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To prove your own identity to others in our age requires a
number of “facts” and in the end, a fair share of “faith”. We rely on our history, a recounting of
places we lived, places we worked, things we accomplished, and people who knew
us. We cite documents that ideally are only
held in our possession. Producing our
birth certificate or passport may be our last line of defense in attempting to
prove we are who we say we are. But if
someone is determined to challenge us at every point, our task of proving who
we say we are becomes much more difficult.
For instance, our work histories are usually enumerated in our resumes
which often are posted in publicly available forums. Social media, for some, offers details of our
day-to-day lives, and even when we are absent on it, our friends and associates
often mention events where we too were participating. Public property records and assessable
financial records provide additional context to our identity and are not
uniquely available only to us. Copies of
birth certificates and social security cards can be requested and
obtained. In short, nearly everything
about a person can be counterfeited. A
determined identity thief can forge almost everything about us, except the
people in our lives.
Today our ability to produce information about ourselves is
enhanced by the internet. And the
internet can equally serve as a tool for the demise of our reputation,
destroying publicly, “who” we are. We
use the same electronic medium to both substantiate and to counterfeit a
person. But the one objective standard
remains the people in our lives, those who we grew up with, or those who we are
related to, or those who spent years with us getting to know us
personally. To attempt to authenticate
gospels and their authors that were written nearly 2,000 years ago relies on
historical recounting, “facts” as best we know them, and quotes believed to be
attributed to people who lived in those times.
As with today, a determined skeptic will always find room for “doubt”
about the authorship, or authenticity of the published Word. The Gospel of Mark is generally anonymous as
Mark was never listed as a disciple of Christ.
Therefore anything recounted in this gospel would have to have been
“sourced” from someone else. It is impossible
to prove if the author was “John Mark” a relative of Barnabas who was Paul’s
companion. Though John Mark is mentioned
in Peter’s letters to the church as it appears Peter had taken him on as a
Mentor, making John Mark his mentee.
What Christian tradition holds (though debated) is that the
Gospel of Mark was written first. The
other synoptic gospels of Matthew and Luke written later and only agreeing with
each other when they also agree with Mark.
The Gospel of Mark also appears to have unique circumstances related to
the disciple Peter. There are both
omissions and inclusions that would be uniquely related to the perspective of
Peter. Omissions tend to include
incidents where Peter reacted brashly to a situation as if to protect the
legacy and reputation of Peter in the early church. Inclusions appear to include extraneous facts
related only to Peter that do not significantly relate to the story at
hand. And finally the messages that
Peter preached in the book of Acts appear to begin at the point of John the
Baptist and end at the Ascension of Christ.
This is the time that Peter spent with Christ personally. Though there may never be “concrete” proof
that the Gospel of Mark may well be a memoir, or biography of Peter written by
his mentee John Mark, there is enough circumstantial evidence to warrant its
examination in the context of a knowledge of Christ by those who knew Him
well. Peter was perhaps second on that
list outside of family, and so we begin a study of what is recorded in the
Gospel of Mark.
Mark begins his recording of Peter’s recollection of Christ
not at His birth but at perhaps the most culturally significant pre-amble of
the days of Christ, at the prophecy announcing His first coming. Mark writes in verse one … “The beginning of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;”
We are not out of chapter one and verse one, before the ending has
already been given away. There was
significant debate and opposition by the religious leadership of the day
related to “who” Jesus Christ was.
Accepting “the man” as a Rabbi, or perhaps a Prophet, might have been tolerable
to the Jewish religious leadership. But
as “the Christ”, “the Messiah” was just more than they could bear. What was considered blasphemy and a stoning
offense, was the concept that “this man” could literally be the “Son of
God”. But there is no doubt in the mind
of Peter as to who Jesus was, and in Mark’s opening line of the “good news” of
the gospel of Jesus Christ it is plainly stated that “this man” was also the
literal Son of God.
