its time to get your kid done. It was not just a rite of passage. Growing up Anglican, it was expected that we would get confirmed by our early teens. I was confirmed, not because I had an incredible experience with God but because that’s what my friends were doing and I didn’t want to be left out. That is not what John was doing. He was not getting people baptized so they could say that had experienced the ritual. We read: “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4 NIV) John’s entire preparation was highlighting and responding to the problem of sin. But what does that have to do with Jesus? “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”” (Mark 1:14–15 NIV) The message of Jesus was repent and believe the good news. Believe the good news yes, but repent first. You see, God sent his Son not because he thought it was time to bring Jesus into the family business but because there was a very serious problem: sin. The apostle Paul put it this way: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 1:15 NIV) The world thinks that Christmas is all about trees and presents and big meals. The church thinks Christmas is all about family and church services and nativity scenes. God thinks that Christmas is all about sin. If there had never been a sin problem, there would never have been a Christmas, there would have never been a need for the Son of God to come into the world. Things were so desperate, so divided between God and humanity that there was only one choice: the Son of God had to become incarnate and reconcile us back to God through his death on the cross. The word Christmas comes from Christ Mass. In the Catholic tradition, Mass is not just a church service but the remembrance and participation in the death of Jesus. It is good for us to keep the two concepts of birth and death together. John the Baptist understood this when he said: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NIV) This is why Mark begins with the sin preaching of John the Baptist, he wants us to have this truth close to our minds as we read about every word and deed of Jesus.
Conclusion
We live in a world that desperately needs good news. That good news needs to be greater than just a virgin giving birth, shepherds hearing angels or wise men bringing gifts. The good news we need is that of victory over sin, a demolishing of the wall of sin that divides us from God. Mark makes it clear with his opening verses that this is exactly what the Gospel is. Jesus Christ, the Son of God came into the world. The preparation by John the Baptist, a baptism of repentance, highlights the fact that Jesus came specifically to deal with sin. As John says, what he does by water, the Christ will do by Spirit. We often say that Jesus is the reason for the season. That’s good. But it would be more accurate to say that sin is the reason for the season. It was for sin that Jesus came into the world, it was that sin that Jesus defeated on the cross and it is that truth which is good news for us!
