If you would take out your Bibles and turn to the gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 1. You can find it on page 836 in the pew Bibles. Tonight we are beginning a new series on Sunday evenings through the gospel of Mark, and this gospel gets right to it. So why don’t we! And tonight we’ll look at two things from these verses. We’ll look at, number one, good news for a change, and number two, good news for change. Good news for a change, and good news for change.
Before we read God’s Word, let’s pray and ask His blessing.
Our Father, we give You thanks for good news, for the Gospel, for the message of Jesus Christ – His life, death and resurrection. We give You thanks for what is recorded here in the opening verses of Mark’s gospel. And we come on bended knee. We come seeking Your help, requesting Your mercy, and the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and in our lives that we would live out of the abundance of the good news and grace that You have given to us in Christ. Help us to see Him. Speak Lord, for Your servants listen. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Mark chapter 1, beginning in verse 1:
“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.’
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.”
The grass withers and the flowers fall but the Word of our God endures forever.
First, good news for a change. The first thing that Mark wants us to know is that this is good news. It’s, “The beginning of the gospel,” he says in verse 1, “The beginning of the gospel,” or good news, “of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And we forget, we forget sometimes. Maybe it’s because of the familiarity that we have with church words, maybe it’s because we call the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – we call them “The Gospels,” as a genre designation, but we forget, don’t we, that the real meaning of the word “gospel” is “good news.” It’s good news. And right from the start, Mark wants us to know that that is what this is. That this message is a great story. In fact, it is a message of first importance. It cannot be hidden. It cannot be covered up. It cannot be ignored. This story, this good news, has to be told, and it is a message that demands our attention.
And one of the distinguishing features of Mark’s gospel is that he seems eager to preach this good news. He seems eager to get us to the cross and to the resurrection. This gospel is the shortest of all of the gospels. It’s shorter than the other three. It doesn’t start back with Jesus’ birth as Matthew and Luke do. No, it basically picks up right in the middle of the action, and from there, the action moves quickly. In fact, one of the most repeated words in this book is the word, “immediately.” Maybe you noticed it, that the word “immediately” appears two times in this passage. Verse 10 – “Immediately he saw the heavens being torn open.” Verse 12, “The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness.” There is a brisk pace to this story. And commentators talk about how Mark’s style is succinct and it’s to the point and that every word counts. Every word matters. That’s because this message matters.
In fact, this message matters more than anything else. Why? Because it’s good news. And that word in Greek for “gospel” – “euangelion” – it’s a word that is maybe familiar to us because it’s the word from which we get words in English like “evangelical” or “evangelistic.” But you see, in Mark’s day, it didn’t mean those things. In Mark’s day, it could be a technical term. It could be a technical term for news of victory; a technical term for the beginning of a new era under a new king. In fact, there is an inscription from the Roman Empire that commemorates the birthday of the emperor, Caesar Augustus. And it says that the birthday of Augustus was the beginning of good tidings – euangelion – good tidings for the world. And so there’s a sense, as we open up the gospel of Mark and we read it, this is “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” that we could say that the gospel of Jesus Christ is subversive, in a way. That it is undermining and overthrowing the boasts of the Roman Empire because Mark, you see, Mark is telling us about something that is so much better.
And there’s a lot that we could say about the time in which Mark wrote. And by the way, we don’t actually know that Mark is the writer of this gospel. It’s technically anonymous. But traditionally, traditionally it’s believed that John Mark, who we hear about in the book of Acts and Paul’s letters, that he wrote this account of Jesus in close association with the apostle Peter. And without strong evidence to the contrary, we can operate on the assumption that Mark wrote this account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. And we know that he did it in a time of Roman occupation. In fact, when we get to the end of the story, the climax of this story, it takes place in Jerusalem under the authority of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. It takes place under the watch and the control of Roman centurions. And most likely, Mark wrote all of this before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, but think about it, think about who the early readers of this gospel were. They were those whom that event would still be fresh in their minds – the conquest of Jerusalem. Rich Cohen has written that the list of Jerusalem’s conquerors is the story of the world – Hebrews, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, Britons, Zionists. And here it was Roman occupation. And where was God?
