P.AllanC.S. Lewis once wrote that he liked to take his Christianity the same way he took his whiskey—straight.  That’s what we get in the Gospel according to Mark.  The Gospel straight.  No frills.  Few details.  A news bulletin.

Today in Mark’s Gospel  we come to a section I call “Invasion”. Historically invasion has been how a belligerent nation took control of another.  In  democracies “invasion” is done by spending millions to persuade citizens to vote for you.  Mark 1:9-13 starts an “invasion” news report like this:  “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee . . . ”  Not an invasion that makes you run for cover!  Why call it an invasion then?  Because shortly Mark will report what Jesus proclaimed:  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand . . . ” (1:15a).  A kingdom alien to the world’s is on the horizon!  A king is about to take over!  Yet Mark records his arrival so ordinarily:  “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee . . . “

Mark’s “invasion” news divides into two sections:  Jesus baptized by John (1:9-11) and Jesus baited by Satan (1:12,13).

JESUS BAPTIZED.  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” (1:9-11). 

Four points Mark makes are worth nothing.  One, Jesus came “from Nazareth of Galilee”—a poor village 180 miles north of big-city Jerusalem.  I’M FROM NAZARETH t-shirts didn’t sell well.  No “big names” came from there.  If Israel had been a democracy, presidential candidates wanting to impress voters with their humble beginnings would have bragged to  crowds, “I grew up in Nazareth.  We lived in a tiny house with the goat and ate fish daddy caught with string and nail.”  Jesus’ Nazareth-boyhood shows his humble distance from the world of “movers and shakers.”

Two, Jesus “was baptized by John in the Jordan”.  Why, when John’s was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1:40)?  Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He had no sin to repent of and be forgiven of.  So why be baptized by John?  To identify with us sinners.  He was taking his place as one of us who need to repent and be forgiven.  Instead of slaughtering us “little nobodies”, this invading king became one of us to save us for his kingdom!

Three, when Jesus came up out of the Jordan “he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.”  A scene of sharp contrasts!  Like clouds being blown apart by raging wind, the sky was ripped open and from it, like a gentle dove, the Spirit came down on Jesus.  It was an anointing with power for his mission (Acts 10:38).

Fourth, “a voice came from the heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased'”.  Did everyone at the Jordan hear the voice?  We’re not told.  If only Jesus heard it, the voice assured him that what he was doing was well-pleasing to God the Father.  And for us who “hear” it now in Mark’s news report, the voice identifies Jesus, not just as a humble and good man, but as God the Son.  Every Jew, if they heard the voice, and every Jew afterward who read Mark’s news report, would have thought of messianic Psalm 2:7:  “I will tell of the decree:  The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you””.  So the news of Jesus baptized, far from being an insignificant sidebar, revealed Jesus humbly identifying with us sinners and, at the same time, being anointed with power and assured of the Father’s pleasure with him.

JESUS BAITED.  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 (1:12,13).  The wilderness was a desolate, deserted, lonely place—a place fitting for the cosmic battle that took place there.  The Spirit, who anointed Jesus with power, “immediately” (euthus—one of Mark’s favorite words) “drove him out into the wilderness.”  The battle lasted 40 days, as Israel had been in the wilderness 40 years, dying for their unbelief (Exodus 14:1-35).  Wild animals, not just Satan, were a danger.  But—and this suggests the intensity of the battle for Jesus—“the angels were ministering to him.”

“Why this temptation by Satan?”  Several reasons have been suggested.  Here’s mine:  to prepare Jesus for his ongoing battles with Satan.  Talk about the devil, and people begin quietly backing away from you.  But have you noticed how often we hear the word “evil” used to describe ISIS?  Try as we might, we sophisticated 21st century Americans, can’t escape the reality of evil.  Satan is evil personified.  And, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s works” (1 John 3:18).  This “cosmic battle” was the first of many.  This one prepared Jesus for what lay ahead as he inaugurated the kingdom of God in this world which lies under the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19).  By the way, though Mark doesn’t tell us (!), Jesus won.  That’s implied by Mark’s next report—that Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God” (1:14,15).

JESUS FOR US.  I recently subscribed to “The Wall Street Journal”.  Often I come away wondering what some of the complex financial news means to me.  What does Mark’s “invasion news report” mean to us?  That the Son of God, humbly identified with us sinners by being baptized as one of us.  That Jesus, assured of the Father’s pleasure and empowered by the Spirit, was baited for us by our deadly enemy Satan.  That we were the object of history’s strangest invasion.  That this is a revelation of divine love and grace.  And that a brief, seemingly insignificant news event like this is why the news Mark reported is called good.