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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the
wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come
near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the
way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
Matthew 3:1-3
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,
the Son of God, as 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 wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the
Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness,
preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:1
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius
Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee,
his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of
Abilene— during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came
to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around
the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the
prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the
way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the
rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
Luke 3:1-2
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
Through the last few devotions, we have set the stage for
Jesus to enter the scene as an adult, ready to start His three years of formal ministry.
Today, we look at another Bible figure who grew up in a hurry, one with an
early pre-birth connection to Jesus. Of course, I’m talking about John the
Baptist.
Go back to Mary’s encounter with her relative Elizabeth.
You remember how that went, right?
Both women were in the throes of pregnancy, Elizabeth
much further along and much older than Mary as well. You’ll recall that as Mary
arrived in Elizabeth’s presence, her baby leaped in her womb and she was
overcome by the Holy Spirit before proclaiming:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But
why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as
the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”
Luke 2:42-43
The baby in Elizabeth’s womb was none other
than John and we all know the baby Mary was carrying was Jesus so there in is
the special divine connection long before each entered into the world and
connected around thirty years later. John would be circumcised in accordance
with Jewish customs on his eighth day of life where he was given his name in
spectacular fashion, his father Zechariah who had been mute since his encounter
with the angel in the temple, finally able to speak again after writing his son’s
name and confirming the boy was not to be named after him which would have been
the custom of the day for a firstborn son. The events surrounding John’s
circumcision led the people to ask:
“What then is this child going to be?” Luke 1:57-66
Fast forward thirty years and we find the answer had been
available all along, spoken by the prophet Isaiah as he wrote:
“A voice of one
calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths
for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The
crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will
see God’s salvation.’” Isaiah 40:3-5
This was John the Baptist who paved the way for the “beginning
of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). We know
that the word of God came to John as he was in the wilderness because the
scriptures tell us so. In other words, he wasn’t speaking on his own but rather
was a messenger for God, introducing the coming of His Son. All this took place
“in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was
governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of
Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the
high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas”, a list of figures we will all too soon
hear again, especially as Jesus enters His last week of life. But before we get
there, we have a lot to cover, starting with Jesus’ emergence onto the ministry
scene with a radical new teaching and displays of power that were rarely seen
within any one person. That emergence would be ushered in by John, who “went
into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for
the forgiveness of sins”, the prophesied messenger pronouncing the coming of
Jesus who would bring salvation and pardon to all, Jew or Gentile.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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