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| How do we proceed when we already know the outcome? |
“The beginning of the good news ofJesus Christ, the Son of God.” Our contemporary society loves movies with twistendings, unexpected upsets in sports, and pop songs with at least onesurprising key change. So, what do we do with the opening line of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ according to Mark? Before any action has taken place the ending
has been given away—Jesus is the son of God. After one verse might we be better
off simply skipping to the ending?
Spoiler alert: When Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came
out in 2005 a man drove passed a Barnes and Noble release event for the popularchildren’s book series. The moment he got in front of the line that was out the
door he yelled out the ending of the book, which ruined the anticipation and
enjoyment of reading a good book in the process. Do the first lines of Mark’s
Gospel account do the same thing for us?
We really do not like spoilers in our country,
and it’s not only with Harry Potter. There are videos of grown adults runningaway from people trying to tell them what happens in Star Wars. Apps now give people the option to hide the score of
others games when watching a replay broadcast. The advent of DVRs and Netflix
has made it such that people will cover their ears and yell, “LALALALA” when
someone talks about a show they have not yet watched. So what do we do with
Mark’s Gospel account when the first line spills the beans?
The truth is most of us hear the claim
that Jesus is the Son of God before we ever read an entire Gospel account for
ourselves. Perhaps if someone grew up un-churched they could happen upon the
good news with fresh eyes and ears. And yet, even those who are reared outside the
church will almost certainly hear from others in society that Jesus is God’s
Son before they get to encounter the story of God in Holy Scripture for
themselves. On the one hand this is no big deal, but on the other hand what is it that we bring to the table when we make such a big claim before ever reading a word? I wonder
what it was like for those who encountered Mark’s account of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ as a spoken story in the first century. I wonder if we might hear like them. I wonder if we might enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
In this season of Advent, as we begin
this church year I wonder if we might ask God to have new eyes. Can we see
beyond our preconceived notions about Jesus, about God, and about us? Are we
able to read the good news of Jesus Christ without our regular set of
assumptions, without mixing the Gospel accounts together, and without skipping
over the parts that truly challenge us? Is it possible to wonder anew what it means
for Jesus to be the Son of God? Or, do we already know it all, so we impatiently
skip ahead to the ending?
thanks
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