Strange Way to Begin A Story
a sermon based on Mark 1:1-8
by Rev. Thomas Hall

 

Just imagine a small mountain of puzzle pieces lying in a heap on your living room floor. Each piece of the thousands of pieces reflects some small episode of the story about Jesus. Your jour is to put the puzzle back together. To make matters worse, I need to warn you that a couple of the puzzle pieces are missing, several have been scratched beyond recognition by Fee Fee your cat and another piece got mixed in the Kibbles and Bits for Fang. So you begin this tedious process of piecing the puzzle together. That’s some of what the compilers of our gospels faced when the time came to put the story of Jesus down on parchment. But where to begin? they wondered. So they sat on their living room floors and tried to make chronological sense of the pieces, trying to put the puzzle of the gospel together in a way that would inspire faith and repentance. So let’s see how they began their stories.

Matthew begins his story about Jesus by taking us to the court house to prove that Jesus comes from good stock. If "Abijah begat Asaph who begat Jehosphaphat who begat Jehoram, doesn’t grab you and send you out shouting "this is so Charles Dickins!" then you probably don’t appreciate what was critically important to many of first century Palestine-where you came from.

How does Luke begin the story about Jesus? Well, Luke begins the Good News story like Matthew-literally at the beginning of Jesus’ life. But he does it with such pizzazz! Luke’s church really knows how to celebrate the beginning of the Good News! From his gospel come our favorite carols like O Little Town of Bethlehem and Angels We Have Heard on High. In Luke’s church the boy’s choir sings While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night. And we close Christmas Eve service with candles and the quiet singing of Silent Night. Luke knows how to begin the story of Jesus all right.

And John? How does he start out? Well he begins his story about Jesus by bringing us up into heaven to see that Jesus was God of very God before the foundations of the world-quite cosmic and other worldly.

And that leaves us with the last gospel writer and with the text that we must listen to this morning. How does Mark begin this magnificent story about Jesus? Certainly not in the manger. Not with shepherds nor even with We Three Kings. Fact is, the way Mark tell us the story about Jesus doesn’t even begin with a baby at all. As you approach the beginning of the story line in the gospel the only sound you may hear is the occasional cry of a jackal or the sharp howl of the wind sweeping across the desert floor. And Jesus is not the focus of the beginning at all-John the Baptist is. That, says Mark, is where the story about Jesus Christ should begin. No wonder that the Gospel of Mark fell into obscurity in the early centuries of the Church. Who wants to celebrate Christmas in the desert?

Why does Mark begin the story there? Of what possible interest could John the Baptist and the desert offer that looms so large in Mark’s mind that it crowds out the wonderful birth narratives that he most probably would have had access to? John stands there out in wind swept desert with his tumbleweed hairdo, animal skins draped over his out-sized frame, popping honey-dipped locusts like pills, and howling in his rough baritone, "Repent! Prepare for God’s Kingdom to come among you." The old prophet bursts in upon us without warning or preparation and tells us to change. In some way, Mark associates repentance with the beginning of the Good News. There’s something about spiritual preparation that is connected with the Good News about Jesus in Mark’s book.

Repentance isn’t my idea of Good News. Or if this is good news, it’s more like my last trip to the garage following repairs. "Good News, Mr. Hall, we fixed your car. Of course, you’ll need to replace the wipers, the muffler, the carburetor, the main gasket, and the engine. Otherwise, she’s purring like a kitten." I’m still gasping for breath when the mechanic relieves some of the pressure." Do you want to pay for those repairs on Master Charge or can we help with a loan?" No, repentance is not an All-American word. Yet, Mark dares to say that there is something about repentance that is truly Good News for humanity. For us.

Repentance is a change of direction. We’re driving down the road and we suddenly become aware that we can’t read the road signs because we’re headed the wrong way on a one-way street. We face repentance-the possibility of a change of direction. We may decide that traffic is light, no police cars are in sight, or that the scene down this road is quite to our liking. We could respond that way. But we may squeal to a stop and whip the car around like we see in Changing Lanes and begin to drive with the flow of traffic going the same direction.

Mark’s repentance also invites us to a reorientation of our life, to a fresh start, to a metamorphosis of life. One scripture that I recall says this: Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." But I like the way Eugene Peterson translates that verse: "Take your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering . . . don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out."

That is what Mark means by repentance-a change from the inside out. Repentance is a reorientation, the beginning of a life long metamorphosis into a Christ-follower. Mark is not scrooge who puts out Christmas cheer with joy-killing repentance. Rather, he offers us the possibility for changing our lives through confession and spiritual cleansing. Through repentance we draw near to God and receive healing from God’s hand. To see repentance as the starting of the gospel and the starting point of our lives is to understand Mark’s telling of the story.

Visit Mark’s church-where lepers are changed, nature is changed, persons suffering from oppression are changed, the disciples are changed, and yes, even you and I can be changed. For this is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus the Messiah. Amen.