Content
The pioneer of Jesus Christ (Mk 1:1-8)
(introducing John the Baptist)
The book begins with introducing two main characters. The primary character is of course “Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. (v1) The main theme of the book is focused on “the gospel of Jesus Christ” (v1). And the book begins to talk about the gospel with the introduction of the second character—John the Baptist. It introduces this pioneer of the gospel of Jesus Christ by quoting two verses from the Old Testament. The first verse is: “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” (v2) It comes from the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi 3:1. The second verse is: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ ”.(v3) It comes from Isaiah 40:3. These two verses prophesy the appearance of John the Baptist in the wilderness and his ministry as God’s messenger of paving the way for the gospel ministry of Jesus Christ. It implies that the coming of the Messiah and his mission of saving the world is destined by God and His plan of salvation is executed according to His time and way. John the Baptist has taken a key role in God’s plan of salvation.
Before Jesus Christ begins his preaching ministry, God has arranged for him a pioneer to set the gospel path for him—John the Baptist. He is indeed one of the best examples for us to learn from as regards preaching of the gospel. Let us learn from him how to be the pioneer of Jesus Christ.
(the focus of preparatory gospel work)
John the Baptist is the pioneer of Jesus’ gospel ministry. He preaches the message of “repentance for the remission of sins” (v4), which is indeed the key point of his gospel message. Gospel preaching must pinpoint the sin of man and let the hearers reflect upon their past and present behavior, including their thoughts and deeds, and eventually guide them to confess their sins from the bottom of the heart. This is the foremost condition of believing in Jesus. Only after people confess that they are sinners would they be allowed to receive baptism from John.
We have seen a lot of so-called preliminary or preparatory work for gospel ministry nowadays, such as clinical service, educational support, fund-raising or other social service for the poor and needy, etc. All of these are social work to aid the public or the lower class of people with their basic needs. By helping them and caring for their needs, we express to them the love of Christ. This is referred to as “social gospel”. The Bible also teaches us to take care of the poor and the needy, since God is a merciful God. However, we must not neglect the main substance of the gospel preliminary work—preparing people’s heart to accept Christ, which is precisely the main job of John (“Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”, v3). How to prepare people’s heart? The key step prior to leading people to accept Christ is to make them aware of their personal sins or their sinful nature. We need to help them acknowledge the fact that they are sinners. We need to help them create a penitent heart to repent of their sins. They need to confess their sins (v5) before accepting Christ, since Christ is the only one who can forgive their sins. If they don’t feel the need to have their sins forgiven, how would they have the need to accept Christ as their personal savior? Or they might be suspected to have the wrong motive for accepting Christ. No wonder when John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to request him for baptism, he rebuked them harshly, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance (你們要結出果子來，與悔改的心相稱).” (Mt 3:7-8)
(the meaning of sin)
Many are those who don’t understand what ‘sin’ means according to the Bible. They only think that a sinner is one who commits unlawful acts in the society. If we do not explain clearly the definition of sin according to the Bible, we simply cannot lead them to Christ correctly. Many people do not feel that they are sinners because they have not committed any major crimes. This is a common feeling for all mankind. Even the religious leaders in Jesus’ time who thought they have faithfully obeyed the law of Moses denied that they were sinners before God! However, according to the Bible, any human thought or behavior that cannot reach God’s standard (or righteousness) is regarded as sin. Jesus in his “sermon on the mount” has elaborated God’s meaning of sin with some concrete examples, such as linking the sin of killing to “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause” and linking the sin of adultery to “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart”. (Mt 5:21-22, 27) What he means is that even before you have acted out the sin, your sinful mind or thought is already considered a very serious sinful act. No wonder Psalm 53:2-3 says, “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back; they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” It says that no one pursues God’s righteousness. Even if they do, they are unable to meet the requirement of God’s righteousness. The reason behind it is that since the first man Adam has committed sin, the sinful nature of man lies in every one of us. We cannot attain God’s righteousness by our deeds. Therefore, God has destined to send his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to bear our sins so as to fulfill God’s righteousness. This is the core value of the gospel.
So, the first step of believing Jesus is the recognition of sin. There is no compromise for it. In fact, many churches have set up basic courses for the truth-seekers to learn what sin is all about. Once they have a good understanding of sin and God’s salvation, they still need to be examined by the church ministers to ensure that they understand and confess their sins as defined in the Bible and express their genuine willingness of repentance. In the end, they have to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Only then will they be given permission to receive baptism.
(the simple life of the pioneer)
Mark 1:6 describes the life of John, “And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins (腰束皮帶); and he did eat locusts and wild honey.” (v6) John lived a simple and wild life, wearing camel’s hair clothing (not the precious animal skin wear for some gentlemen today) and eating locusts from the wilderness. Why would he choose to live such a simple life? In fact, he had his own house to live in. He could choose to wear and eat better like everyone else. But he gave up his rights and forsook the ordinary life style. He insisted on living a primitive life in the wilderness. He just ate whatever was found in the wilderness—locusts and wild honey. He preached near the river of Jordan to make it convenient for him to baptize people. (v5)
Why would he choose to live such a simple life? The answer is: he was very clear of God’s mission for him. His mission was to wait for Christ to appear and make him known before he stepped down (“to bear witness of the Light” Jn 1:7). He knew he was born for this mission. John himself witnessed for Christ: “and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel…he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, ‘Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him’…And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” (Jn 1:31-34) He knew that he had a special mission to fulfill. His mission was to be the pioneer of Jesus Christ, until the coming of the Messiah. Then he would pass on to him the ministry of preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. John 1:29 has such record, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John on the one hand baptized people who confessed their sins, and on the other hand guided people to Christ so that they would put their trust in Christ and be baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit, as he said of Christ’s ministry, “I indeed have baptized you with water; but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (v8). Only then would their sins be forgiven and become the children of God. John knew that his preaching life would not last long. Hence, he made the best use of each day available to urge people to repent from sins and baptize them with water.
