This week begins the season of advent, a time where we recognize the first coming of Jesus and a time where we anticipate His coming return. During this season, I will look at each one of the gospels and how they each anticipate the coming of Christ. To begin with, I will look at the first gospel that was written within our scriptures, The Gospel of Mark.
Some of you are probably wondering why I am starting with Mark, some of you probably have no clue as to why beginning here may seem problematic. Well, just so everyone is on the same page, there is no Christmas story in the book of Mark. Which has to lead one to wonder, why would Mark leave this part of the story out? How could Mark not mention sweet baby Jesus, the three kings, the shepherds, the angel, the manger, the livestock, the proclamation of the Christ? Well, I think Mark does include the proclamation of the coming of the Christ (which to me is the important part of the story), just not from the angel to Mary, but rather from a prophet to the the multitudes.
Mark's book begins with a crazy man who eats locusts, wears camel hair, and lives in the wilderness. that's right, the wilderness, but that hardly seems noteworthy does it? Ahh but it is. See the wilderness was a place where one was unprotected from both earthly dangers such as thieves and other bandits, as well as unearthly dangers such as spirits. The fact that this crazy prophet could survive a ministry out there was a testament to his authority. But there is more to the wilderness aspect of Mark's gospel, see the people were coming out to the wilderness in droves to see John the Baptist. This too is noteworthy. For in doing so they were looking away from the center of their world and out to the peripherals. To understand this, we must understand that in John's day, the whole of society was focused on center of the nearest major city. For these people that would have been Jerusalem. And at the center of this city would have been the temple, along with the economic and political centers. So obviously, something as important as the announcement of the Christ would come from here, right?
Not here, not in this situation. Here the people had to turn outward, to the wilderness, where only bad things could happen, where only the degraded and unclean lived. This is where the masses would have to turn to hear about the coming of the Christ. The proclamation would not be issued by the priests, the rich, or the ruler. Rather by some wild man, who was able to see the vision of God, who was able to recognize that God had come to earth as a man, and who knew his place in relation to the Messiah.
So what does this say to us during the season of advent. Maybe the book of Mark is a reminder, maybe Mark is telling us that Christ can be found in the most unlikely of places. Maybe he is reminding us that we have to travel away from the normal places that we love and cherish to witness the Christ. Maybe we have to turn away from things that seem important to see Jesus rather than try to fit Jesus into these things at first. Maybe the appropriate way to wait for Jesus is to turn away from politics, turn away from consumerism, and even turn away from what an organized religion has taught us, in order to experience Christ in His fullness. But not for good.For just like the multitudes in Mark had to turn back to the city, so we too will have to play a role in our society and our churches, but when we return we will have seen and experienced Jesus fully, and maybe with Jesus' help, we can transform these places, and the way we look and do politics, economics, and yes even religion.
So during this week of advent, maybe it is time to step out of your comfort zone and examine how Jesus has come into our lives, and as a result of this how we can prepare the way for Christ to do his work in the centers of our society, as opposed to the center of our society telling us how we ought to function. While at the same time anticipating a new Heaven and earth upon his return.
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