Mark 1:1-13

Prophesy fulfilled
Mark 1:1-13

Today we start the book of Mark.  It is the shortest of the four Gospels, and it concentrates on the three-year ministry of Jesus.  A full third of the book is devoted to Jesus’ last week on earth!  It’s not that Mark doesn’t care about the rest of the life of Jesus, he does, but he doesn’t want us to miss the important bits; so important bits are all you’ll find!  Mark is so excited about telling you the story of Jesus! The Gospel of Mark is a book of excitement and action.

Mark starts his Gospel by quoting not one, but two prophesies about the coming of John the Baptist.  John the Baptist was a prophet who came before Jesus to announce Jesus’ coming (A prophet is usually a person who forecasts the future).  Mark quotes from Malachi (3:1-3) in verse 2 and Isaiah (40:3) in verse 3, to remind us that the coming of John was prophesied, and that when John came, Jesus would not be far behind.  It was Isaiah who foretold the coming of John 700ish years before the event and Malachi 400 years before John came.  John now tells his listeners that Jesus’ arrival is imminent.

To “prophesy” means to tell the future, but it also means to proclaim.  The word “professor” comes from this word and professors proclaim what they believe.  This was John the Baptist’s specialty (Professor John?).  He foretold the coming of Jesus, baptized him and proclaimed that this was the man to follow as soon as Jesus got out of the water.  Today, we to can profess that Jesus is the one to follow also!

John baptized his disciples with water.  According to Acts, this is the right thing for us to do to as well if we are to become Christians (Jesus lead by example, as we see in this passage).  But Acts also tells us that when we are baptized, we receive the Holy Spirit as a gift, which I think is way cool.  The Holy Spirit instructs us, guides us, makes us feel good in times of worship, bolsters our guardian angel to help protect us (yes, we do have one), and gives us peace.  Upon Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit sent Jesus out to the desert to prepare him for his mission.  God also sends us to dry places from time to time to prepare us for greater things.  It’s a good thing Jesus had the Holy Spirit with him!  We do too if we know Jesus and accept what He did for us.

One final note: It says in this passage that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee.  Galilee was sort of like Hillbilly country — not a place you wanted to come from or go to.  Apparently, the Galileans had quite an accent, so everyone knew if you came from there.  Jesus spoke Aramaic with a twang!  This just shows me that God can use anyone from anywhere to serve His purposes!