Advent 2, 2020 – Right in the Middle of Things

The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God, and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you All. Amen.

Mark 1:1-8 1 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 2 just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending My messenger before You, Who will prepare Your way; 3 The voice of one calling out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’” 4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. 7 And he was preaching, saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals. 8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (NASB)

It’s that time of the year again. John the Baptist has shown up on the banks of the River Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This happens every year on the second Sunday of Advent. It’s what Christians are suppose to do daily– repent, but it is especially important whenever we come into the presence of the Lord God or the Lord God comes to us. Both of those things happen when we are in church when the Word of God is preached and the sacraments are administered according to His instruction.

Last week’s collect called upon God to “stir up [His] power” and deliver us from the great terrible. This week, the collect calls upon God to “stir up our hearts” and make ready the way of God’s only begotten Son. This “making ready” is what repentance is at its heart.

This morning’s sermon is a John the Baptist, “prepare the way of the Lord” and “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” sermon. That’s what we do on the Second Sunday in Advent. But it is also a sermon rooted in the opening statement of St. Mark’s Gospel. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

The Gospel of St. Mark is different than the other three. Mark drops us directly into the story, right in the middle of the action. Bible scholars call it “in medias res,” in the middle of things. It’s a strange beginning, even grammatically. Mark begins his Gospel with what strikes us as an incomplete sentence; “The beginning of the gospel.”

One Lutheran Bible commentator said of this phrase, “This [phrase–the beginning of the gospel…” is too comprehensive and solemn a phrase to be the title of the opening section only. . . . It is designed to be the title to the whole work . . . Mark’s book aims to set before the readers the record of the beginning and origin of that Good News, which they knew and believed, that powerful and saving Word of God which the Son of God first proclaimed in word and deed.”¹

Mark uses the word gospel (euangelion) seven times in the shortest of the four Gospels. Matthew uses the term four times. Luke and John do not use it at all. Mark’s Gospel is principally concerned with the preaching, teaching, actions, and life of Christ that is the Gospel. It’s like Mark can’t wait to get to the preaching and the work of Christ so he drops us right in the middle of the action. This is the same thing the church calendar intends to do each and every Second Sunday in Advent as our preparation for the coming of the Christ.

Through the assigned Gospel lesson we enter in the middle of the action, John’s preaching of Christ, while at the same time we are right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of our culture’s holiday season and every thing else that is going on. John’s call, like those of all the prophets whose came before is the call to turning away from all that causes us to turn inward and turn toward the One who comes after John and Who “will come like a thief.” (2 Pet 3:10)

Mark’s approach to his Gospel is not an usual approach. Many of our favorite stories start “in the middle of things.” Think of “A Christmas Carol.” Charles Dickens. His story began with three little words: “Marley was dead.” With that, we are plunged us into the life of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and what it means to “keep Christmas well.”

Better yet, think of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The opening scene is a montage of sights from Bedford Falls and stars in the night sky and where we hear the prayers of “a lot of people asking for help for a man named George Bailey” and a conversation between angels. The rest of the movie tells us the story of George’s “wonderful life” and what brought him to the bridge on Christmas Eve. These kinds of stories flash back and forth between the past and the present as the future unfolds.

This is a technique that grabs and holds our interest. The story hits the ground running. This is how the Gospel of Mark begins. The Gospel of Mark doesn’t have any of our favorite stories for this time of year. No angel and Mary and no nativity (that’s Luke). No angel and Joseph, and no wise men (that’s Matthew). No prologue about the Word made flesh dwelling among us full of grace and truth. (that’s John)

Mark simply begins in the middle of a sentence, then immediately flashes back hundreds of years to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, only to flash forward again to land us in the wilderness with the last Old Testament prophet named John the Baptist.

Mark doesn’t even give us background on John the Baptist (again that’s Luke). In Mark’s Gospel John the Baptist just bursts into the story with a shout and great crowds. “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”

Liturgically, the scene fades to black. This week all we great is the immediate cry to repent and have our sins washed away. There’s no Jesus just yet. Maybe He will show up in next week’s Gospel reading. Mark is filling us with an anticipation that the Christ is coming very soon. That should keep us listening or reading to the end.

The Gospel of Mark moves quickly. It is short and to the point. In fact, The Gospel of Mark uses the word “immediately” with regular repetition–39 times in 16 chapters. Jesus is always “immediately” going there or doing this or producing immediate results.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus comes to us out of nowhere, out of a nothing town called Nazareth and from a impure place called Galilee. At first we know Him only because John the Baptist tells us that He is coming and we are to be ready.

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ begins with the call to repent and prepare for the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world. In the same way, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the life of the overwhelming number of people who will populate heaven began in the waters of holy baptism, receiving the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is where Mark begins. Baptizing and forgiving sinners as preparation for the advent of the Christ.

Having begun his gospel with the “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, ” he flashes back to the prophet Malachi 3:1, “Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me.” John is not creating anything new. He is connecting the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God to the prophets of old. He doubles down on the flashback attaches Isaiah 40:3. The lesser prophet Malachi amplifies the greater prophet Isaiah, which bring us to John the Baptist and John brings us to Christ and Christ to us. 3 “The voice of one calling out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’”

John is calling us to turn from whatever it is that is distracting us from the life and work that ultimately matters. Christ’s life. What is the death that really matters? It is Christ’s death and Mark can’t wait to tell us about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Just as Mark’s Gospel starts in the middle of things, Jesus comes to us in medias res, in the middle of things. Jesus comes to us in the business the holiday season that is quickly forgetting the “reason for the season.”

So also Jesus comes to us in the middle of our weaknesses. He comes to us in the messiness of our lives. The stressful job. Our frantic and sometimes broken home life. He comes to us again and again in the Word and Sacraments of the church week, after week, month, after month, year after year. He comes to us in the middle of our brokenness and failure—all those things in life “we have done . . . and left undone.”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God comes to us and does what the prophet Isaiah promised He would do. He comes to comes to comfort His people and speak kindly to Jerusalem/His church. Malachi, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Mark the Evangelist, and the faithful pastor everywhere throughout time come to God’s people to comfort them with the good news and speak kindly to them.

That call to repentance and the call of the Law can be loud and thunderous. It can be and should be unsettling, even terrifying. But then comes “the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in medias res.

In Mark’s Gospel, the next scene in the “beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ” is about to start. John directs them and us to the future that will soon be upon us. 7 “And he [John] was preaching, saying, ‘After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals. 8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’”

The past (Malachi and Isaiah). The present – the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins,” and the future, “One is coming Who is mightier than I…”

Soon we will flash back to the Nativity of our Lord, but nostalgic reasons. Advent is about the comings of Christ. The story of this world and our lives in this world ends with the Second Advent of our King.

“The Lord God will come with might . . . Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them [you] in the fold of His robe.” (Isaiah 40:10-11)

When He comes again He will come just as He came two thousand years ago and just as He comes to us now in the Word and Sacraments–in the middle of things.

AMEN

May the Peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.