The Beginning of the Gospel is Jesus!

Second Sunday in Advent (12/07/08)

Rev. Steven D. Spencer – Pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'" John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Grace, peace and mercy from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen!

Our text for today is from the Gospel reading especially the first verse, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” So far the text!

I. John the Witness

It must have been quite a privilege for John the Baptizer to prepare the way of the Lord, for he was the last Old Testament prophet before the coming of the Savior. His calling was to preach so that the people would be prepared for Jesus. So there he stood, in the starkness of the wilderness, dressed like Elijah proclaiming the Word of God.

So what did John preach in order to prepare the way of the Lord? We have his doctrine summed up in verse 4 of the Gospel lesson: his message was one of “repentance for the remission of sins.” Repentance: John sought to turn the people away from any idols that they would trust in more than Jesus. John preached the Law with great zeal. Sometimes we forget that John also preached the Gospel. Remission, forgiveness: John proclaimed that the One was coming who would forgive their sins and baptize them with the Holy Spirit for salvation.

John was preaching repentance and forgiveness. He was preaching Law and Gospel.

It’s good to note that Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of all the Gospels. He gives us the message in a very straight forward manner. We know from the Gospel reading that John preaches the doctrine of Law and Gospel. We learn from the other Gospels how John applies the message to individuals. In Luke 3, the people heard him preach of God’s judgment for sinners and said, “What shall we do then?" He answers saying, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise" (Luke 3:10-11). In other words, he said, “I’ll show you your sin, that sin which keeps you from God. You don’t love your neighbor as yourself. You rely on your possessions for security, not the Lord. Repent: confess that you’ve made possessions into your idol, because your trust is in them, keeps you from trusting in the Lord.” “REPENT!”

Tax collectors also came to hear John’s message. They gained prosperity by collecting extra taxes; this was legal robbery of fellow citizens. “Teacher they said, what shall we do?” John answered saying, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do” (Luke 3:13). In other words, “Your sin is that you’ve made an idol out of money, and you serve it by acts of greed and extortion. Your money cannot raise you from the dead; as long as you are trusting in them, you’re not trusting in the One who can raise you from the dead. “REPENT!”

In the same manner the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?" So John said to them, "Don’t take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages" (Luke 3:14). In other words, “Your sin is that you rely on your strength and your sword to get your way. And because you have that power, you see no need for God’s mercy. Repent! As long as you trust in your own strength, you won’t let the Savior be your Savior. ”REPENT!”

In Matthew 3, John says to the Pharisees, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…” (Matthew 3:7-8). In other words, “You believe that God is pleased by your works and countless little rules of life. As long as you trust in yourself and your works, you will not trust in the Savior. Repent!”

Do you see how the message of repentance worked? Sin makes us desire to reject Jesus. It says, “You don’t need a Savior. Cling to me, because I’ll fill the need.” Imagine a drowning man, his pockets filled with lead weights, the lead saying, “Keep us. We’ll save you.” Imagine an overloaded plane heading for the side of a mountain, with the cargo singing out, “You can’t live without us!” That’s what sin says to you. It wants you to cling to it so that you don’t cling to your Savior. It’s a lie. To hold on to sin is to say, “I don’t want Jesus to save me.” It’s to say that His (T) death was wasted. Say that, and you’ll drown or crash and die.

Repentance, on the other hand, seeks to strip you of everything that would come between you and your Savior. It empties the pockets of lead weights and throws the burdensome cargo out the door. It prepares for the Savior who forgives you for all of your sins, heals you of all your diseases, and gives you eternal life. It moves the sinner to say, “I cannot save myself, and I reject the idols I have trusted in.”

So John preached repentance. To each individual, he pointed out their sin, those things that they clung to that kept Jesus from being their Savior. And once he preached that Law, he then preached the Gospel. You know one of those proclamations well: having prepared the way of the Lord with the Law, John would soon point into the crowd and declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”(John 1:29).

II Prepare the Way

It’s still the calling and responsibility of the Church to prepare the way of the Lord even today. Some have even joked that when John the Baptizer preached Law and Gospel, he was being a good Lutheran. Unfortunately that’s no longer true. Many have forgotten the practice of preaching law and gospel.  May we Lutherans learn once again to be good Christians by echoing the message of John, along with all the rest of the prophets and apostles!

John simply preaches the same Law and Gospel, the same repentance and forgiveness, which David declares in Psalm 19. “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” (Psalm 19:13). And Isaiah in our Old Testament lesson today: “Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” (Isaiah. 40:10). And Peter in our epistle: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

This is how the way of Jesus is prepared for you: by the proclamation of Law and Gospel, repentance and forgiveness. That’s the doctrine. Any pastor will tell you that the application to each individual is the tricky part. But let’s take a stab at it, anyway.

Do you have a temptation of knowledge? Are you proud of your intellect, believing that your knowledge of doctrine makes you more of a Christian than others? Then repent, for you are saying, “I need Jesus less than others, because I’m smarter than they are.” Confess the sin which seeks to push Jesus away, for He alone is the One who is perfect in knowledge.

Are you tempted by immorality? Are there illicit pleasures of thought or deed that you don’t want to give up? Do you say, “Since I believe in Jesus, He’ll go ahead and overlook my pet sins and immoralities?” Repent, for you are saying, “I am such a good Christian that the Holy Son of God will excuse my ungodliness.” Such thinking doesn’t want forgiveness. It wants a Savior who compromises and only saves you from some sins, but not all sins.

Are you tempted by materialism? Are you one who looks at the things that you have and says, “My life with God is okay, because I’m taken care of”? Are you not then measuring God’s love by things that rust, not by the holy, precious blood of His Son who died for you? If you are trusting in your possessions as proof of God’s love, you are not trusting in His promises. Repent.

Are you tempted with apathy? As in, “I’m just not very sinful, so I don’t need to worry about forgiveness all that much”? In that case, read Psalm 19:13. Because you’re saying, “I don’t need Jesus to die for all that many sins. The cross wasn’t all that necessary. I’m better than that.” Repent.

Do you see? Every sin tries to persuade you to say, “I don’t need Jesus to be my Savior from that one. I don’t want Jesus to be my Savior for that one.” To fail to repent is to cling to the sin. To cling to the sin is to shun the Savior and His grace. Repent.

Repent, because by repentance the Lord is preparing His way to you with grace. He has already gone the way of the cross (T) to redeem you from your sin. He comes to you by His Word and by His Supper to renew in your Baptism, to give you the forgiveness of sins. And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

Repent, for the Savior is near. In fact, as your hearts are prepared by His Law unto repentance, I now point you to His Gospel. For Jesus is the beginning of the Gospel for He is the Gospel!   For He is the very Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!

And because He comes to you, you can know beyond a doubt that all your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name Amen and Amen!

And now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen!

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