Mark continues in verse 2 writing … “As it is written in the
prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy
way before thee. [verse3] The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
The basis for the identity of Jesus Christ begins in the foretelling of
how he would come, and how he would be announced. The ministry and proclamation of the Messiah
was not be self-serving. Jesus did not
need to stand on a mount and scream at the top of His lungs that “He” had
arrived and all should acknowledge that “He” was the long awaited Messiah. Instead, another servant of the Most High,
would have the honor to announce His coming.
A Nazarene, and a cousin of Jesus Christ, John was born into a religious
family where his father served in the Temple, and his mother was a known
prophetess. This was not just some
random mad-man in the desert preaching repentance and preparation for the
Messiah. John came from as Spiritual a
family as one could come from.
The message of John too is equally important. It is the message of humility. John the Baptist wears simple clothing made
of desert construction. He eats locusts
and honey, bugs as it were, or a diet of simple desert abundance. He does not cut his hair, or keep himself in
the fashion of the day. Instead he
presents himself in as humble and simple appearance as is possible. His life matches his message. He preaches for the people to “prepare” for
the Messiah. What form is that
preparation to take? It is for us to
humble ourselves, or to repent of what we have done, or more profoundly for
“who” we have become. It is not just our
deeds that require our regret, it is our motives, and our desires. Our addiction to pleasing self, underlies the
core of what we do. Our slavery to me
pleasing me, is the underpinning of every sin.
It is this addiction, this slavery, and the deeds it inspires that
warrant the need for repentance. To
“repent”, I must acknowledge there is something greater than myself. To “repent”, I must acknowledge that my best
efforts at saving myself, have simply not been good enough. To “repent”, I must acknowledge that even
today I continue to exist in a state of sin, and it is this current state I
wish to see changed. This is not just
about my past, it is about my present, and to change my future.
We who face the second coming and return of Lord Jesus
Christ, are also taught a similar theme of “preparation” and being “ready” for
going to heaven. But instead of the
simple and elegant and humble theme of John the Baptist, we are taught
completely different methods. We are
taught to keep our doctrines pure from the influence of the world, and the
corruption of other Christian denominations that are not our own. We are taught that our choice to sin is a
choice, and that we “should” be making a different one, implying our perfection
is something we can achieve based on the strength of will. Our failures only indicate a lack of
will. Thus self lies at the center of
our salvation. But these teachings were
never uttered from the lips of God’s messenger in making straight the way of
the Lord. His message was far more
simple and profound. It was only to
“repent”. If we are ever to be saved
from ourselves, we too must begin with “repentance”.
Mark continues writing in verse 4 … “John did baptize in the
wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. [verse
5] And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem,
and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.” The symbolism John employs is no less
relevant to his spoken words. John
baptizes those who “repent”. He
submerges them completely under the water, thus signifying the death of self,
and then pulls them “up” out of the water representing a resurrection of new
life founded in God. It is God who pulls
our existence OUT of the slavery of self, and addiction to self-pleasure. Only God can raise us from this fate. Only God can usher in a new life to us, and
change the core of who we are. The
confessions of sin was not aimed at John the Baptist, but between each man,
woman, and child, and their God. The
pain of the heart that accompanies each sin we commit was silently placed on
the altar of God. Those who heard,
believed, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, they found the freedom of release
that Baptism offered.
None of this was done in secret. John had no need to travel around to become
an evangelist. He began by preaching at
the Jordon river, those who came for water heard. His words and message spread. And as Mark recounts, people from all over
the land of Judaea came to hear, repent, and be baptized. This was a spiritual revival, not founded in
a complex set of doctrinal interpretations, but in a simple message of
humility. John did not intend to fulfill
the prophecies of Isaiah. But John
yearned for a nation to rid itself of self, and in humility to begin searching
for a source of salvation that could be found in the Messiah who was to
come. Without the core understanding of
how salvation works, a debate about “how” to keep the law of God is
meaningless. Without a experiential
knowledge of what it means to be made free from the sin we have so long been
enslaved to, a debate over doctrinal differences is equally meaningless. Only through the lens of Jesus Christ can
scripture be properly understood. Only
those who have experienced what it means to be made free, can truly understand
the promise of salvation.
