Just as Isaiah said (Hunch 5)
It is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”-- “a voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’"
Mark starts his story in the normal way. He
tells us what his story will be about and how it fits in with God's promises.
The prophecies of Isaiah, one of God's prophets from long ago, have been
fulfilled. That is what this story is about. His readers will have known Isaiah
40 from when it was read in the synagogues on the Sabbath. The Messiah will bring in God’s Kingdom. He
will do it by becoming a servant.
Some of Mark's first readers may have
remembered Jesus and what He did in their town. Mark reminds them that the
promised King came as God's Servant. Mark took over Isaiah's role and issued a prophetic warning. Jesus came as the servant of the Lord! Don't forget it! Unfortunately people forget.
To follow the King of Kings is to follow the Lord's Servant. It is strange, but
those who claim to follow Jesus easily forget them that they are servants.
Actually Mark first started telling his story
when Peter and Paul were working out how to work together. They were making
each other's lives, and the lives of many other Christians as well, a misery.
Mark wrote his gospel knowing that Jesus had come to help us overcome those
kinds of difficulties. He knew Jesus understood who we are, and Mark's gospel
has helped keep Mark, Barnabas, Peter, Paul, and all the rest of us on the
right track, the path of service. Without this story, even if every one else says
we are great Christians, we are done for - we too easily forget who we are, we
miss the gospel train and little by little we slip into a life-style that
cannot serve others because we are too busy serving ourselves. Jesus came and
short-circuited that tendency. From Him we discover that God has indeed made us
members of His Kingdom. We are His servants, citizens in God's Holy City.
Mark wrote to tell us why Jesus came, what He
did then, and what He still does. When Mark started with Isaiah's promise that
God's Messiah came to bring hope to those who are hurt, to those who are
slaves, who have to live subject to unjust rulers, or powerful enemies. Mark
wrote so those who long for God to right the wrong would know that the Messiah
has come. His disciples still need reminding that God's Servant did not
come to go to war like an earthly king.
The passage from Isaiah was well known but the
Jewish people did not realise what it meant until Jesus came and taught in
their synagogues. That was around the time of John the Baptist. John had told
the people to get ready. God's promises were coming true, victory was on the
way, the Servant of the Lord was among them. John was taken off to prison and
Mark reminded his first readers that John had not died in vain, even though he
died early. God made sure of that.
Luke and Matthew tell the story of Christmas.
Not Mark. He leaves that for others. Instead he starts when Jesus began
teaching. When Jesus' followers first read Mark's story they knew it was not
going to end happily with everything and everyone going back to normal. This
story was written to explain why things had changed totally after Jesus came.
He had turned life upside down. Or better: He turned everything right side up
again.