The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, Son of God. Mark 1:1
That sounds very nice and innocent as an introduction, until you realize that the Caesars claimed to be divine, and that the Roman peace they enforced was also proclaimed as good news. At the time Mark wrote, Christians in Rome were being torched by Nero. These words can have strong political implications. Here in Australia, where we are free to practice our Christian faith, and where so many Christian values are enshrined in law, we don’t often experience that tension of which power do we trust and obey. For other parts of the world that tension is very real for Christians.
John the Baptist was a strong prophetic figure who appeared in the empty wilderness at the Jordan River. To get to the current site, we travelled a few kilometers off the highway near Jericho, through what felt like a demilitarized zone of bare ground. Even in early September, when we were there, our little liturgy took place with 2 soldiers and their automatic weapons sitting right next to us.
Back then, people would have walked down from Jerusalem to Jericho (over 30 kms), and then the couple of extra hours walk to get to the Jordan. The Roman soldiers would have been on high alert, to check the content of the preaching and the crowd’s response. Was John starting an uprising? No, he was asking God’s people to admit that they had not done a good job of living as God’s people in the promised land. John asked them to step out of the land and make a fresh start after being submerged in the Jordan.
There are all times when we need a reset. We go back to Christ, we admit that we can’t fix ourselves or the concern robbing us of life, and we prayerfully place ourselves into God’s hands, and ask for help. Then we get on with whatever we need to do, but we do it with hope, and we use a strength that comes from God. Sometimes, whatever the old powers at work in us are (you’re not good enough, you don’t deserve to be happy, you don’t have enough), sometimes, those powers need to meet the real power in our life. Jesus’ love and forgiveness gives them the shakedown they need. Then we faithfully and bravely go on with being ourselves, dearly loved sons and daughter of God.
