Advent 2025: Sun 30 Nov
Mark 1.1 How do we start a Gospel?
1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, …
Mark does not beat about the bush. His gospel is the shortest because he doesn’t dwell on detail in the way the other Gospel-writers do. He’s saying, “This is all about the Good News of Jesus – how, when and where he was born is not something I’m going to include. I’m going to keep Old Testament quotes to a minimum. I want to give you, Dear Reader, Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Hold on to your hats – we’re going on a roller-coaster ride!”
In just one verse (remember, though, that verses and chapters were introduced into the Bible text centuries later) Mark has established that the man Jesus he’s writing about is not only the promised Messiah, the One whom the Jewish people were still seeking (they missed him because he was not the person they wanted), but also the Son of God. A man who is also Son of God. Well, that is Good News! But how can we comprehend it?!
I think we can sometimes forget that Jesus did not come as a heavenly being like an angel, or as some superman who was born with attributes beyond those we could ever hope for. Jesus was a human. Bach wrote better music, Shakespeare better plays and Michelangelo drew better pictures. Even though Jesus was fully divine and the music, the poetry, the artistry of heaven is way beyond any human achievement, the Son of God left that behind so that he could be like us. If he were not like us he could not have died in our place.
Yes, the Good News starts here, and you are invited to read on and discover it for yourselves.
How would you describe Jesus to someone who asks?
How would you explain how Jesus is fully human and fully divine?
Father God, your evangelist Mark has laid it on the line, that your son came to our world and over the space of three or so years lived and proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom to his people. Open up this Gospel in fresh ways to me. Amen.
O come, O come, Emmanuel is an invitation to Christ, Emmanuel, Key of David, Branch of Jesse, Lord of might, to come into our lives and free us from darkness into light. Pray that Israel also accepts Emmanuel as their Messiah.
Paul