The Beginning of the Good News

The Beginning of the Good News 

We begin the second week of our preparation for the coming of Jesus with these powerful words from the Gospel of Mark 1:1-8:   

"The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: `Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’" 

With these words St. Mark, through the words of the Sixth Century Prophet we call Second Isaiah, prepares us for what is to follow: the appearance of a man in the wilderness dressed in camel’s hair and wearing a leather belt, eating honey and bugs, baptizing people and preparing them for one who is coming after him of whom he is unworthy even to untie his shoes; the appearance of a man who will baptize with water those who follow him, while at the same time, preparing them for one who will baptize them with the Holy Spirit. 

We have moved from the coming of a “Cosmic Christ,” on Advent 1 in the direction of the birth of a baby, pausing for the preparation for the baptism of an adult Jesus, a Jesus who will continue and enhance the ministry of John the Baptist and take it to the next level.  The Baptist’s mission is to catch people’s attention: to help them to see that their relationship with God and with other human beings is not irreversible.  Johns’ baptism shows people that the way life was is not the way it has to be; that wrongs can be righted, that sins can be forgiven and that the God of love and life is with us through the good the bad and the ugly.  John also calls people to be awake, to be aware and to be available to the inflowing of God’s Holy Spirit which he proclaims will be given to them by “the one who is more powerful then he and will come after him.” 

The adult Jesus John prepares us for will be a conduit for the power of God to come into the world: but not into the world in nature or creation as people are familiar, but to come into the world as the Holy Spirit, flowing over and around and through each one of us who is God’s Child.  Through this indwelling of the Spirit of God we will be led into all truth.  God will give us the power to forgive one another when we hurt each other.  God will give us the courage to speak truth to power, even if it costs us our jobs, our families or our lives.  Seeing Jesus through John’s eyes allows us to see both a strong Jesus who is meek and a meek Jesus who is strong.  If we can see this, we can be this and if we can be this we can show others how to walk in the Spirit of God. 

Being able to see the coming birth of the baby Jesus through the lens of the adult can give us a better understanding of the importance of His birth and the power that God’s presence through Jesus and in us can have in the world.  Jesus certainly came to bring us an abundant life, but he lived, died and rose again to give us not only abundance but purpose.  By being faithful to that purpose, we become “co-creators” with Christ as we work and pray to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in heaven.