Bible Text: Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
My husband and I plan for trips in two very different ways, especially if it is a road trip. I am a planner, I will research, I will map out, I will investigate hours of operations on various attractions, restaurants and stops along the way and then I will even determine how much time we will be able to spend at said attraction so that we have time to fit it all in. As I hear myself say it out loud I know it sounds excessive, but as I explained to my dear travel companion I do all that before we head on the trip in part because just the mere planning of said trip gives me a mini-vacation. Mike on the other hand likes to plan out a basic route but everything else is spontaneous; he likes to just see what’s around when we get there, he likes to see where an unmarked road leads, he likes to spend as little or as much time as he needs at an attraction, so what if he misses out on one down the road. So, as you can image our first few road trips hit a few speed bumps, until we figured out that I can plan all I want, the trick is, I just don’t tell him- so it’s very spontaneous to him. And now I am always sure to make allowances for a few detours. There are, however, certain trips that do require a bit of pre-planning, say for example going on an international trip- you need to make sure your passport is up-to-date and vaccinations have been looked after. Preparations, even slight ones, help make sure that things run smoothly in the future.
Being prepared is a key concept for today’s passages and yet it strikes me that the preparations are somewhat vague or at least metaphorical. This is in part because at this time of year, we have a delicate juxtaposition of our everyday preparations for Christmas with the eschatological expectations of preparedness from Scripture. Eschatology is the study of last days, or as I like to understand it, the end of the ordinary and the reunion of the extraordinary or divine. Some scholars even use a more fancy word to describe what this kind of preparation is called, anamnesis, which is the dynamic remembering or recalling of the events of salvation in such a way that by the power of the Spirit those events are made present to modern participants. Basically part of our advent preparations involve an anamnesis of the nativity; we recall the stories from Scripture and apply it to our modern longings, but unlike the Gospels of Luke or Matthew, today these preparations do not begin with angelic messengers but rather from a voice in the wilderness.
Mark’s Gospel is wonderfully unique from the other two synoptic Gospels of Luke and Matthew in part because it is believed that Mark’s Gospel is the earliest of any gospel writings. In fact Luke and Matthew likely used Mark’s gospel as a reference point when they were writing their own. Mark is also known for getting right to the point, there is very little subtlety in his writing. But what is most fascinating is that Mark does something that has never been done before. None of the previous texts in the Hebrew Bible begin the way his Gospel does. Mark announces the beginning of a new genre and theme within the first verse; he writes, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God.” And then without further ado he launches into the story- even into the middle of the story. Mark leaves the birth narratives behind and he tells the story of Jesus as he thinks it should be told, starting with John. I believe this is because Mark obviously links Isaiah and the Gospel. We hear the echoes between our Old and New Testament passages. And this is in part because John’s first appearance on the scene is related to preparations. The Gospel of John is somewhat similar in this regard and we will touch on that next week. But today we hear how Mark binds the prophets of the Hebrew Bible with his new genre- he makes sure that the readers understand John is the voice in the wilderness that was foretold.
Mark, albeit briefly, also touches upon two important characterizations of John to make sure we understand that John is the one about whom Isaiah prophesied. Mark describes John’s baptism as being the forgiveness of sins and he depicts John’s clothing and diet. Let’s start with the latter. While eating locust and honey sounds more like something a teenage boy would try on a dare, it was in fact a common diet for anyone living in the desert. The point is that John is coming from a barren deserted land, like the Israelites who wandered in the desert to cross the Jordan into the land of plenty, John is coming from the desert and meeting on the banks of the Jordan to declare words of plenty. John’s clothing is also noted and has often been linked to a similar description of Elijah who was an itinerant prophet. Like some of the Israelite prophets before him, John is a wanderer.
It is the line that John appears on the scene, “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” that should catch us. Baptism was not a new concept. In Judaism there is the Tevilah, which is a ritual purification, but it can be repeated. However, the baptism which John preaches and proclaims is one of preparation, a one-time preparation, a one-time baptism- preparing for one who comes who is more powerful. By repenting through baptism the people were beginning anew. Proclaiming is part of our advent preparation- at our Acts Bible study throughout October and November I pushed the group to constantly think about how we can be witnesses. Well, proclamation is one of those ways. We who wait between the times are called to a ministry of witness to Jesus who is the beginning and the end and in whom all things hold together. Most importantly this proclamation includes repentance, getting our lives straightened out and embracing the peace which passes all understanding.
But this brings me to another theme for today. While Mark echoes pieces of Isaiah, Isaiah opens the passage with, “Comfort, O comfort my people.” This double cry is a plural imperative, meaning it is a command to offer comfort, not be comforted. God is not saying be comforted my people, but rather give comfort. And when we realize it is a command, it is almost startling. Also the command does not imply that this comfort will cease suffering. It does not deny that humanity is broken, whether they are living in exile or hearing the words of an itinerant prophet. We are to be the ones who extend the peace which is found in Jesus Christ by bringing comfort. In fact, almost all of this Isaiah passage is made up of a series of commands. “Give comfort, prepare the way, cry out, get to a high mountain and proclaim the good news that God is coming”- and “God is coming not to punish but to restore”. God comes with might but also like a Shepherd.”
There is something spontaneous about this arrival as well. You see Mark and the other gospel writers convey that God’s arrival includes unexpected, unearned and unprecedented compassion and grace. John is the messenger and Jesus is the one who comes with both power and tenderness. Mark’s writing was so new, so different, so unique for his time, that the only way he could describe this indescribable thing was by turning to the Old Testament. Which brings me to the question, if this was and is so unexpected, unearned, unprecedented and indescribable, how do we prepare? What does it mean to proclaim?
Here is where my family’s travelling experience comes in handy. Map it out, map out the trajectory that one’s life should be, make allotments for goals and accomplishments but also be open to those spontaneous detours, because if I am truly honest, it is often those unexpected trips or attractions that make a road trip exciting and memorable. And here’s where anamnesis really kicks in when we make these proclamations, witness to Jesus Christ in our world, reach out in unexpected ways to a hurting world; through the Holy Spirit we are really there- really in the Judean countryside hearing words from John about the one who comes next, the one who will be born in a stable so that we might live in a heavenly kingdom. Amen