Versions of this sermon were preached in Upton 11/3/18 Hook 27/5/18 Hanley Castle 10/6/18 Hanley Swan 13/7/18 Ripple 20/1/19
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way’ –
3 ‘a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.”’4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the River Jordan. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt
Mark 1:1-8round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: ‘Afterme comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’
In this week of Brexit bad news, the week Project Fear warned us we’d have, the week when all the bad news seems to have happened at once, I want us to look at some really good news instead.
You see no matter we get a good deal, a bad deal or no deal, no matter who the Prime Minister is in a month’s time, no matter whether we get a 2nd referendum or not, there is real good news out there. And we find it in our gospel reading, from the beginning of the gospel of Mark.
Now Mark was one of Jesus’ early followers, he was a leader in the early church, and close friends with Simon Peter one of Jesus’ very first followers. We know Peter was crucified in Rome by Emperor Nero around 64-68AD, and we think Mark wrote his gospel probably a couple of years after this, to collect together all the things Peter had experienced of Jesus into a single account, and he did this because he wanted everyone to know that Jesus is GOOD NEWS.
That’s why he begins his account with these words:
“The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God”.
Mark 1:1
So the Gospel of Mark is a book of good news all about Jesus, God’s chosen rescuer, who is also the Son of God.
That title “Son of God” doesn’t mean much to us today because very few of us do the same job as our same-sex parent did. My Dad was a journalist, his dad was a coal-miner, every generation has a different career.
But in Jesus’ day, father handed on the trade to son who handed it on to his son. To call someone the son of a builder meant they were a builder. The son of a carpenter was a carpenter. The son of a baker was a baker. So what do you think Mark means by calling Jesus Son of God?
And Mark spends the rest of his gospel trying to show us just how Jesus lives up to that claim. The miracles, the healings, the teaching, are all recorded to help us reach the conclusion the Roman centurion watching Jesus crucifixion reaches at the very end of Mark’s gospel.
“Surely this man was the Son of God.”
Mark 15:38
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…Today we’re just going to focus on the first eight verses of chapter 1, which gives us three ways that Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God is good news for us today:
1)Jesus is good news if you think life is meaningless
Science tells us life is meaningless. On scientific assumptions, we’re random biological accidents in an insignificant corner of a rather dull bit of a nearly infinitely vast expanding universe that will one day stop expanding and contract back on itself into a tiny clump and presumably explode again in another Big Bang. In scientific terms the universe is a loop. It’s going nowhere, there’s no point, no purpose, no meaning.
But the beginning of Mark’s gospel says that’s rubbish. Do you remember those odd bits in the reading? “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him” and so on?
They’re Old Testament prophecies about Jesus which Mark includes to show us that there is a plan and purpose to history.
Rather than being a meaningless random accident, the Bible tells us that God created the world deliberately. And he made it good , in fact very good. Perfect.
But the perfection was spoiled by people. We told the creator of the universe that we know better than him – and all the evil and brokenness we know today – – sickness disease, disaster –it all comes from that. Yes it really is all our fault.
And that’s why Jesus is such good news – because he’s come to put it all to rights. He took on human flesh, was tempted in every way we are but without sin,and then died a criminal’s death – on a Roman cross. Three days later he rose from the dead to bring us new life, and one day he’ll return in all his glory to judge us.
And that’s where history’s headed – From a beautiful beginning towards a final reckoning. And that means everything we do in the here and now, matters.
So listen if you think your life is meaningless – the answer is to find out what your creator has to say to you about the purpose of your life. And better do it sooner than later – because one day there’s going to be a reckoning.
Jesus is good news if you think life is meaningless.
2)Jesus is good news when we mess life up
Look what Mark tells us next – he tells us about John the Baptist coming preaching in the wilderness dressed like the Old Testament prophet Elijah. That’s what all the stuff about leather belts, locusts and wild honey was. John’s an Elijah fan-boy and just like Elijah he’s calling people to return to God.
Why do people need to return to God? Because we’ve all turned our backs on him. We’ve all failed to live up to God’s standard of perfect love. And that’s a problem because there’s a judgement coming.
That’s why John the Baptist’s out there calling people to “repent of their sins.” I guess we’d call him a hellfire and damnation preacher today, warning us about the coming judgement. And he wasn’t one to mince his words. In Luke’s gospel John calls his crowd a “brood of vipers”. That’s not a compliment!
But there’s a point to the challenge. John hasn’t come to make people feel bad about themselves – he’s come to show them that a new beginning is possible with God – but if we want that new beginning with God – we have to admit how bad we are – and repent our sins.
That word repent isn’t so familiar today, but it means “Do a U-turn.” When an alcoholic repents he stops drinking booze. When a cynic repents she chooses hope. When an adulterer repents he zips up his pants. When a liar repents he tells the truth.
And John is saying we all need to repent.I know from my own story just how significant doing that U-turn is. There were things I’d done wrong which I felt deep shame over, they were a burden crushing my spirit, a barrier between me and God.
And that helped me realise why Jesus is such good news – because his death on the cross is all about God reaching out to us with a gift: a gift of love and forgiveness, a gift that breaks down the barrier between us a God, a gift that lifting the burden of guilt and shame we feel..
And that gift comes to all who admit their need, and ask for it. It’s as simple as that. Which is why Jesus is good news when we mess things up.
Now I said earlier, repentance is all about doing that u-turn in your life. And I’m very conscious that it’s a lot easier to talk about than to actually do. Changing your life is really hard. And that’s why …
3)Jesus is good news for those who know they need help to change
The last part of our passage holds out great hope for us for when we’re struggling to change. Let’s look again at how John the Baptist describes Jesus in v8, John said,
“I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Mark 1:8
When we come to Christ, when we trust in his death on the cross to take away our sin, then God comes to live in us by his Holy Spirit. That’s what that phrase “baptism in the Holy Spirit” means.
And when the Spirit comes to live in us, he does a number of things. For starters, he functions like a mark of ownership – his presence in us declares we belong to God. Another thing the Spirit does is connect us to God and to one-another. Sometimes he gives us special knowledge and wisdom. At other times he gives us new gifts and abilities. And he also empowers us to change how we live.
St Paul puts it like this,
“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Galatians 5:22-23)
He saying that when the Holy Spirit is in our life,then all those things that we find hard – loving our enemies, joy instead of cynicism, kindness, faithfulness, self-control – all those things we find impossible become possible if only we’ll ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. They’re the fruit of His presence in our lives.
Bookshops are full of books about how to change your life. And the answer they offer is always the same –work harder – work smarter – it’s all down to you. But the good news of Jesus is that it’s not all down to us. If we’ve given our lives over to God, if Jesus is our real treasure in life, then the Holy Spirit is working in us to bring about change. He’s changing us to be more and more like Jesus. I wonder what that will mean for each of us in 2019.
Jesus is good news because
- He can help us to change.
- He offers a new beginning
if we’ve messed up. - And he’s proof that
there’s hope and purpose in life.
Let’s pray.