If I was to describe Superman as “the story of a man who wears his underpants over his trousers”, or Batman as “a man who dresses up as a bat”, what would you think?
Well, the descriptions are right, but totally miss the point! Superman is the Man of Steel, Defender of Justice. He can fly, burn lasers out of his eyes, stop a speeding bullet – and he uses these powers for good, standing against evil and injustice. Batman also fights for honour and justice using fear against criminals and others who use fear to make people do the wrong thing. In a corrupt world, Batman is a symbol of hope.
Likewise, we could describe Christianity as being about us. About God fulfilling our deepest longings. Even about getting salvation and heaven. Those are all good things but none of them are what Christianity (the Gospel) is about.
Let’s turn in our Bibles to Mark 1:1 and read what it says.
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
1. The gospel is primarily about Jesus.
Look again at verse 1. The gospel (which means “important good news”) of Jesus. It is news of or about Jesus.
Firstly, the gospel is about Jesus. It is not about us. It is not about our family connection, or about which country we come from, or about our church, or about our religious performance. Christianity is not about any of these things. It is about Jesus.
It is not a religious ritual, or a collection of laws to follow. It is not about friendships, or social work, or counselling, or looking after old people, or looking after poor people, or about being kind, or nice, or polite, or working hard, or attending church meetings.
It is about Jesus. The gospel of Jesus. It is about a relationship with the living God. If you are a Christian without Jesus, then you are not a Christian. And we’re not free to make Jesus into whatever we want – like he’s an empty jar we can fill with our own ideas – a design-your-own Jesus. No. He’s very clearly defined for us, both in verse 1 and throughout the gospel of Mark. He is:
Jesus of Nazareth, the man, son of Mary and Joseph.
Christ, the promised saviour of Israel, the great prophet, warrior, King who would restore Israel to glory, and fulfil the Abrahamic covenant by blessing all nations. In the prophet Isaiah we also find that this great warrior King is called the Suffering Servant: a man of sorrows who bears the sins of the world. It is indeed significant that Mark quotes from Isaiah 40:3 which is at the beginning of the section in Isaiah (ch 40-55) dealing with God restoring Israel after 40 chapters of judgement and gloom. Who is the great rescuer in 40-55? The Suffering Servant – the chosen one of God who deals with the problem of sin. And what does Jesus do? Deals with sin by bearing it upon the cross.
Son of God, this is a title given first to Israel, then to the king of Israel as Israel’s representative. Jesus is the Son of God, that is, the King of God’s Chosen People. But, as we quickly see, he is not just the Son of God (Israel’s representative) but also God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity. God is one God, in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We see this dynamic at play in his baptism.He is baptised, first as a representative of God’s people, the elect he will save through his death on the cross – but the words of God from heaven are deeply personal “my Son, whom I love”. There is an extreme closeness here – and in chapter 2 when we see Jesus acting as the creator God, forgiving sin, ruling supremely over creation, casting out demons, we understand why: he is divine, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son.
There’s a movie called “Kick-Ass” about a teenager who decides he wants to be a superhero. He gets a costume, dresses up like a superhero, and goes out to fight crime! Yes! But, unfortunately, he is no superhero. And his first encounter goes horribly wrong, and unlike the superheroes, Kick Ass ends up in hospital with major injuries. Pretending you are the hero, does not make you the hero.
We are not the superhero in our story. We are not the superhero in Christianity. We are not the superhero in the world. Jesus is the superhero of Christianity, of the world, of our lives, not us. Jesus is the hero in every situation, every relationship, every word spoken, every action done – he is both the hero and ruler of all.
2. The gospel is based on Jesus
It is the gospel of Jesus, which means it belongs to or finds its root in Him. (εκ pronounced: ek a primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence action or motion proceeds), from, out (of place, time, or cause). Jesus is both the content and the origin of the good news of Christianity.
Christianity is based on the work of Christ. Not us. If we are Christians, we are Christian because of his work, not our own. If you think you are a Christian today because of your own efforts – or even that you contributed towards it, then you are sorely mistaken. This is not the gospel of Jesus Christ and Daniel Garratt. No, it is gospel of Jesus. Unless, of course, you have found a way to live a perfect, sin-free life, to fulfil every word from the mouth of God the Father, to load up upon your back the sins of every elect person from all of time and space, and bear that on the cross, to the grave and back out again. When you have descended to hell and defeated death and destroyed Satan’s power, and raised yourself back to life again in accordance with your own words – then, then you can claim some part in your salvation!
