“Cutting to the chase”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, April 25, 2024
Mark 1:1-15 (Forward, p. 87) CEV p. 1026
I have often likened Mark’s Gospel to be something akin to a Hockey Night in Canada play-by-play broadcast. “Hull has the puck. He dekes out the last Flyer defender. He has a clear breakaway. He shoots, he scores.” No fuss or bother, no elaboration, just the plain, clear facts.
That’s Mark for you. He skips over everything concerning Jesus’ birth or upbringing or prehistory. He cuts to the chase, starting his Gospel with the first significant thing concerning Jesus’ ministry, namely His baptism. And he immediately sets the stage for this baptism--in just a few words--by describing the ministry and intent of John the Baptist. And he does so by mentioning how this was a fulfilment of a prophecy of Isaiah from long ago. In other words, what was once predicted has now come to pass.
And true to form, Mark glosses over Jesus’ baptism in just a few words, and then quickly moves on to Jesus’ trial in the desert before starting with His actual ministry. Virtually nothing is said of Jesus’ trial in the desert, His temptation, and likewise very little about the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry up in Galilee.
In a sense, for Mark at least, all of this is a mere prelude, a mere preliminary. What are the essential facts or truths, which is what Mark dwells on, boils down to just two questions, namely who Jesus is and what this means. The answer to the first is that He is the Messiah, the Christ, demonstrated by His works of power, His miracles. And the answer to the second is that He is a Messiah who will suffer and die and be raised to life once again. Everything else is subsidiary, secondary. That’s what Mark wants us to know.
But, of course, Mark’s intent is not to leave it just like that. He wants us to wrestle with the fact of Jesus being the Messiah. And what kind of Messiah will He be? And, stemming from that, what does that mean for each of us?
And especially seeing as Jesus says that we are to follow Him and be like Him, even in taking up the Cross as He did, what does that imply for each of us in our daily lives. Mark cuts to the chase then, not only in terms of
Jesus’ ministry, but also in terms of our own lives and discipleship. He sets forth its demands, in no uncertain terms, and asks for our response.
Forward notes: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan” (verse 9).
Commemoration: Saint Mark, Evangelist and Apostle
“In Mark’s Gospel, we learn about Jesus’s life and ministry not so much from what he says but from what he does. The first action Jesus takes is to go to John to be baptized in the Jordan River, where he is welcomes not only by God but also into John’s community.
“Our service of Holy Baptism concludes with the proclamation to ‘welcome the newly baptized.’ How we do this varies, but one of my most memorable experiences occurred at a service I attended at an Episcopal church founded in 1941 by 16 Black Americans. It has grown into a culturally diverse, radically inclusive congregation that continues to reflect its heritage, especially in music and hospitality. After the priest has issued the welcoming proclamation, the congregation burst spontaneously into singing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ while clapping and swaying.
“The priest, with a newly baptized baby in his arms, walked around the church until every congregant had a chance to welcome the baby. All the while, the singing continued, ‘Yes, Jesus loves me; the Bible tells me so!’”
Moving Forward: “What is your experience of baptismal welcoming?”