The Dragnet Gospel

Text: Mark 1:1-8
Theme: “The Dragnet Gospel”
2nd Sunday of Advent
December 4, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

IN THE NAME OF JESUS

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,[a] the Son of God,[b] 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”[c]—
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[d]
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with[e] water, but he will baptize you with[f] the Holy Spirit.”

In this new church year, only over a week old, the majority of the Gospel lessons that are slated for Sunday morning will come from the Gospel according to Mark. For you lectionary buffs, we are in Series B of the Revised Common Lectionary. For those of you who like to – or have to -- live fast-paced lives, zipping from one thing to another, then you will thoroughly enjoy Mark’s Gospel and its prominence in Series B. It is the shortest; it gets finished in sixteen chapters. For example, you could leave church, go to your Sunday brunch, and finish reading Mark all before the Cowboys game at 3:15 in Arizona this afternoon! How about that! The word “immediately” shows up over forty times – “immediately” Jesus did this, or “immediately” they did that. You can almost get a good cardio workout reading Mark; as you read the narrative, you barely catch your breath before you’re off doing the next thing. And I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there’s no Christmas story in Mark. (You’ll have to read Matthew and Luke for that; John gives a kind of interpretation of the Christmas story.) You know, there may be folks – more than likely grown-ups -- who are entirely okay with that. Christmas can be a time of ramped up expectations that are almost impossible to meet. The “holiday season”, as our culture likes to call it, does seem to put peoples’ lives on steroids.

In public worship, we read our Gospel lessons from the NIV (New International Version) translation which is in your pew. The Presbyterian Church (USA) tends to prefer the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) translation which is not quite as literal -- or, I should say, faithful to the original text – as the NIV. Today’s reading is given on page 1045. Now the NIV, generally speaking, is pretty accurate in its translation from the original Greek language. However, they slip up a bit – right off the bat – in the first verse of this morning’s text. It reads: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.” A direct translation from the Greek would read a smidge differently: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The word “Christ” and the word “Messiah” are interchangeable; they mean the same thing, so there’s really not a problem there. But we must note that the good news is not about Jesus Christ (as the NIV puts it). It is the good news OF Jesus Christ. In other words, the good news belongs to Him. It’s not just “about” Him. It is entirely possible for churches, including our own, to talk about Jesus constantly while never getting around to actually proclaiming His message, the good news that belongs to Him.

The Greek term at the heart of things is Evangeliou. Evangeliou, literally translated into English, is “evangel”, or “blessed message”, or “good news”, or “gospel”. They’re all interchangeable terms. From evangeliou we derive the English word “Evangelical.” Now, this term “Evangelical” has a history. It gained traction during the Reformation era in the days of Calvin and Luther. Then, it meant what it said. But, unfortunately and sadly, the term now has negative connotations. Nowadays, an “Evangelical” is considered to be something of a religious fanatic, a right-wing ideologue, a social conservative, a fundamentalist. It’s rather sad that we’ve twisted this term into something that it, by definition, is not. If words still mean things, then an “Evangelical” is someone who is of and about the Gospel. He or she has received, believed, and endeavors to live out the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

Mark starts not with the basics of the evangeliou or the “principles of God’s Word” as we might say, Mark starts with the beginning! And the beginning points to that Advent prophesy of Isaiah: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”

The Gospel begins with preparation, and that preparation is embodied in the one we know as John the Baptist. There he stands at a certain place (the desert region around the Jordan River) and at a certain time (nearly two thousand years ago). He, too, has a message: a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Certain messages catch on – as do the messengers that bring them. Such is the case with John the Baptist, the great preacher of the Advent season. We are told, by Mark, that “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” As John saw it, a “Don’t ask; don’t tell” policy toward sin was not in the cards. The option, rather, was to confess their sins, to “come out of the closet” with them, to come clean. John’s preaching was heavy on the Law of God. It convicted them of their sins. But instead of holding on to them, instead of attempting yet again to try and deal with them on their own, John gave the option of confessing them.

This past week I took a road trip to Nebraska to see my folks. On the way up and on the way back down, I became something of a student. I listened to a number of podcasts. One podcast, The Whitehorse Inn, featured Michael Horton, a professor at Westminster Seminary in California. He was interviewing a gentleman who is the pastor of The Protestant Church of Smyrna in Turkey. Turkey is largely, if not exclusively, a Muslim country, and they aren’t allowed to call it a church. They have to call it a “club.” Thus, officially, the church is called “The Protestant Church of Smyrna ‘Club’”. In the interview, the pastor related how he, a former Muslim, came to faith in Jesus Christ. It took a long time. He related his experience that it takes quite awhile for others to convert as well.

The most fascinating part of the interview was when the pastor told of a Muslim gentleman who started attending the Protestant Church of Smyrna “club” and began reading the Bible. The pastor guided him through a set of readings undertaken over a period of time. Much later, the man came in to share something of a confession. It turns out, initially, that he had a hidden agenda. He told the pastor that his real goal, at the outset, was to read the Bible in order to show how corrupt it is. “Did you find any corruption?” the pastor asked. “Yes,” the man said, “but I didn’t find it in the Bible.” “Where did you find it?” replied the pastor. “In my own heart,” the man said.

Something happened to that man. Basically, the message of John the Baptist rang true. He understood himself convicted of sin. The beginning of the Gospel, the preparation for the Gospel, worked. He confessed the corruption of his heart. The path was straightened; the rough place was made plain. He heard – and believed! – the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was put to death for his sins and raised from the grave for his justication. The entire trajectory of his life changed as the gospel of Jesus, the good news of forgiveness, began to dawn on him and take root.

John the Baptist, who stands right there at the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, did not, like some religious figures did then and do now, toot his own horn. He didn’t found an organization called “John the Baptist Ministries” that you could support and become a part of for a love gift of $100 or more!

His job – his vocation, his calling, if you will – was to point away from himself to Jesus Christ. Mark says that “This was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’”
Read through Mark’s Gospel before the Cowboys game and you’ll involve yourself with something of a newspaper report – a narrative that gives you the facts about Jesus and His good news. And here we mark one of the differences between Christianity and all other religions. Every religion gives you teachings, and from those teachings you can derive principles. Such principles, it is said, are designed to help you lead a transformed life, a more fulfilling life, a more contented and happy life. They assist you on the path toward self-actualization – or something like that.
But then comes Christianity. Better yet, then comes Christ with His good news. And what is it based on? Facts! It is founded on such historical events as these: Christ was born! Christ died! Christ was risen! Christ instituted a mission to baptize into and teach the world His good news. In His Supper that He actually inaugurated in history, His presence is still among us to seal the gifts of faith and forgiveness and life and love to us all.

In this advent season, think for a moment about the advent of television. Its history has included many programs devoted to law and order and police work. Think of, yes, Law and Order, or Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Then you have Hawaii Five-0 – both past and present. Some of you will remember T.J. Hooker and the Streets of San Francisco. Then there’s that program that was called Dragnet. It featured the actor Jack Webb playing a character – a police detective – named Joe Friday. He would interview witnesses to a crime, and sometimes the witnesses would go off on some tangent. He would have to get them back on track. He would say, “Just the facts, ma’am.”

Like the witnesses we are, we, too, can get off on tangents. But we have a world that is asking about – and, dare I say, desperately needs – the facts. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ delivers! Only the Gospel makes Christmas truly what it is. Only in the Gospel do you tap the power of God unto salvation! It is exactly what it says it is: Good News!

Amen.