Mark 1, Ending/Beginning

“The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah.” (Mark 1:1)

I don’t recall ever reading the Gospels front to back, in canonical order. Maybe I have. I just don’t remember. Anyway, moving from the end of Matthew’s gospel to the beginning of Mark’s gospel is abrupt. We move from the crucified and resurrected Jesus back to John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry. No birth narrative here in Mark, so it’s not a total reset. There is, however, wisdom in this juxtaposition of ending and beginning, abrupt as it is. There is wisdom in the canon, pedagogical wisdom, just as there is wisdom in the seasons of the church calendar. Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost,—the long season of ordinary time,—Christ the King Sunday, and then a new beginning.

We come to an end, and make a new beginning. We “begin again at the beginning,” as Karl Barth wrote. “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age,” in every beginning and every ending, until all is renewed at the end of the age. Jesus is always reminding us to remember, always calling us to obey, always offering new beginnings, always telling us anew the old, old story. If we didn’t get it the first time around (And who among us did? Did the disciples?), here it is again in Mark. Then Luke. Then John.

For me, 61 Advents, Christmases, Lents, Easters, Pentecosts, and Christ the King Sundays, 61 years of hearing the story…and still not enough. I still need new beginnings. I still need to hear it again.

The gospel is ever good and ever news. It is news that stays news.* The good news about Jesus the Messiah is eternally contemporary.**

So, right after the ending of Matthew’s gospel, we have the new beginning of Mark’s gospel, “the good news about Jesus the Messiah.” An ending. A beginning.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Who is Jesus? Let’s go over it again, from the beginning.

Where is Jesus? Once more, here is where I am.

What then shall we do? How many times do I have to tell you? Sixty-one times? Sixty one times seven?

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* Cribbed this phrase from Ezra Pound. The quote: “Literature is news that stays news.”

** “Jesus: The Eternal Contemporary” was the theme used by Herb Ham when he returned to Oklahoma Baptist University for Christian Focus Week during my senior year (1973-74). I think it was that year.