Mark continues in verse 6 … “And John was clothed with
camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat
locusts and wild honey; [verse 7] And preached, saying, There cometh one
mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop
down and unloose. [verse 8] I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” The
humility of John the Baptist, the preacher who is calling others to repentance
is once again on display. It is not the
reference to his appearance that is so striking, it is his self-acknowledgement
that he is “unworthy” to assist Jesus Christ in taking off his shoes. Later as his disciples will admit in their
shame, while they debated who would be greatest among them, Jesus girded
himself in the towel of servant and washed each of their feet. Here is John proclaiming to all who would
hear, that he himself is not worthy to touch the dirtiest part of the body of
his Lord. Culturally in the middle east,
to expose your shoe to an enemy is considered a great insult. As the feet are constantly exposed to dirt,
animal waste, and other elements of equal disgust, centering attention on them
to an enemy is to imply the enemy is equal in value to the waste found on the
feet and shoes. In John’s abject
humility, he prizes the feet of the Messiah and the waste they may have on them
as being of more value than himself.
But John does not leave his audience with only a profound
level of self-humiliation. He then
preaches how the fulfillment of salvation will occur. He transitions his listeners from the symbolism
of baptism by water, to the literal experience of baptism by the Holy
Ghost. They function the same. We must die to self. Our old life, our old desires, our old
choices, our old way of thinking must die (symbolically in the waters of
Baptism) but then again in the reality of having the Holy Ghost enter our
lives. The symbolism of Baptism is
merely a precursor to the reality of what it means to have the Holy Ghost enter
our lives. To experience the Holy Ghost,
is not the random seemingly uncontrolled body movements, dancing, and gibberish
no one can understand that mark His presence within us. That serves nothing more than spectacle, and
a feeling of emotional “high” that only “self” can experience. The real evidence of the Holy Spirit in our
lives comes when our desires are changed beyond explanation. When we no longer “want” to commit the same
sins we were recently enslaved to. When
we “want” to love others more than even a consideration of our own needs, this
indicates the presence of the Holy Ghost.
A tangible death to self, the death of me-pleasing-me; and in its place,
me looking only to bring life and love to others. This is the truth of our salvation, and the
evidence that mechanism of the Holy Ghost in our lives is real.
The message of John the Baptist is no less relevant in our
day than it ever was in his own. Our
preachers and teachers and evangelists would do well to examine the humility in
which John taught. Our believers who
purport to carry the name of Christ would do well to examine the content of the
message of John … to repent … to humble ourselves to something greater than
ourselves. It is in this way we become
prepared to experience our own salvation.
Those Christians who hide their identities to those around them,
“embarrassed” to be associated with an ideology based on “faith” instead of
science; would do well to see the public embrace of baptism in a dirty river
outside for all to see. The symbolism of
a public embrace of the death to self; is also paired with the symbolism of a
public resurrection of a new life in Christ; that is a life that is made free
from the former slavery to self, to the worry about reputation, and its
replacement of care and concern for others.
Those who would proclaim “the Spirit” because they gyrate or speak a
language of gibberish; would do well to see what loving others truly
means. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
is meant to reach out to meet the needs of others, not to internalize itself,
bringing benefits only to the person who “has it”. If there is no benefit to others, it is not
the Spirit of God that is being entertained.
If a new life in Christ does not free us from sin, it is because our
“self” is preventing it from occurring, and the Spirit mechanism we are relying
on is not the Spirit of our God, but of His enemy.
To establish the identity of Christ, Peter witnesses, and
Mark begins with a reliance on the people who knew Him in His day. They begin this gospel with a recounting of a
spiritual revival in Israel such as had never been seen. It was a message of simple humility that is
so needed in our own day. But to
establish the identity of Jesus Christ, witnesses would be cited first …
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