Mark 1:1-20.  Hopefully you have read the “Intro to Mark”.  If you have yo might remember I mentioned the fast pace of Mark’s gospel.  Matthew takes four chapters and Luke takes  five and one half chapters to tell the part of the story in today’s reading.  Mark is moving very fast.  Also if you have read either Matthew or Luke you probably noticed there is no Christmas story, no going to Egypt, no story of Jesus going to the Temple as a teenager.  Mark introduces his book by telling us it is about the good news (gospel) of Jesus (his proper name) Christ (a title meaning chosen one) the Son of God.  The term “son of God” is sometimes used of the nation of Israel (rather “sons of God”) and of angles (same plural form) but in this case Mark is pointing out the relationship between Jesus and God the Father (see “Three or One?”).  In the gospel of John, John is more clear when he talks about Jesus before he became a man, he calls him the “Word”.  He also is clear that this Word” is God, that this “Word” became a human being, and that that human being was Jesus  (John 1:1, 14-15, 29-30).  No beating around the bush here, “Bam!”, and were into the story.

Next Mark quotes two prophets Malachi and Isaiah.  Verse 2 is from Malachi 3:1 and verse 3 is from Isaiah 40:3.  Mark probably only mentions Isaiah because Isaiah wrote a much longer book and would have been the more famous of the two.  By quoting these verses Mark makes it clear that Jesus is indeed the promised messiah, Christ, coming one.  Also in the part of Isaiah which he quotes the coming one is called “LORD”.  The all capitals in most translations is a key that this is actually the word “Yahweh” which is the personal name of the one true God of Israel.  So in these three verses Mark gives quite a bit of hope to that early persecuted church in Rome.

The quote from Isaiah mentions a forerunner or herald going before the coming one.  Mark calls him John the Baptist.  More properly we should call him John the Baptizer.  The word baptize is directly borrowed fro the Greek language into English and means “to dip”.  The word was used of people dying cloth, they would dip (“baptizo” in the Greek) the cloth into the dye.  In the ancient world being dipped into something was a way of identifying yourself with that thing or what it was a symbol for.  In this case we see that John was baptizing in water (see John 1:26-28) and the people were trying to identify with their need for repentance.  “Repent” means to turn around and go the other way.  The way they had been going was the way of sin (disobedience and rebellion against God).  By being “dipped” in the water they were saying they wanted to be cleaned from this wrong way of living and start going the right way, the way of God.

In verses 7-8 John makes the point that he really is not the one with the power that they need.  By coming to him they are admitting that they have been going the wrong way and need to go the right way, but John was not the “one” that they really needed.  In order to go the right way the people need to be dipped into some real power and that is just what the “coming one” was going to do; dip them in the Holy Spirit.  Later in the Book of Acts Jesus told his followers that he was leaving to go to heaven and that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came into their lives (Acts 1:8).  The reference to what John was wearing and eating tied him back to the Old Testament prophets (2 Kings 1:8; Zechariah 13:4).  This would further help the believers in Rome be assured that Jesus was the real deal.

Verses 9-11 describe the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John.  In Matthew 3:13-15 we see that John understood who Jesus is and didn’t think he should be baptizing Jesus.  Jesus assured him it was the right thing to do.  While the other people coming to John were confessing that they had offended God the point for Jesus was to show his commitment to obeying God the Father.  Hebrews tells us that Jesus lived without sinning (disobeying God the father, Hebrews 4:15).

Verses 12-13 tell us that Jesus spent some time alone (sort of) before beginning to travel around and teach the people.  Matthew gives us a more detailed picture of what happened (Matthew 4:1-11).  According to Matthew Jesus was tempted repeatedly by the Devil to follow some other way besides the way God the Father had laid out.  Jesus repeatedly used the Bible as his guide.  Finally Satan gave up until he had a better opportunity to defeat him (Luke 4:13), then the angles began to serve him.  We also know from Matthew that Jesus “fasted” for forty days and nights before being tempted by the Devil.  Fasting is going without food and was usually likned with prayer so it is very likely that Jesus was preparing to work among the people by spending time talking to God.