(the humble attitude of the preacher)
Before Jesus appeared, John once had his glamorous moments: “And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.” (v5) He had the charisma to draw a multitude of Jews to hear him preaching the repentance of sins and to receive baptism. He even had authority to rebuke the hypocritical religious leaders—the Pharisees and Sadducees, who admired him so much and came to him for baptism. (Mt 3:7) People even guessed if he was the true Messiah: “And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not.” (Lk 3:15) That’s indeed the peak of his ministry!
Yet, John did not take pride in the glory of his ministry. He honestly denied himself: “Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.” (Jn 3:28) He announced to the public, “There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” (v7) This statement fully expressed his humility as he admitted that his ministry was nothing if compared with that of Christ. When Jesus approached John and asked John for baptism, John didn’t feel proud of himself. Instead, Matt 3:13 said, “But John forbade him (約翰想要攔住他), saying, ‘I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?’ ”
His humility was in sharp contrast with that of the religious leaders in his time. These haughty religious leaders deliberately raised their religious status and personal image in public. No wonder Jesus rebuked them for their hypocrisy: “But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries (將佩戴的經文做寬了), and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ ” (Mt 23:5-7) Their haughtiness was in no way comparable to John’s humility.
The “valley” of John’s ministry was his imprisonment, when he boldly criticized King Herod’s act of taking his brother’s wife as unlawful. (Mt 14:4) He was even executed by Herod as a political sacrifice. (Mt 14:10) Nevertheless, he gladly accepted the fate of his ministry. Prior to his imprisonment, he answered his disciples regarding Jesus’ baptizm:“He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice; this my joy therefore is fulfilled.” (Jn 3:29) He meant Jesus for the bridegroom and himself merely the friend of the bridegroom. His mission was to introduce Christ to everyone and let people aware that he was the true Messiah and their Savior. He never cared about his own fate. So long as he was able to reveal the identity and glory of the Son of God, he was satisfied with his ministry, even at the cost of his life. He knew very well what the goal of his ministry was—to honour Christ to the highest until he was brought low, as he firmly said lastly about his fate, “He must increase, but I must decrease (他必興旺，我必衰微).” (Jn 3:30). No wonder when John was still in prison, Jesus concluded John’s ministry with a highly honourable assessment. In Matt 11:9-11, he said, “A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet (他比先知大多了)…Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”
(reflection)
This passage mainly talks about the life and ministry of John the Baptist. This pioneer of the gospel lived a simple life. He cared not about his primitive lifestyle so long as his basic needs were met. Instead, he cared more for the special mission assigned him by God, desiring to finish it within the limited time.
Today, we care far more about our standard of living. Most of us invest so much time and effort throughout our entire life just to attempt to improve our so-called “quality” of life. We should feel ashamed by the simple life of John. Even the lifestyle of today’s church ministers, be simple as it may, differs sharply from the kind of lowliness that featured that of John.
John’s simple life teaches us that we should put more of our attention on the heavenly matters, not on the worldly well-being, more on God’s mission for us and less on our fleshly desire. On the one hand, we should learn to be content like John and be satisfied with seeing our basic needs addressed. On the other hand, we should not be easily satisfied with our spiritual life but keep pursuing its growth. Hebrews 6:1 teaches us, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection (我們應該離開基督道理的開端，竭力進到完全的地步).” As the quality of our spiritual life improves, we are rest assured to gain more satisfaction and enjoy a more blessed life, as our Lord promised, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (並且得的更豐盛).” (Jn 10:10) This is the real quality of life that we should strive to improve!
As for the attitude of the pioneer in his preaching service, on the one hand, we see that he boldly rebuked the religious leaders and the king Herod for their fault. On the other hand, he humbled himself before Christ until his death. We should learn the humility of John, especially when we serve in church. We should not attempt to raise our status like the Pharisees in order to win the applause of others. Paul teaches us, “in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves (要存心謙卑，各人看別人比自己強).” (Phil 2:3) We should strive to gain the praise of our Lord rather than the praise of man.
Today, some preachers in this world, once becoming famous, will keep the fame to themselves. While they are leading more people to Christ, their fame and popularity are even greater than Christ’s. They are stealing Christ’s honour indeed. A humble minister, while working fervently to draw as many people to Christ as possible, merely thinks of lowering himself but lifting up Christ in every stage.
Jesus teaches the disciples what a true minister of God is—he is no better than a servant: “whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister (用人). And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45) Jesus himself also did the same in his own ministry, lifting up the Father who sent him while denying himself. In his personal prayer to the Father, he said, “I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” (John 17:4) Our Lord Jesus humbly finished his mission on earth by sacrificing his own life for our salvation, as said in Phil 2:8, “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” He himself, like John, has set up an example of being a humble servant for us.
In brief, we should learn to possess John’s spirit of sacrifice and turn people to Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Under all circumstances, we should keep the spirit of “he must increase, but I must decrease (他必興旺，我必衰微)” (Jn 3:30) to carry out the great mission of being the pioneer of Jesus Christ and seek to glorify Jesus in our lives. At the end of our life, when our performance is assessed by the Lord, we shall receive high credit from him. Are you ready to be the pioneer of Jesus Christ?