Week beginning 8 October 2018
Gospel Readings:
Mark 1:1-8
Mark 1:9-11
Mark 1:12-13
Joshua 1:1-9
Devotion 1
Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, allowing space for God’s voice to be heard.
Read: Mark 1:1-8
Mark’s opening verse presents it hearers with a question—one which will take the whole gospel to answer: What does it mean that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God? Or, perhaps put another way: What does truly good news look like?
In the world in which Marks’ Gospel was written, euangelion—from where we get “gospel”, or “good news”—was a term used of imperial announcements, such as the ascension of a new emperor or a military battle won. Is this the kind of “good news” that Mark has in mind? Would Jesus be a messiah figure like Judas Maccabeus, who overthrew the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes some one-and-a-half centuries earlier; or like Judas son of Hezekiah, who led a revolt against Roman rule in Galilee around the time of Jesus’ birth; or perhaps like Simon bar Giorra, who was acclaimed a popular king as he led Jewish resistance in the war of 66-70 CE.1 Would Jesus be like these figures, slaying the enemy and throwing off imperial domination? Or would he be a “Son of God”—a title which for Israel evoked the memory of none other than king David, a popularly acclaimed king who liberated Israel from the threat of surrounding nations and led them on a course to becoming a powerful state. Closer to Mark’s world, Caesar Augustus and those who ruled after him claimed the title “Son of the Divine”.
Surely this Jesus, then, will come to the Temple to claim his place among Israel’s anointed leaders. Malachi would picture it this way.
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. — Malachi 3:1
Perhaps, though, we get the first hint here at the outset of Mark’s Gospel that all will not play out according to the messianic script that many hoped—particularly at the time of the Jewish war as Mark’s Gospel was being formed. For Malachi’s royal vision is here subverted. Instead of coming to the Temple, the prophet of God comes in the wilderness, to bring Isaiah’s announcement of liberation from exile. God, it seems may not be found in temples, but in the wilderness.
Reflect
- Try to imagine you are reading Mark for the first time. How might you expect the story to play out after reading the opening verses?
- In what ways might these verses begin to shape the way you see the world around you?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
1 Richard A. Horsley, Jesus and the Powers: Conflict, Covenant, And The Hope Of The Poor, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011, 82.
Devotion 2
Wait: Take time to sit in silence together, aware of God’s presence in a broken world.
Read: Mark 1:9-11
Jesus here enters the narrative established by John’s character. It is the narrative of Israels’ liberation from exile, written about by the Isaianic prophet centuries before, and a narrative of speaking truth to power like the prophet Elijah.
This is the first of three “apocalyptic moments” in Mark’s Gospel, where Jesus’ identity is named.2 Here, the heavenly voice breaks through into the narrative, legitimating Jesus as God’s Son, the “Beloved”. It draws on the language of royal psalms (Ps 2:7), and the symbolism of the emperor cult. Here, the question intensifies: What kind of king will Jesus be?
Reflect
- What characteristics have you seen attributed to Jesus? Do they accurately reflect Mark’s picture of Jesus so far?
- What characteristics do you value in someone who exercises authority?
Pray for one another.
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
2 Ched Myers, Binding the Strongman: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus, 20th Anniversary ed, Maryknoll: Orbis, 2008, 127.
Devotion 3
Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of repentance together, aware of our inadequacy and God’s grace.
Read: Mark 1:12-13
Immediately following the “apocalyptic moment” of Jesus’ baptism, he is “cast out” into the wilderness. Having been named as “God’s Son” by the voice from heaven not on its own qualify Jesus for his vocation. He must undergo a “wilderness period”. These verses evoke Israel’s liberation from Egypt and sojourn through the wilderness. But there is another story that is specifically invoked in Jesus’ temptation and being “with the wild beasts. It seems that these two elements are linked in order to evoke Daniel and his refusal to bow down to imperial power, his ordeal in the lions’ den, and his angelic help (Dan 61-28). Jesus’ wilderness experience is one in which he faithfully refuses the lure of worldly power, trusting, like Daniel, in God’s deliverance in the face of wild beasts. It is an experience on which he will draw for the entirety of Mark’s narrative.
Reflect
- Reflect on your own life. In what ways have you faced a “wilderness experience”?
- In what ways do you experience the lure of power?
- Where do you hear God’s voice in today’s reading?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer
Devotion 4
Wait: Take time to sit in the silence of gratitude together, giving thanks for the ways you’ve experienced God’s loving kindness.
This week’s Common Value: Sustaining rhythms
Read: Joshua 1:1-9
Ask
- What rhythms might we put in place over this next season which will sustain life and hope?
Pray
Share Communion
Close with the Lord’s Prayer