“What’s Christmas All About? Good News for a Bad News World”
Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of something is often a time of joy and anticipation. Breaking ground for a new building or church, a wedding, the birth of a child, the first 90 days of a new President’s term, the opening of an athletic season – all hold excitement, anticipation, joy, and hope. New beginnings are the fertile ground where hope is born and dreams arise.
It’s no wonder, then, that Mark chose to begin his Gospel by writing, “The beginning of …” He was STATING A FOCUS. What he was writing was exciting, cause for anticipation and joy, because it communicated that something new and different had broken into his readers lives. God’s people were accustomed to new beginnings. God had provided plenty of them. Their Scriptures began with the words, “In the beginning, God…” Then after the flood of judgment God began again with just Noah and his family. Then, after He judged the world for their attempt to build a tower in Babel that would reach the heavens, God provided another new beginning (Gen 12): “The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." God was saying to Abraham “There is a better world and better life out there. Go to it.” The message was, and still is, that NEW BEGINNINGS START WITH GOD. When God breaks in, things will not be the same. Life will be better. To travel with God is to go to a better place. So walk with God.
With that background, we fast-forward to Mark’s day. For 3-400 years there had been no prophets, no strong, earthly voice of God, no evident activity of God. But then something happened. So Mark wrote, “The beginning of …” His readers would know that Mark was really saying, “God is breaking in. Things are different. Life can be better. We can have a fresh start.” God was acting again, breaking into the life of the world. Mark was announcing that God was up to something. And what was He up to?
“The beginning of the gospel…” Mark wrote that GOD’S NEW BEGINNINGS ARE GOOD NEWS. The word ‘gospel’ was frequently used in the Roman world. It pertained to a mighty ruler, or to an event that introduced something new, or announced something of special significance for the future. It represented good news. So Mark borrowed the word. What he was about to relate would be good news. God, he said, had broken in with some good news that would impact the future significantly. Are you ready for some good news? I am. I guess I’ve always liked good news. When I was a student at Central College in Iowa, I worshiped at our Campus Church. Each week there was a pretty heavy prayer of confession that was usually preceded by recounting some really bad news stories of the previous week. Eventually a group of us approached the Chaplain and complained that we were feeling overwhelmed with all the bad news. When he indicated that our world was full of bad news so we should feel overwhelmed, we protested that there was also a lot of good news. So he challenged us to gather up the good news stories each week and he would provide time in the service to give thanks for the good news in the world. It was quite a challenge – but we worked hard at finding it. It’s still hard to find good news, isn’t it? We want to stop reading the newspaper and listening to the radio and watching television – because we’ve simply had enough of the bad news. I understand that. We want to hear good news. So did the Roman Christians. They were persecuted for their faith. Living for Christ was not an easy road to travel. So Mark told them to focus on the good news of God’s new beginning.
And just what was the good news? “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” “Jesus” – the name comes from the common Hebrew name Joshua, which means ‘Jehovah salvation.’ But Mark makes it uncommon by adding “Christ” – ‘the anointed one.’ In other words, this Jesus is not common – He is the anointed one, chosen one, of God; He is the Messiah. GOD’S NEW BEGINNINGS ARE GOOD NEWS BECAUSE THEY ARE CENTERED IN PROVIDING OUR SALVATION. The Jews were used to the anointing of kings, prophets, and priests; but they knew that those were only temporary anointings, that they only pointed to a greater one to come. That’s why Mark records that John the Baptist predicted that “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.” Jesus Christ, Mark wrote, is “the Son of God” – Jesus is different. In the appearance of Jesus God is doing more than just acting again in history; He is breaking in by sharing Himself. God even gave His own announcement. After Jesus was baptized, God proclaimed (vs. 11): “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus is God in the flesh! And remember the Roman soldier at the foot of Jesus’ cross? Upon Jesus’ death he confessed, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” Our good news is centered in Jesus; focus on Him.
