The beginning of the good news

Mark 1:1New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.


(Apologies to some here, because what I'm going to write on this wonderful verse opening up Mark's gospel, is taken from a sermon I preached at St. Paul's Lutheran church for the second Sunday of Advent.  We strayed from the lectionary this year at St. Paul's and I preached a longer version of this back in November.  So this will be already familiar to some).

Admittedly, as beginnings go, Mark certainly doesn’t seem to have the same flair as the other gospel writers.

He’s not as detailed as Matthew or Luke (nor as interested in babies, angels, shepherds, or wise men as they are).

And he’s not as poetic as John, who like Mark harkens us back to the beginning, but does so much more lyrically with “In the beginning was the Word.”

In contrast, Mark seems just to be going for the cold opening.  In fact, it seems more like a title of a book – there’s not even a verb in it.

Mark is telling the beginning of the story.  A story that is still going on.

Within a decade before Jesus’ birth, the birthday of Caesar Augustus was declared by the Roman Empire to be “good news” or “gospel” – the same phrase used here by Mark.

That kind of good news in the Roman Empire meant a triumph or a victory.  As in a victory in battle.  The kind of news that rouses the troops with shouts of “hurrah.”

That’s the paradigm of good news or gospel that Mark is writing about.  In essence Mark is asking for us to stand up and cheer. 

And if we look at Mark’s opening line this way – as good news that is meant to provoke us to cheers and hip-hip-hoorays - then how might that prepare us for reading the rest of his gospel? 

A gospel story in which the hero ends up looking more like a victim than a victor?

That’s the sort of gospel Mark is preparing us for. 

It isn't a gospel of the Empire.  It isn't a gospel where the crowds shout out "Hurrah!"

It's a gospel where ultimately the crowds will shout "Crucify him!"

Mark is preparing his hearers with this opening line to be surprised and challenged by good news that is not at all what they – or we - would expect.

The good news isn’t going to come in the form of a military victory.  It isn’t going to come in the form of power or might or strength.

It’s going to come instead from surrender.  And it’s going to come from the margins.  It's going to come for the outcasts.  It's going to come for the poor and the meek.  It's going to come in a world that seems to be upside down and backwards and it's going to be about discipleship rather than the power of the empire.

It’s going to come from a Son of God who is nothing like Caesar.

Mark chapter one verse one isn’t itself the beginning of the good news.  Instead Mark is using this opening to tell us that ALL of his gospel is the beginning – just the beginning - of the good news. 

Nowhere is this made more clearly than in the ending of the gospel. 

You almost can’t talk about the beginning of Mark without talking about the ending.  Talk about unexpected!

The original ending of Mark is earlier than it is in our Bibles.  Mark originally ends as Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James go to the tomb, encounter the angel and are told to go and tell the disciples that the risen Jesus will meet them in Galilee.

And at that, the women “fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

The end?  If so, then maybe the fact that somewhere along the line it can be forgiven that some scribe somewhere said: "Oh, dear...we can't leave it there!" and added a nicer, more tidy ending to Mark.

But it isn't the end.  It's the beginning.  From the beginning Mark tells us this IS just the beginning.

His gospel is left with this dangling ending BECAUSE it is just a beginning.  Because the story has been left out there to still be told.

The beginning of the good news because the good news is still unfolding everyday.  We are living into that good news that Mark is proclaiming.

It isn't Caesar's good news of armed victory.  Instead it is God's good news of abundant life.  Of new creation. Of redemption.  And in that redemption, moments like those of the women at the tomb are turned into wonderful, new beginnings.

The kind of new beginnings that makes you want to stand up and cheer. 

God of good news:  Hip Hip Hooray! You have come to redeem us!  Thanks be to God!  Amen.