Mark 1:1 (NIV)
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God . . .
CONSIDER THIS
Unlike Matthew and Luke, the Gospel of Mark does not give us a birth narrative for Jesus. But he does begin with . . .
The beginning: All of Israel’s past hope is culminating in the arrival of Jesus. In the following verse, the writer quotes an ancient prophecy from Isaiah, linking Jesus to the fulfillment of Israel’s history. Yet Mark makes it clear that this is only the start of a brand-new future. This is a message to every other empire of the world that this Jesus movement may look like a tiny mark on the timeline of global events, but this story is larger than the world itself. And the scope of the human narrative so far has been building up to this. Now we are at the beginning.
Of the good news: To us today, this term is loaded with religious significance, and it should be. But it was not always that way. In the earliest days of Christianity, this was already a familiar phrase in the culture because it was used by the Roman Empire to describe a proclamation from Caesar. “Good news! Caesar reigns and he is bringing peace!” But Mark employs the term in a subversive and provocative way, declaring that the message of Jesus is the true good news for all people and Caesar’s so-called “gospel” is a weak and empty parody of the real thing.
About Jesus the Messiah: Messiah is a title with roots in the Hebrew language, meaning “Anointed One.” Echoing the story of David, the unlikely shepherd boy who was anointed king by the prophet Samuel, the people of Israel were awaiting another anointed King, a Son of David, to come and take his rightful place on the throne of Israel. For Mark to declare Jesus as that King would have been heresy to the Jewish religious establishment and treason to the oppressive Roman government. But the holy cannot be heresy. Truth is not treason.
The Son of God: Not only is Mark naming Jesus as the Son of David, but he takes the radical and scandalous step of calling him the Son of God. Yet again, this moves beyond our religious understanding of the language and has a political edge to it. Forty years before the birth of Jesus, Julius Caesar died. It was said that a comet was seen streaking through the sky at his death, and the legend was sold that this was a sign that Julius Caesar was now a divine figure. That would make his heir and adopted son, Caesar Augustus, the “son of a god.” He demanded not only allegiance as a political leader, but worship as a divine leader. Mark’s opening confession stands in defiant resistance, declaring that Jesus is the only true Son of the only true God.
The true King Jesus has come to establish his true kingdom, once and future, now and forever. And this mustard seed of a movement will go on to infiltrate the mighty Roman Empire, outlasting and outpacing, and reaching further than Augustus could have ever imagined with its revolutionary holy love.
THE PRAYER
King Jesus, we declare that our allegiance and affections belong to you. Let your unrivaled reign be seen in our lives.
THE QUESTION
How is the message of Jesus good news for you today? What corner of your life needs to be surrendered to his reign?
For the Awakening,
Matt LeRoy
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3 Responses
“Jesus Christ is Lord .” He is the SON of the living God, and on this confession, HE will continue to build His Ecclesia, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Other kingdoms will rise in opposition to His kingdom, but they will fail. Other forms of organized religion will attempt to replace it, but they too will fail. Ultimately, He will come again to consummate His kingdom and claim His purified Bride, the Church.
Christianity today needs some Good News About Jesus Testimony Parties!
The daily, ongoing good news about Jesus is too often silenced. Even in countries where Christians are free to testify about what Jesus is now doing in and through them, Christ-followers have been trained to listen to lectures about Jesus, but not trained to show and tell everywhere what Jesus is doing and has done in their heart and life.
Jesus isn’t just good news! He is today’s news, breaking news, current news, ongoing news! Jesus is news now because He is always living, present, and working in the world. However, today’s news about Jesus is frequently ignored and even censored by our fear of being transparent.
The earliest Christians boldly broadcast current news about Jesus everywhere they went. (See Revelation 12:11.) They testified not only about what Jesus had done during His physical lifetime, death, and resurrection. They also testified about what the risen, present Jesus was doing right now in and through their life.
Let me zoom into the present. Two days ago, I hosted what I called a “Christmas Jesus Testimony Party” on Zoom and invited many of my Facebook friends. I asked if people would share a testimony about how Jesus has worked or is working in their lives. Wow! We all heard some amazingly good news!
We heard the good news about how six months ago one man’s hard heart was suddenly filled with compassion when Jesus became real to him. Both he and his wife said that he is no longer the same man.
We heard the good news how a woman who has struggled with mental health issues opened her life to Jesus and began to write about her experiences with Him and come out of her shell.
We were told the good news about a young man who thought that church attendance made him a Christian, until one Sunday morning Jesus spoke these words in his heart: “If you were born a Hindu, what would you be today?” He answered that he would have been a Hindu. Immediately, Jesus responded by asking him: “Why do you think you’re a Christian?” Suddenly he realized that he wasn’t a Christian at all but only a church attendee. He asked God to show him the truth and two years later he had a life-changing encounter with Jesus.
We heard the good news about a man who was raised in a Hindu family but struggled with hopelessness until he met a group of Christ-followers who told him the good news about the living Jesus and demonstrated Christ’s presence to him by loving him unconditionally.
We received the good news about a woman who had experienced Jesus as a child but had strayed away and lived a double, compromised life for several years. Then Jesus did some amazing things to bring her to total commitment to him. As Jesus was turning her heart back to him, he spoke to her in a clear voice: “You’ll never know all that I have protected you from.” When she heard Christ’s voice she sobbed and sobbed and has passionately pursued His presence ever since.
We heard a man share how he grew up in church and learned a lot about Jesus but how it was mostly just religious information. However, little by little, as he read about Jesus and spent time with people who openly loved Jesus, he noticed that Jesus was making Himself more and more real to him.
We heard a woman tell how she longed to know Jesus better and went from denomination to denomination (joining churches and getting baptized by different ones) but was always wanting Jesus to be more real to her. Then she started hanging out with some Christ-followers who met in a small group and openly talked about how Jesus was working in their lives. Seeing the living Jesus in and through those people began to fill her with Christ’s presence and joy which radiated from her face as she talked about Him.
Have you been to a Good News About Jesus Testimony Party? I plan to host more on Zoom after Christmas. (Hope you can come.) You can also host your own. Simply get a few people together (in person or online) and create a kind friendly environment where they feel safe to open their heart. Then allow whoever wants to share the good news about how they have experienced Jesus. (It helps to set a timer and a time limit for each person so that no one person takes up other people’s time.)
Excellent, Steve! Your post confirms what the Lord had already laid upon my heart. The time of a metamorphosis of Christ’s Church to return to its ancient practices has begun. Many of the so-called “Dones” are rediscovering the beauty of Organic Church. You along with others are fulfilling the true purpose of church leadership as described in Ephesians 4:11-13.