One time I was teaching on the time between the testaments, and to make a point about silence, I stopped teaching for about ten, twelve, fifteen seconds maybe, at the most. And it was unbearable. And I have never done that again! Verse 4 says that “John appeared,” and yet before John appeared, there had been no prophetic word for over 400 years. No new word from God to His people for so long. Isaiah 64 says, “Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent and afflict us to terribly?” That could be the words of those under the Roman occupation as well because it was silence, and it was hypocrisy. After all, why did John appear in the wilderness? It’s because Jerusalem was filled with hypocrites and false teachers.
You see, the religious leaders at this time, they were all about their own reputation. They were all about their own position. And Jesus will even say in chapter 7 of this gospel about the scribes and the Pharisees, He says, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, hypocrites! As it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Silence and hypocrites.
Everybody knows the saying that “No news is good news,” but I like the one that turns it around and says that, “Good news is no news” – because what is it? What is it that always makes for the headlines in the news? Well it’s not good news; it’s bad news! And there’s plenty of bad news to go around, isn’t there? There was plenty of bad news to go around at this time, at the time of this announcement, at the time of this breakthrough. And oh how they needed some good news for a change. And I find myself, I have to catch myself from reading Mark 1:1 as a sort of formal abstract of a theological research paper. No, this is the beginning of the gospel! This is the beginning of good news! Exclamation point! Don’t miss it!
And wouldn’t you say, wouldn’t you say that all of us are in need of some good news for a change? There have been a string of headlines over the past year that have been stories about what is called “news fatigue.” There are stories about how to cope with the feeling of being overwhelmed by the news, being overwhelmed by politics and economy and war and hate and prejudice and ice and AI and NIL and conspiracy theories and obituaries and on and on it goes. It never stops. And the online dictionaries, you know, they’ll always pick a word of the year sometime in December. Well, for Merriam-Webster for 2025, the word of the year was “slop.” “Slop,” or “digital content of low quality that is produced in high quantity.” Plenty of slop out there. For Oxford, they chose the word “rage-bait” – “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage.” Even dictionary.com – and I’m sorry for this – but they chose what really is not a word; they chose, “6-7” as their word of the year! But even that, isn’t that exhausting in its own way? News fatigue.
And yet there’s also work fatigue and screen fatigue, compassion fatigue, relationship fatigue, breakdown of the body fatigue, didn’t get enough sleep last night fatigue. There’s even the struggle of my own sin fatigue. And in all that, we forget that we have good news, that there is good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Good news that in the midst of all of the uncertainty and the fear and the conflict and the discouragement and the grief, there’s good news.
And here’s why. There are at least three reasons, at least three reasons why what Mark writes here in these thirteen verses is good news. And we could say much more, for sure, but number one, it’s this – that this is the plan and the work of God. That these things that Mark is writing, they unfold according to what God has determined and foretold in His Word and they are taking place by His power. The first word in Mark’s gospel in Greek is the word “arche” or “beginning.” This is the start of something new. And you might expect if the first word is “beginning,” you might expect that everything that follows is going to be something new. And yet no sooner does Mark begin than he looks back, and he looks back to the past and says, “As it is written in the prophet.”
I was asking a group a few days ago the question, “What is the most unnecessary and unhelpful page in the Bible? What’s the most unnecessary page in the Bible?” You know what it is? It’s that title page that comes between the Old Testament and the New Testament. You don’t need it. It’s not helpful because this is all part of a bigger story. It’s all one story, and it’s all one plan of God worked out over thousands of years and in multiple different ways. And God knows the beginning from the end. He knows what He is doing.
I read somewhere recently about one of those old news reels from the 30s or 40s and it was footage of five world leaders – it was FDR and Mussolini and Hitler and a couple of others. And the caption on the news reel said, “In the hands of these five men rests the destiny of the whole world.” And thank God that’s not true. It’s good news that these things, the gospel of Mark things, Jesus things, that these things here take place as it is written in God’s Word; as it is written and according to the plan of God.
