We are beginning a journey through the Gospel of Mark and right away we learn that God is downloading a new program!
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(Click here to read the passage, Mark 1:1-13)
When I worked at the bank, before coming to Dubuque, I once found myself going into work an hour earlier than usual.
Our computer systems were being upgraded and they needed the manager of the branch to go in early, start the upgrades and install everything. Of course, all this had to be done before the bank actually opened and customers came rolling in.
If we didn’t do it this way, our customers wouldn’t be too happy to find that they couldn’t deposit or withdraw money.
Once the upgrades were done, then the real work began: studying the users’ manual.
The old way was no longer sufficient; we had a new way of doing things.
We could now make deposits and withdraws faster, open accounts more efficiently, and our customer’s information was more streamlined.
All in all, our customers were happier and we were more productive.
Isreal was ready for a new program
This is how the opening of Mark is.
We don’t get a birth narrative like we do in Matthew or Luke.
Instead, we get a story of a manager going in early to start the download for a new way of doing things.
And first century Jews were ready.
Their identity, the way they told their story, goes back to the great Exodus. They were slaves in Egypt but God had acted to recreate these slaves as the nation of Israel.
He freed them from Egypt, personally led them through the desert, and gave them a home in the Promised Land.
Most importantly, God came to dwell with them – his presence dwelt in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple.
But it didn’t last.
Soon, the Israelites sinned by turning to idolatry and were again sent into slavery; this time, in the form of exile. The nation of Israel was divided and the people were sent to live in foreign lands.
By the first century, some Israelites had found their way back to Jerusalem, and the temple had been rebuilt, but it wasn’t the same.
Firstly, they weren’t ruling themselves. Instead, they were still under the curse of exile: Rome was in control.
Secondly, though they had rebuilt the temple, God had not descended upon it and, so, he wasn’t living among his people – a sure sign to them that the exile was not yet completely over.
They were ready – ready for an upgrade, a new way of doing things.
John comes in early to download a new program
The prophets of old had announced that a manager would come in early to download a new system.
Mattia Preti, called II Calabrese
Italian, 1613-1699
Now, Mark declares this manager has arrived.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight–” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:2-4 RSV)
A new program means a new way of doing things: repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
When we, as modern Americans, hear “repentance” we often think: confession and penance.
We have to go, either to a priest or to God, talk about some of the bad things we’ve done, or the bad thoughts we’ve had, but then we get to go on with life – forgiven.
Perhaps, if we’ve done something really bad, the priest will give us a penance – such as saying a few extra prayers – but big deal! We’ll say an extra prayer, or two, and get on with it.
In the Middle Ages, penance was associated with pain (in fact this is the Latin root for the word “penance”).
Some went as far as to whip themselves daily or wear all sorts of horrible clothing that inflicted pain with every movement.
The western Church even taught that one continued to have repentance forced on them in death. This was called purgatory and was one of the major motivations for the Protestant Reformation.
However, none of this is what John the Forerunner had in mind when he went around preaching repentance.
What he had in mind is much more of a conversion: a new way of doing things.
Reading the owner’s manual
Now that he’s downloaded the new program, we have to go about our business differently. We can’t make our bank deposits or open new accounts the way we used to.
The repentance he had in mind was to turn around and go a different direction – this, in fact, is the literal meaning of the Greek word for repentance.
John was telling all those who came to hear him that God was returning to free his people, enact a new Exodus.
They were to go through the water of baptism – just as the Hebrews had gone through the Red Sea – to be set free. They were leaving behind the slavery of Egypt. In baptism, they were leaving behind a world of sin and rebellion against God.
This was the long-awaited promise of the prophets. God was rescuing his people and, like before, God was coming to dwell among his people.
God returns to the Temple in a new way
How did God’s glory come to dwell with us?
Not in the Temple, this time, but in this way:
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9-11 RSV)
It’s an announcement that Jesus is the new Temple, the place where heaven and earth meet; the place where God dwells with his people, Emmanuel: God with us.
This vision harkens back to the very last chapter of Exodus (and Ezekiel 43) when the presence of God descends upon the Temple to dwell among the Israelites.
Now, Jesus’ baptism is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Haggai:
Yet now take courage…says the LORD; …for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit abides among you; fear not. For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:4-7 RSV)
And now that God has come, it’s time for repentance – a new way of living.
We also get to use the new program
So, this is how the Gospel of Mark begins.
This message of God acting to rescue his people is not outdated. It’s just as relevant today as ever.
We too lead lives as Egyptian slaves.
All sorts of things enslave us, holding us back from fully worshipping God.
All sorts of things keep us from living as a new creation, fully aware that God lives among us.
We too need to be baptized, cross the Red Sea. We too need an Exodus to set us free and give us a way of living a new sort of life.
After the Exodus, living a new way of life for the Hebrews, with God in their presence, meant trusting him fully in the desert.
At the end of our passage, Mark tells us:
And Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. (Mark 1:13 RSV)
Our lives now – this time before our death – is our time in the desert. We are also being tempted by the Satan.
It’s our test.
It’s our time to trust that God is acting to rescue us from death and remake us anew in his image.
P.S. Download the new program with the Orthodox!
I now invite you to enter deeper into the mystery of Christ with the Orthodox Church!
St. Elias Services
Saturdays, 5 pm (at St. John’s Parish House, 1458 Locust St, Dubuque, IA)
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