Sin casts a long shadow, grace illumines even the shade

Readings for the Second Sunday of Advent

This has probably never occurred to many people, but the Gospel of Mark and John start the same way that the Book of Genesis starts, with the word ‘beginning’ in Greek, ‘arche.’

• John’s Gospel begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jn 1:1. We will read that passage on Christmas day.  The book of Genesis begins with those words. (Gn 1:1). For John, the word ”logos” combines God’s dynamic, creative word (Genesis), preexistent Wisdom as the instrument of God’s creative activity (Proverbs), and the ultimate intelligibility of reality as in Greek philosophy.
• Mark’s Gospel begins like John’s- “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God].  Jesus leads his people from the wilderness, through the waters of baptism, suffering and resurrection. He is the way, the truth and the life. Jn. 14:6, In Hebrew, Jesus the rabbi is the ‘halakah.’
• Genesis 1:1 begins as do both John and Mark with the word ‘beginning’ “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters.”

Genesis, Mark and John all begin with water. In Genesis God separates the waters, in John and Mark, (all the Gospels actually) Jesus descends into the waters of baptism.  So new beginnings, new life and God’s creative act leading the way. The ‘way’ is the key insight. Jesus shows us what it means to be human. We were created is a Divine order.

Isaiah and the Gospel
The story of Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon and the exile of the people is incomprehensible without understanding that the people transgressed a Divine order they had agreed to in the Mosaic covenant. Their destruction followed because that covenant had blessings and curses for obeying or not. The story of Israel is formed through law, human frailty and Divine mercy.

The reading from Isaiah today begins with God telling a group of Judean Torah scholars, “Comfort, comfort my people.” God is addressing the leaders of Judea exiled in Babylon. They are told to look for ‘comfort’ in the scriptures. Generations after the original deportees, a new generation is instructed to look for hope.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end,

her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.” Is. 40: 1-4.

Jerusalem’s sentence has been served and God’s justice is served for she has paid “double” for her sins.  The punishment of exile for 70 years has exceeded the crime. The servant ‘voice’ calls out to make straight God’s way, because God is going to do something.  Verses 6-8 are omitted in this pericope and they explore sin and suffering and punishment more thoroughly.

A voice says, “Proclaim!” I answer, “What shall I proclaim?” “All flesh is grass, and all their loyalty like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it.” “Yes, the people is grass!  The grass withers, the flower wilts, but the word of our God stands forever.” Is. 40:6-8

The sin addressed in Isaiah is both an offense against Divine law and the result of human frailty. In Isaiah, the Divine response to human frailty is:

Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! … Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.” Is. 40:9-11

Isaiah 63 is only understandable in the context of a Torah that images what it means to be a human being in relationship with God. Sin is to live in rebellion to that relationship.

Sin and human dysfunction
Divine law describes what it means to be a human being in relationship to God and one another. Sin is to act contrary what we were made for. It is experienced like a stain that cannot be removed, a trap that cannot be escaped. Racism and slavery are an apt example.

“For example, slavery in the United States is said to have left a “stain” upon our hands that still awaits “cleansing.” To speak in this fashion is to assume that sin is much more than a violation of a moral norm and that the effects of sin are more extensive than a guilty conscience. A verbal declaration of regret may be fine, but the way a culture grapples with the enduring legacy of sin is another matter. A wrongful deed creates in its wake some sort of “thing” that has to be removed. It is not always easy to escape sin. The terrible legacy of slavery in the nineteenth century is one example of how the effects of sin can linger long after the perpetrators have left the scene.” Anderson, Gary A.. Sin: A History (p. 3). Yale University Press - A. Kindle Edition.

The Judeans were marched into captivity in Babylon over 2,600 years ago and we are still talking about it today. European colonialism left a long lasting wound. In the Middle East, after WWI, the mostly arbitrary division of the Ottoman Empire into European style nations created an environment where constant violent clashes and extremism have violent consequences in our own time. The Nazi persecution of the Jews left a long lasting shadow on Germany and the world that continues to resonate 80 years after the end of World War II. In the Old Testament, the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons up to the fourth generation. (Ex. 20:5)  The legacy of sin casts a long, dark shadow.

Sin has personal consequences as it wounds the way we see ourselves. It also distorts how nations understand their own existence. In ancient Israel, the stain of sin was removed through sacrifice and almsgiving both for the person and the nation. That is because Israel was founded on a covenant between God and the Israelites. If you obey the covenant you are blessed, if you violate the covenant, you are cursed. Sacrifice is the way that you resolve personal and national transgressions against the covenant. Secular states do not have that self-conception. As a result, national options are either to deny wrong doing, deny sin and evil or to constantly chase trying to make what is wrong right. The gospel opens a pathway through human sin. The Gospel of Mark begins ‘in the beginning’ with that pathway through the waters of baptism into covenant with God.

The Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Divine justice and human frailty
Baptism and the New Covenant are at the heart of the Gospel today. John the Baptist is calling the people of Judea to repentance from sin.

A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Mk. 1

John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mk. 1

“One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mk. 1:7-8.

When John the Baptist baptized for the forgiveness of sins he was reconciling his fellow Jews to the Covenant. That would not make sense to Gentiles or modern secularists who are not part of the covenant. The first century Jews saw the Romans and Greeks as lawless people. Reconciliation has no meaning for people who recognize no moral law but their own; if you make it up for yourself, there is no lawgiver to be reconciled to.

John is baptizing on the Jordan where Israel entered the Holy Land because the gentiles will enter into covenant through baptism as did Israel. Entering into covenant with God for a Jew or Christian is about a change of mind and heart.  Through baptism Gentiles are made part of God’s people and can then be reconciled to God’s law. Living by Divine order makes us human. This is why the Gospels start, ‘in the beginning.’ In Genesis, God created the world by separating the waters of chaos making a place for people to be human. In Mark and the other Gospels, Jesus recreates the human through the waters of baptism. The Church gives us a place to be human in union with God.

Recall that in John’s Gospel Jesus says that he is “the way.” Jn. 14:6.  In Mark’s gospel, Jesus heals the blind man Bartimeaus, Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.” Mark 10:52. Torah righteousness teaches the way, in Hebrew, the ‘halakah.’  The ‘way’ is how we are human. The way being prepared is not just the Messiah, or forgiveness of Israel’s sins, it is God’s way in our own human reality. Israel came through the wilderness to the Israel. They were led by God himself, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night, so the people will be lead out of the wilderness by God himself through the waters of baptism. Ex. 13:21

So the baptized enter the water like Israel entered the Red Sea led by Jesus.
It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.  And a voice came from the heavens,

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Mk. 1:9-11

In Exodus, God’s spirit came down on the tent of meeting in the glory cloud. When Jesus is baptized, the heavens are torn open and the Spirit descends “like a dove.” Remember, after forty days and nights of the flood, Noah sent out a dove and it returned with an olive sprig as a sign of hope. Gen. 8:6-12. The dove is the sign of hope and the fulfillment of God’s promise

Sin and Baptism
The Evangelists begin their gospels in the ‘beginning’ followed by the story of John the Baptist and the Lord’s own baptism because baptism is a new beginning where God recreates our hearts and minds. Jesus calls us to “repent and believe in the Gospel.”
After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mk. 1:15

Why does Mark start out his Gospel, “The beginning…” Because in the beginning John the Baptist, a voice crying in the wilderness, prepared a way for God. Jesus came leading through the water of baptism and emerged to proclaim, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” He calls us to convert or minds and trust in him. Mind and heart given to God. That is the pathway. Sin casts a long shadow, grace illuminates even the shade.