In Mark 1:14-15 Mark describes the beginning of Jesus public preaching and Marks version gets right to the heart of the matter, Jesus said, “Now’s the time the eternal kingdom is right hear.  Put your trust in the good news and turn to God.”  Right to the point.

Finally in verses 14-20 we see Jesus choosing the first four of his closest followers.  In verses 10, 12, 18, and 20 we see Mark’s urgent style.  In each of those verses he uses a word that will be found frequently in his story, “immediately”.  We don’t want to make the mistake that all of this happened in one day like a TV show.  The Greek word translated “immediately” is “eutheos”.  It can mean immediately or “straight away”.  The root word means to “put in place properly”.  You may know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, Jesus was taking the best and most direct path in following God’s will.

I think it is cool to see God motivating Mark to write Jesus story in a way which would have special meaning to the church in Rome.  God cares about our fears and needs.  Although there was more to the story than what Mark wrote, Mark was not tricking the believers in Rome.  Jesus was doing what needed to be done in the best possible way.  And we see that what Jesus was up to was getting people back in a good relationship with God.  I also think it is cool how what God and Jesus were doing had a lot of proof, this wasn’t some new thing and mark right away (or should I say immediately) shows how the Old Testament prophets had predicted that all this was going to happen.  Those prophecies should have encouraged the Roman believers about the truth and accuracy of what they believed in.  Finally is is cool that right off the bat we see that the center of our faith, Jesus, had the power to care for us, being god in human flesh.

Thank you God for caring for us, for me.  Thank you for becoming one of us.  Thank you for using your power to help me.  Thank you for showing us the plan way before it started to happen so we could be sure it was real.  Thank you for wanting us know you are there for us. Help me go the right way, your way.  Thank you for forgiving me.

Nahum 3:7-19. In today’s reading we see the rest of Nahum’s prediction of the destruction of the unfaithful Assyria.  He compares Assyria to No-amon.  This was an important city of Egypt.  Egypt had been a long time powerhouse in the Middle East.  But even an old and powerful nation like Egypt was immune from destruction.  Egypt’s power was not limitless.   If a city like No-amon could be conquered with natural barriers to invasion (surrounded by water) how much more vulnerable was Ninevah.  In verse 13 we see another problem, not only was Ninevah vulnerable but the people were afraid.  In verse 17 we also see that the guards and soldiers are ready to run away at the first sign of trouble.  Finally in verse 18 we see that the leaders of Assyria were “asleep” on the job.  So Assyria would fall, and it did in 612 BC about 40 years after Nahum predicted it.  In the end every one will be happy over the destruction of Assyria because they have been an evil influence in the world.

Although there was no hope for Assyria there is hope for us.  In the book of Job, Job was feeling pretty desperate.  He didn’t know why there was so much trouble in his life and he wanted God’s help.  He cried out to God but he also knew he had someone crying out with him.  He called that person his “advocate”.  John told the early church that they should not disobey God but that even if they did that they had an “advocate” too; Jesus.  An the basis of Jesus appeal to God is the fact that he paid the price for our disobedience and rebellion (sin) personally.  That is what today, “Good Friday”, is al about.  Sometimes I teach a lesson on Good Friday about Good Friday and the lesson is titled “Good For Who?”  Certainly dying on the cross was not good for Jesus in the way we normally thing about good.  But the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross because of the joyful outcome it would bring (Hebrews 12:2).  The lesson we can learn for the twin books of Jonah and Nahum is that sin is serious and has serious consequences.  But there is hope for those who will turn back to God.  The nation of Assyria was destroyed never to rise again but each person has a chance to miss out on personal destruction by putting their faith and trust in what Jesus did for them centuries ago.  This truly is a ‘good Friday” for all who trust Jesus as the only way to eternity with God.

God it is amazing that seeing me in heaven with you would give you so much joy that you were willing to be crucified for me.  Amazing.  I just don’t know what to say.  Thank you Jesus.  Help my life be one of gratitude each day.  Thank you.