29 November 2020
Where does Mark’s gospel begin?
I know you might be tempted to say, “At the beginning.”
And, that’s true to some extent.
But, where does it start?
It starts with a voice crying out in the desert.
We don’t hear the beginning of Mark’s gospel until next weekend.
Even though this is the beginning of the church year we don’t start at the beginning
of the gospel, we start at the beginning of the Passion narrative–the end.
Mark’s gospel has no infancy narrative.
Either the stories which are so familiar to us about angels and shepherds and inn keepers
were unknown to the author, or, he didn’t care.
He didn’t care because what was important to the Marcan author was the end point–
the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord,
not where he started.
The Marcan author’s insight may also be a foundational Christian insight–
it doesn’t matter so much where we start out–
As Paul says: “whether we are Greek or Jewish, male or female, free or slave”
but where we end up…..
And that’s the question of the week–with an A part and a B part.
A. Where do you want to end up on Christmas–spiritually?
B. What will you do to get there?
In the gospel Jesus reminds his hearers that looking for the kingdom is a 24/7 job.
Looking for Christmas is much the same.