And what we find here is that it is God who is carrying out His plan. Just notice in these verses that it is the work of the triune God that we are reading about – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just in verse 10 and 11, we see that the Spirit descends and the Father speaks. “You are My beloved Son.” You see, like the gospel of John says, “This is not the will of the flesh or the will of man, but God.” The triune God. This is not anarchy. It’s not a “free for all.” But the good news begins with God.
And then number two, the good news is for sinners. And this passage is about baptism, on a night when we had two baptisms. John baptized in the wilderness; he baptized in the Jordan River. And his message with baptism was a message about repentance for the forgiveness of sins. I remember some years ago a family came on a baptism Sunday and they actually brought water from the Jordan River and asked about using it for the baptism here. It was a cool idea, but we didn’t do it because the water doesn’t do anything. It’s a sign. Whether it’s Jordan water or Jackson water, it’s a sign! It’s a sign to what Jesus does. “I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,” John says. You see, it’s faith in Jesus that brings the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit. It’s faith in Jesus that washes away our sin, that gives us new life and a true renewal – a renewal towards obedience and fruitfulness. That’s the better reality to which baptism points us.
But you see, the good news is that John the Baptist prepares the way and Jesus makes the way for whom? For sinners. For sinners and for the forgiveness of sins. In fact, J.I. Packer, in his answer to the question, “How can you define or describe the Gospel in three words?” it’s this – it’s that “God saves sinners.” That’s the simple Gospel message. In fact, that’s what Jesus’ name means – “God saves.” And He will save you from your sins. Jesus doesn’t come for the religious insider. He doesn’t come for those with advanced degrees. He doesn’t come for the social elite. Jesus does not come for those with power and prestige. No, Jesus comes for sinners. And if that describes you, then congratulations – you’re qualified. You’re qualified to repent of your sins and to receive Him; to repent and to receive His grace and mercy.
You see, the good news, it begins with God. The good news begins with grace. And then number three, the good news begins with the glory of Jesus. And there’s so much in these verses that just does not make sense. Who is Jesus? Because on the one hand, He comes from Nazareth in Galilee. He comes from nowhere basically; He’s a nobody. And John, sure John talks about how he is not worthy to stoop down and untie His sandal strap, and yet what we find in these verses is that Jesus stoops down to be baptized by John, to be baptized and identified with a bunch of sinful people. And then, He’s driven out into the wilderness. Why? To be tempted by Satan, to be tempted and to be out among the wild animals. This picture of Jesus is that He is just so common; He’s unremarkable.
And yet on the other hand, there is no one anything like Jesus. And John says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself is baptized with the Holy Spirit when the heavens were torn open and the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. And God spoke from heaven and said, “You are My beloved Son. With You I am well pleased.” And when He was tempted in the wilderness, we are told that even the angels ministered to Him. And that this one who seems so ordinary on the one hand is actually beyond extraordinary. Who is Jesus of Nazareth? He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He has the authority of heaven. He is empowered by the Holy Spirit. The angels and Satan are submissive to Him. In other words, Jesus is an all sufficient Savior. Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is able to sympathize with those He came to save and He is ready to take our place as the perfect substitute. You see, good news. Good news that begins with God and with grace and with the glory and wonder of Jesus. It’s good news, you see, for a change. And we need it. We need good news to break through all of the cynicism and the boasting and the anger and the noise and even the silence. To break through. And we can’t ignore it. We cannot ignore the good news.
No, we cannot stay the same once we have heard this Gospel because also it’s good news for change. The second thing for us to see is good news for change. The Gospel word for “change” is “repent.” John preached a baptism of repentance, and the verses immediately following these that we’ll look at next week, Lord willing, we will read that Jesus went into Galilee preaching the Gospel and saying, “The kingdom of God is here. Repent and believe in the Gospel!” What is repentance? Repentance is a change of direction. It’s going one way and then turning around and going the other. It’s turning from sin and turning to God. It’s turning from self and turning to Christ. And in these verses, preparation for the good news, preparation for Jesus begins with repentance. And see, you can’t keep walking on the same old path. You can’t keep living the same old way. You can’t just do whatever you want to do. No, it’s repent! Turn around! Look to Jesus! Because there’s something so much better that is being offered to you. There’s forgiveness and grace. There’s God and new life and love and joy and comfort. There is a kingdom not of this world that is offered to you. But it calls for repentance. It calls for confessing our sin and turning to God. In other words, it calls for change.
