Mark 1:1-8. Message by Charles Postell.
Have you ever had someone tell you, “Hey, before we say anything, everything’s okay?” Or maybe they say we’re going to talk when we get home, and you wonder, “what did I do this time?” And then you find out they just want to find out what you want for dinner. You wish you had some warning.
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We’re looking at the beginning of the book of Mark, and Mark is leading everything off by saying, I have some good news. Let me tell you who it’s about.
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Mark 1:1 (NIV)
Leading with good news
Mark makes it even grander. He throws in the word “Messiah.” It means savior, or anointed one. He’s saying “I have some good news, but it’s not about bingo from down the street. It’s really good news and it concerns the savior or the anointed one.
Mark wrote his gospel to a pagan audience. They’ve probably heard a lot of angry narratives about their gods, such as their god was angry, or he caused this drought, or he’s bringing a plague or an invasion on the land. So Mark says, yes, this is about God, but it’s good news. You don’t need to worry.
This is good stuff
as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Mark 1:2-3 (NIV)
“I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
Mark quoted a couple of prophecies. One from Malachi 3:1 and another from Isaiah 43. He introduces Jesus saying there’s no one like this.
Although it’s a Roman audience, Mark points to prophecy to show that this didn’t just happen. There’s been a plan. This is something that’s been in the works a long time, as opposed to a pagan god who acts on a whim. But to get ready, Mark introduces us to how a way is made for this Jesus.
Making a way for Jesus.
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 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.
Mark 1:4-5
We get most of the questions answered. Who: John the Baptist. What: He’s making a way. How: Preaching a baptism of repentance.
John encourages people to turn from their sins. His ministry is so successful that people come from all over the country to hear what he has to say. They come from the sticks and from the city of Jerusalem.
But what about the why? We’ll get that next:
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Mark 1:6-8 NIV
It’s easy to jump on the John the Baptist bandwagon until we find out what he looks like. If you told me a guy looking like John was this successfull, I’d think there’s a mistake here. He’s wearing camel hair, has a fat leather belt and eating locusts and honey. He looks like someone who needs some help.
The message of John.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter what he looks like. The crowds didn’t matter. None of it mattered except the message. We know the message was important because of what was happening. People are finding liberation.
But John doesn’t care about success or followers. He didn’t care about glory. He said “I’m nothing special, but the guy who’s coming? I’m not worthy to untie his shoes.”
Remember where they lived. It’s a desert area. Your feet get dirty, you’re stepping in mud or sand. Mix that in with the sweat of walking, you might step in something a camel left behind. Untying a person’s sandals isn’t a lofty position, but John says I’m not even worthy of that.
So why does this way need to be prepared? What’s happening here? God doesn’t really need John, but he does with John what he does with each of us: God extends an invitation to the work he’s already doing. “This is what I’m doing and I’d love for you to be a part of it.”
Through it all, God offers an opportunity. People can prepare themselves for a bigger work that Jesus is about to do in them.
Can you identify with having clutter in your home? Maybe there’s a place where it accumulates. For me, it might be on my table. Think about that clutter. Is that space where the clutter belongs? Probably not. Usually, clutter happens because things aren’t where they belong. Sometimes, we need to make room in the proper place for those things in order to eliminate the clutter.
The importance of John’s message of repentance
As John prepares people, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, he equips people wo they can make room for Jesus. For us, sin is the clutter. Jesus came to occupy our lives, but the clutter of sin is what gets in the way.
This is what repentance is and what it does. It’s not about perfection, about making everything spotless. We can’t do that. But it is about acknowledging that sin keeps us from going deeper with Jesus, and deciding to do something about it.
Repentance is first acknowledging where we are. We aren’t hiding it, pretending it’s not there, or excusing it. It’s not about saying, that’s just how I am. It’s saying I’ll make room for Jesus so he can have the space in my life.
