The Desert - Sermon On Mark 1:2-8 Series

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Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 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 desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” 4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and 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 baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Introduction

The Desert

If Mark were making a movie instead of writing a book, I think I know how it would start. It wouldn’t be like Luke, which opens with the high priest in the glorious and awesome golden interior of the Holy Place in the Temple in the holy city. It wouldn’t be like John, which opens in the mysterious counsel of God before the beginning of time. The opening scene of Mark’s Gospel would start with the camera zoomed in on a scorpion, and then a tumbleweed rolls by as the camera pans out and you see that you’re in the middle of a desolate wilderness. As far as the eye can see, deserted, uninhabited land, no sign of civilization, and no way to get to civilization, and the wind howls through sharp, gaping canyons and steep, barren hills with rock walls – a desolate wasteland. That would be the opening shot because the barren desert is the backdrop of the introductory section of the Gospel of Mark (1:1-13).

I told you that the outline of Mark breaks down roughly into two halves. The first half is in Galilee and the second half focuses on Jerusalem. (When you hear Jerusalem, think Denver, and Galilee is the area north of Fort Collins. So the first half of the book is in Fort Collins, and the second half of the book Jesus starts making his way down toward Denver, and he’s crucified in Denver.) That’s a rough breakdown of the body of the book, but it leaves out the prologue. Jesus doesn’t actually go up to Fort Collins area until v.14 of ch.1.

Mark 1:14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God.

That’s where that main body of the book starts. But the first 13 verses are a prologue. And the prologue takes place out in the Judean desert – northeast of Jerusalem (Hudson or Keensburg out on I-76).

3 “a voice of one calling in the desert 4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert… all the people … went out to him.

Then Jesus is baptized, and 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals The desert was a place that was uninhabited because it’s hostile to human life. Dangerous wild animals are out there, there’s very little food and water, no shelter – desolation.

Why does the story of Jesus begin out there? The answer is in the book of Isaiah, and when I show it to you, you’ll see this whole opening chapter explode with meaning and significance. But first, let me clear something up from 2 weeks ago.

Review

I realized last time that I wasn’t very clear when I gave you the outline of the book. The first week I told you that Mark presents the gospel in three parts, and I also told you about the three geographical locations – Galilee, then the trip to Jerusalem, then his last week in Jerusalem. I think that might have caused some confusion. Those three geographical references are not the three parts of the gospel message. Those are just the geographical settings that Mark organizes his material around. What’s important is the gospel message – the message that Jesus preached that brings salvation. The three legs of the gospel message are these:

1) Jesus has awesome power and authority.

2)

3) Jesus came to suffer and die and rise again.

4)

5) His command for us to follow him.

6)

Those are the three parts of the gospel message: power, suffering, and discipleship. It’s very important that you understand those three legs as we go through the rest of the book, because one of Mark’s main purposes in writing this book is to do everything he can to hammer home leg #2, because that’s the one people weren’t getting. And he’s going to show us why they weren’t getting it, and what that teaches each one of us about our own ability to understand Christ.