So Mark moves from stating a focus to STATING A FACT. He shares the life of Jesus. As Mark shares the life of Jesus, more than half the gospel centers on the final period of His life, which covers His suffering, death, and resurrection. Mark’s message? The good news is that Jesus is more than just a good person, more than just a good teacher, more than just a positive thinker; He came to suffer and die, to seek and save the lost. He knew His life was to be a ransom for many. The good news is that THE CROSS AND RESURRECTION CHANGE EVERYTHING, AND EVERYBODY. How did Paul put it? (2 Cor. 17) “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” God has broken in and we can never be the same.
What tremendous good news for the Romans Christians facing persecution and death! And what tremendous good news it is for us! Jesus even stated His purpose for coming in this way (Lk. 4:18-19): “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." JESUS CAME TO RELEASE US TO A NEW LIFE! God so loved the world that He sent His Son – to heal us, help us, forgive us, and transform us. He sent His Son to die in our place so that on the third day He could rise from the dead that we might have everlasting life with Him. And this change and new life is not limited to some future time but is effective here and now. John the Baptist preached “I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” God will fill us with Himself.
THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST MAKES A DIFFERENCE! It is good news for our world. Before Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Archbishop Desmond Tutu stood in front of the South African Embassy in Washington D.C. one afternoon and said, “Those of you inside, are you listening? Do you hear me? You have already been defeated. Do you understand that? You have already lost and we on the outside have won. Out here, we know how this struggle for black freedom and liberation will turn out, for God is on the side of the oppressed. It’s not ‘We shall win.’ Oh no! We have already won! Only you on the inside have not yet realized it. We outsiders have, and we know the future. We are the future.”
The good news of Jesus Christ makes a difference! It is good news for those who follow Him. IF WE FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST, WE WILL BE A BETTER PERSON, WE WILL LIVE IN A BETTER WORLD, WE WILL GO TO A BETTER PLACE. “"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
The good news of Jesus Christ makes a difference! It’s good news for the Church. There is a community here in the United States where a Christian Church had such blaring music and so many mission trips and so many children and families that people in the neighborhood issued a petition to make the church quieter. They went to a Jewish neighbor and asked him to sign the petition. He said, “What’s the problem?” They responded, “These Christians over here are noisy.” The Jewish man refused to sign. “Why not?” they asked. “You’re Jewish. You don’t believe in Jesus Christ.” He said, “I know. But if I believed what those Christians believe – that the Messiah has come – I’d be nosier than they are.”
The good news of Jesus Christ makes a difference. It’s good news for you. Years ago an exhausted American college president and his wife were in need of a vacation and decided to go to Switzerland to regain their energies. A friend offered to make reservations at a summer resort in the Alps, and unknown to them, as an act of appreciation, he paid in advance for their lodgings. When the president and his wife arrived, they were dismayed to learn that the rates were $100 a day. To save money they ate meals outside the hotel at popular local restaurants, and after two or three days moved to cheaper lodgings. Not until they went to pay their bill did they discover that sumptuous meals were included in the room rates, and that their friend had arranged to cover their charges as his guest for as long as they would stay. They could have had the magnificence as a free gift, but failed to realize the fullness of blessing that was already theirs. Jesus Christ has paid your way; all expenses paid. You need not live an impoverished life and humdrum existence. You can freely tap into His riches. The good news of Jesus Christ makes a difference.
This morning you have an opportunity to begin again, to have a new beginning. We are set to gather around the table of our Lord. He asks us to remember His broken body in the bread and shed blood in the cup; in these symbols He reveals Himself to us and pleads with us to follow Him on the road to being a better person, living in a better world, and going to a better place. For this Supper is but a foretaste, a shadow, a prelude of the great heavenly Feast that is yet to come. And the good news is that you can be there for that one, too. Jesus has paid your way. Even now He is extending the invitation. No matter how you feel this morning, this moment can be a new beginning for you. Focus on the fact of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Come to His table; open your heart. For He is the only truly good news worth hearing. And it’s His good news that makes a difference. Let us pray.
