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This text begins our Epiphany, Year B, readings. For the next several weeks, we will read through Chapter 1, verse by verse (with one exception next week).
The Gospel according to Mark is fast paced, and action oriented. It is the shortest of the Gospels, and believed to be the first written. Both Matthew and Luke include - sometimes word for word - most of Mark. But whereas Luke was written to present Jesus to a non-Jewish gentile; and Matthew was written for Jewish new converts or those considering becoming followers of Jesus, Mark reads like an early family history - the writing down of already familiar and often spoken stories that are told at family gatherings: "Remember when ... and then ...and then ..."
For one thing, Verse 1 tells us what Mark's "message" is (using this in the contemporary political communication meaning of: What's our 3 second, memorable, sound bite: "Yes we can.")
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Note that Mark says this is the "beginning." Is he simply meaning, "this is the opening sentence of my book?" Or is he is implying, "This is the beginning of an as-yet-unfinished proclamation of good news?" His writing certainly does not finish with "This is the end of the good news."
Bruce Malina - and other scholars - helpfully point out that the underlying Greek word for "good news" was commonly used for a royal proclamation of "good news" such as a victory in war; the marriage of the emperor; the birth of an heir; etc. That the followers of Jesus used this word for their story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is a political act of daring. Daring to provide an alternative to the Roman Empire as an authority and source of "Good News."
Malina - and other scholars - also point out that the title, "Son of God." was not uniquely used only for Jesus. Notably, the Roman Emperor was called, "Son of God." And occasionally, the phrase is used in Scriptures to refer to folks who are manifesting qualities of God in their behaviour or being. Indeed, "son of" is probably better understood as meaning, "having the qualities of," and certainly NOT as "genetic descendant of." And so, similarly, "son of man" means having the qualities of man, i.e., a human; and "sons of thunder," (see Mark 3:17) means "loud, boisterous, energetic." Nonetheless, naming Jesus as "Christ" (the Anointed, the Messiah), and Son of God sets out two bold claims that the rest of the story is going to have to justify.
Throughout Mark the only references to Jesus as Son of God come only from the spirit world (i.e. the voices from heaven at his baptism and at the transfiguration (Mark 9); or from evil spirits that Jesus is casting out.) Except, finally, at the conclusion of Mark, a complete outsider to the story and one who participated in executing Jesus, a Roman centurion soldier who was at the cross when Jesus dies - that person is the first to say of Jesus, "Surely this man was the Son of God." (NIV)
All four Gospels make a connection between Jesus and John the Baptist, and many scholars wonder if Jesus might have been a disciple of John's. In any case, Jesus is clearly not simply one of the crowd who have come to hear John. And his baptism would not have been entered into from their context.
And so, we might understand the baptism of Jesus as a selfless aligning/embodying of self with the desires of God. Rather than a "functional" baptism - that is, being baptized so that some function could happen - the forgiveness of sins - this is a "revelatory" baptism - that is, enacting, confirming and making visibly real what is already the case: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
And just in case anyone thinks this story is going to be a piece of cake: beautiful doves, lovely voices from heaven, etc., the next thing that happens is 40 days of hardship and testing. And this is just the beginning of the good news.
David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca
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