John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Meditations of the Gospel of Mark

July 24, 2020

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

“This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.

I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

Mark 1: 1, 8

Read: Mark 1: 1-8

It was a little over four months ago, that our state and community received the first stay home order. Our church closed on March 15, and there is no end in sight as to when we will again hold worship services. Our present circumstances in the USA are quite troubling. On March 9, about a week before a National Emergency was declared, the US had 546 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 22 deaths. In two months, on May 9, the US had 1,283,929 confirmed cases and 77,180 deaths. About two months later (July 16), the US has 3,574,371 confirmed cases and 138,339 deaths related to covid-19. Add to this the nationwide protests against racism and other issues, we are indeed in desperate times.

May I suggest we are standing in a similar desperate place as Mark’s church when he wrote this Gospel. We desperately need a word from the Lord. I believe Mark’s Good News is the Word for our time. A caveat. Mark’s Gospel has been called a handbook for discipleship. This is serious discipleship, such discipleship that brings to mind what G. K. Chesterton noted, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” You may want to peek ahead to Mark 10:42-45 to what can be described as the theme of this Gospel.

My Takeaway: The people of Israel were desperate for God to come again, and rescue them again, as He had done when their ancestors were slaves in Egypt. Their prophets had promised that when God came again, He would remain with them forever. Mark says John the Baptist pointed to the fulfillment of this promise when he said, “(Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Knowing God is with me now sustains me in these desperate times. How about you?

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.