Until that time, marvel with me at the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Be awed by the love that beats at the heart of the universe – a love that is stronger than law-keeping, a love that is more costly than the wishy-washy God who just loves everyone but it costs him nothing. No, this is the holy, eternal, incredible, OTHER God – who enters our world of rebellion and hatred of him and conquers it with love at supreme cost – his own life. Praise to our God eternal, invisible, immortal, the God upon the Cross! Amen!
As we move through Mark’s gospel we will see that only Jesus could rescue us. Only he, the God-Man could do what is impossible for men, but possible for God: rescue the souls of rebellious men and women from eternal destruction.
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’
Only Jesus, the Lord (Kyrios (Greek) or Shaddai (Hebrew)) meaning Mighty Ruler, or in the context of Isaiah, God the Ruler; only Jesus, who here Mark is saying is God Himself, can do this. The gospel is sure because of what it is based on: the unshakeable work of Jesus, and his matchless grace. This is why it is GOOD news: we do not become a Christian, nor do we remain Christians by our own efforts. It is all God’s effort, all his mercy, and therefore all his glory.
But what joy! What matchless joy that we cannot save ourselves. For if we were capable of doing what is right, then we would have to do it, then we would struggle and strain, never sure of our salvation, never sure if we’d done enough. But that is not Christianity. That is Islam. Or Bhuddism. Or Hiduism. Or African Traditional Religions. Or New Age. Or Atheism. Wherever your efforts become the means for salvation or living a better live, or attaining a better plane of existence. Every other religion or world philosophy says “do, do, do” – with no assurance of arrival. Only Jesus says “It is finished”.
Who here likes going to the beach? Who likes building sandcastles? How strong are those sandcastles? Not very, they’re built of sand, on sand! What about a sandcastle carved out of rock? Do you think you could knock that down?
Building our lives on our own righteousness, our own ideas, on what we can do is like building sandcastles. Only Jesus builds from immovable imperishable stone. You cannot destroy what he builds.
3. So, where do I fit in?
Have a look at verses 2-3. It is attributed to Isaiah, but is a composite quote i.e. two quotes stuck together. Since both (Malachi 3:1 (Lord will suddenly appear in his Temple) and Isaiah 40:3 (40-55 restoration of Israel after Judgement)) and are fundamentally concerned with the purity of Jerusalem and the temple, Mark’s climactic confrontation in Jerusalem is hardly unexpected. Indeed, the references to Malachi’s and Exodus’s messenger (1:2) and Isaiah’s rent heavens (1:10) intimate an element of threat should an unrepentant nation be unprepared for Yahweh’s coming.
John was sent in order to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. And what was that preparation? Look at verse 4: proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They needed to publicly admit that they were sinners, in need of forgiveness. John could only baptize with water, but Jesus was coming.
As Luther famously said (to paraphrase) “performing righteous acts in order to become righteous is like washing a pig expecting it to turn into a lamb. However much you wash a pig, it’s still a pig.”
Doing right things, attending church, being good – none of this will help you. You are washing the pig. Your heart is still a pig.
Only Jesus can transform the pig into a lamb.
Let me end with an story about my favourite boy in the whole world, Kaleb. While I was away in England, one day Kaleb had been having a bad day, and was being an absolute terror. A battle had been raging for four hours, with him throwing things, being rude, saying he "hated" Debby, etc.. In exhaustion she went up to our bedroom and prayed "Lord, I don't know what to do. Nothing can make him obey. Please would you change his heart. Amen".
15 minutes later a small face appeared at the door and said "Mummy, Jesus has changed my heart. I'm very sorry Mummy."
She was absolutely flabbergasted - what an answer to prayer!
And he proceeded to be the nicest, kindest, most obedient boy you've ever met for the rest of the day.
We are all like Kaleb – we need Jesus to change our hearts. And thankfully, the gospel is about exactly that. It’s not about us, having to change our own hearts – it’s about JESUS who paid the price so that our hearts can be transformed from stone to hearts of flesh - alive to the living God, forgiven, free. Praise God.
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