Dec. 10: Second Sunday of Advent

The Baptist’s mission

Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14; 2 Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8

The Gospel of Mark is almost certainly the earliest of the four Gospels. Mark’s purpose was to tell of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The evangelist had available to him the church’s recollections of Jesus’ sayings and parables, his exorcisms and healings, his disputes with religious authorities, and above all, memories of Jesus’ final hours and the empty tomb. But where to begin?

Unlike Matthew and Luke, who begin with the birth of Jesus, Mark begins with John the Baptist. The ministry of Jesus grew out of John’s. It is likely that Jesus was one of the baptist’s disciples. Since Mark wanted to tell the story of Jesus’ ministry, beginning with John the Baptist made sense.

Mark appropriates two prophetic texts (Mal 3:1 and Is 40:3) to underscore the origin of John the Baptist’s ministry in God’s will for Israel. The baptist calls for people to repent in view of the imminent inauguration of God’s reign. Announcing the coming of God’s reign will be the work of the mightier one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit, he proclaims.

For Mark, the ministry of John the Baptist was the beginning of the Christ-event.

There is no doubt about the historical value of Mark’s account of the John the Baptist’s ministry, but the church does not regard John the Baptist simply as a figure of the past. The church continues his ministry by calling for us to repent. Without an acknowledgment of sin, there is no need for a savior. 

Fifty years ago, Karl Menniger, the renowned psychiatrist and founder of the Menniger Foundation and Clinic, published a book titled “Whatever Became of Sin?” The book’s message is still relevant today.

Menniger writes not as a theologian or pastor but as a psychiatrist, hoping to bridge the gap between religion and the social sciences. He defines sin as aggressive behavior that deliberately hurts another person. Menniger calls out the human tendency to evade personal responsibility for behaviors that are harmful to others by shifting the blame to the social environment.

The effect of such rationalizations to avoid taking responsibility for actions that hurt others will inevitably increase the instances of wrongdoing. Unless sin is dealt with, it will continue to cause hurt, he argues.

Menninger also calls attention to the systems that harm people. He counters the “I can’t do anything about it” syndrome by asserting that we all have a responsibility to deal with social justice, climate change, the environment, discrimination and other societal issues. Human problems inherent in social systems ought to be dealt with through study, assessment, responsible decisions and action. We ought not evade responsibility for dealing with social systems that cause harm to people.

We need to face Menninger’s question honestly. We prefer to think of ourselves as good people. It takes honesty and humility to admit that we are sinners in need of repentance.

The mission of John the Baptist was to help people recognize who they were before God without excuses, evasion and rationalization.

The church carries on John the Baptist’s mission today. By helping us to recognize who we are, the Baptist prepares the way for the mission of Jesus, who saves us from our sins, who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

The mission of John the Baptist is chronologically and theologically prior to that of Jesus. John speaks of sin and Jesus offers salvation. John appears at the beginning of the Christ- event, so Mark begins his account of that event with John. Mark cites prophetic texts to affirm that John the Baptist’s appearance in the Judean desert was of God. People from Judea and Jerusalem came to hear John preach. Many accepted his message and were baptized in the Jordan River as a sign that they were serious about repenting of their sins. John told them of one who was mightier than he who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Following the introduction of John the Baptist and his ministry, Mark weaves a narrative of Jesus’ ministry that begins in the villages of Galilee and end outside the walls of Jerusalem. As Jesus’ story enfolds, the question of his identity keeps recurring: “Who then is this (Jesus)?” (Mk 4:41). The answer finally comes as Jesus dies on the cross. The centurion who witnessed Jesus’ death asserts: “Truly, this man was God’s son” (Mk 15:39). It is through Jesus that we have the forgiveness of our sins. For this we give thanks.