Repentance is a tough word. We may have had bad experiences with how it was preached, to where it was more damaging than redemptive. But all it means is to turn. It’s about turning from sin and back towards God, moving from one thing and turning to another. It’s this kind of repentance, of turning around, that makes room for the work Jesus will do.
For us to day, we have something they didn’t have when John was preaching. Those who have given themselves to Christ have the Holy Spirit. John couldn’t deliver that. The Spirit can help us make room, whether we’ve walked with Jesus fifty days or fifty years.
Repentance helps us make room for the work Jesus wants to do in us.
We all have things to repent of. We’re imperfect and will be as long as we’re on this side of eternity. There is always something to repent of.
Repentance is a practice that allows us to make room for Jesus because doing so turns us away from the things that separate us from him. Repentance allows us to make room because it’s a choice to draw nearer to him. We acknowledge sin, ask forgiveness, and then turn from it.
I want to share three ways that repentance allows us to make room for Jesus.
Repentance allows us to make room for Jesus by allowing us to turn to him.
The beauty of repentance is that it’s a way of showing God, “I choose you over the sin that keeps me from you.” It’s choosing God even in our failure, even when our failure is repeated. It’s a way of saying you’re sorry, you choose God, and you’re asking Him to help us do so.
Repentance is honestly one of the most tender aspects of our relationship with God. It shows that we have the space to say, “I messed up. I said the wrong thing, did the wrong thing, thought the wrong thing, and I’m sorry.”
For God to receive us once again is one of the most tender things that we can experience with Jesus. We may have some relationships that aren’t safe spaces, where we can’t apologize because it’s not safe to do so. But this message of repentance is one that we can repent, that we have a safe space with God, and we can grow in relationship with him instead of hiding our failures.
This lets us turn more toward God. It gives us freedom to want more of Him and less of what separates us from Him. That doesn’t mean we won’t struggle again, that we won’t have to ask for help with that sin again. It doesn’t mean we won’t need to ask others to help us with this fight. What it does mean is, we are making room for Jesus by turning from what separates us from him.
Repentance allows us to make room for Jesus by submitting to Him.
When I think about submission in this way, I think of the dynamic between parents and children. Although I don’t have any children myself, I believe it would be hard to have a good relationship with kids if they never listen to what you say. The parent and child don’t co-rule the house together, there needs to be an element of submission in the relationship.
As we accept Jesus, we are children of God. The dynamic doesn’t change though, because he remains all-powerful, he’s still our maker and creator and he knows what’s best for us.
But when we choose to go our own way and rebel, that creates a strain in the relationship. When we sin, it affects that relationship. Our sin affects others. It impacts the rest of creation. So it matters.
But when we choose submission, saying “God I want to go your way, even when I don’t understand” we choose to draw near to him and trust him. We may not understand, we may not fully agree, but our submission says we trust him. It’s a posture of reverence and another way to make room for Jesus.
Repentance allows us to make room for Jesus by becoming more attentive to Him.
Think about marriage, and how there are plenty of opportunities to serve ourselves. Where do I want to go? What do I want to eat or do or spend money on? But there’s something very special when you can say “I know what I want but I choose what my partner wants instead.”
When we give preference to what our partner wants to do or where they want to go, the relationship grows. I need to be more like my wife Jenna in this. When we become more attentive to the needs, wants and desires of that person, the relationship grows.
Repentance is a posture that acknowledges our actions, our desires, and the things we yearn for. But when we say “I know what I want, but God, I know you want a different thing, so I choose the thing that blesses my relationship with you,” we grow closer through that attentiveness.
It’s about blessing the relationship, about a reverence for God. It’s something that John the Baptist knew was critical. Part of what equips us to make room for Jesus is the practice of repentance, which is a healing of the relationship.
Not only did it help prepare the way for Jesus’s ministry, but it’s what lets us make room for him today. Let us choose repentance. Let us make room for Jesus and for the work He wants to do. In this way, we can grow deeper in our relationship with Him.