And that was certainly true for John, wasn’t it? Think about John. Think about John and how significant he is. He was a bit unusual, and he was, but just listen to his credentials that we find in these verses. John is someone who was the subject of Old Testament prophecy. His life was discussed in the pages of the Old Testament and also in the New. He is the messenger preparing the way. He is the voice crying in the wilderness. And John, he was such a dynamic preacher that he was able to draw a crowd and they responded to his message. All Judea and Jerusalem went out to him and they were being baptized by him and confessing their sins. John himself was a successor to the great prophets of the Old Testament like Elijah and Elisha. That’s what Mark is doing when he makes this connection by telling us that he was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist just like Elijah did. And he was even, get this, he was even the one who baptized Jesus. Now talk about no higher privilege or honor. “I tell you that of those born among women, none is greater than John,” Luke 7:28. And he is nothing. He is nothing compared to Jesus.
And those are not my words. John himself says it. He says that he is not worthy to stoop down and to untie the strap of Jesus’ sandals. Not worthy to take up the most menial and subservient position imaginable in light of who Jesus is. He is not worthy of any glory. He is not worthy of any honor in comparison with the glory and the honor of Jesus. And no man is. No one is worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of whose sandal John came to proclaim. No one.
What does that mean for us? Well, for one thing it means that no man, no man or woman comes close to deserving or demanding our unquestioned allegiance because there’s one Messiah. There is one King of kings and Lord of lords. There is one Prince of peace and head over all things to His Church, and that is Jesus. And there should be no confusion about who it is we follow. There should be no confusion about who we trust and praise. Jesus is the name above every name, and that’s clear from the very beginning of this gospel of Mark. And yet doesn’t it also mean that we are to humble ourselves, that we humble ourselves before Jesus. You see, humility was not a virtue in the ancient world. Honor was. Humility would have been considered a weakness. It would have been considered a cause of shame. It was better to boast about pedigree or accomplishments or reputation. Posturing and rhetoric and competition and boasting, those were the ways of the ancient world.
Sometimes we wonder, “Are we not right there with them sometimes?” And is there anything in our culture that would make you say that humility is a virtue? Is there anything in your speech or your values or your practice that might call into question whether humility is a virtue? But the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it changes us, and at the very least it humbles us to the core. Let us count others more significant than ourselves. Let us look out for the interests of others. Let us do all things without grumbling or disputing. Why? Because we bow the knee to Jesus. In fact, we are not even worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals.
And do you know what makes the good news all the more remarkable? The apostle John tells us. He tells us that at the point closest to Jesus’ greatest time of need, at a meal with His disciples, He stood up from the table, He took up a towel, and He poured water in a basin and He began to wash the feet of His disciples. This one, this one worthy of worship, stooped down to serve those who follow Him, to wash their feet – their feet, like a servant. Not to be served, but to serve. The remarkable thing about the Gospel is that Jesus took the form of a slave and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. And now this risen one, this risen one before whom we bow, should we not now serve Him and serve others with humility? “If I, then, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Remember humility. Remember humility in how we speak. Remember humility in how we treat our family, our friends, even our enemies. Remember humility when we are called to acts of service, not to do it for praise or for recognition or for a pat on the back or for honor, but because the good news changes us. And it’s not about us anyway. It’s about Jesus.
Let’s pray.
Our Father, we bow our heads once again to close this Lord’s Day. We bow our heads once again at the beginning of a week. And we do not know what tomorrow brings. We do not know what challenges You will put into our path. We do not know what opportunities that You will give to us this week. But would You remind us of the good news that we go out with good news? And would You remind us to be humble in all that we do, and that we would say, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory,” and that we would reflect all the glory to our great Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in whose name we pray. Amen.