[

Date:   06/02/05

Text:   Mark 1:1-11

Title:   Who Is This Man?

Theme: Jesus is the promised Messiah that came into our world.

Introduction:

  Some of you may have read or heard of Dan Brown's book “Da Vinci Code”. Even though it is a fiction, yet some how we are treating it as an investigative report. The underlying plot is: who is Jesus?

  2000 years ago, the people in Judea were asking similar questions. What is this, a new teaching with authority (1:27); Why does he talk like this (2:7)? Who is this, even the wind and the waves listen to him? (4:42) Why did this man get these things (6:2)?

By what authority do you do these things (11:28)? Then it dawned on the centurion, who said, “Surely this must be the son of God.”

  Then and now, we ask: who is this man? Who is Jesus? Then and now, we want an answer that we are comfortable with. We want a Jesus that fits into our mold. A Jesus that is accepting and also tolerant of whatever we do. He is a great religious teacher and leader as long as he is not exclusive. He is loving and kind, as long as not demanding. We want a Jesus made in our own image.

  Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark was a disciple of Jesus. He was with Jesus during his three years of public ministry. About 30 years after Jesus' death, he wrote this gospel to show the world who Jesus is. This is also a book about Jesus' expectation of those who follow him. As we study this book, let us be prepared to meet a Jesus that we never knew before.

I.   Jesus is the fulfillment of OT prophecy.

  Vs.1, “ 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” vs. 1-11 is the prologue of this gospel. At the very beginning of the book, Mark tells us that Jesus is Christ, (meaning Messiah ) , the son of God. He is God. Please note that only the reader of this book, including you and I know this. The characters in this book do not have this information. This is the reason when we read on, we become impatient with the crowd, and especially with the disciples at their slow understanding of Jesus' identity. Therefore , it is important that as we study this gospel, we are to bear in mind that the characters in this book have no prior knowledge of who Jesus is.

  Vs.2,3, “ 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “ Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,' ” This is actually a combination of verses in Exodus, Malachi and Isaiah. Every beginning has a cause. Jesus did not show up out of nowhere. In this passage, we learn that God is the sender. Jesus, the Messiah , is the one being sent. John the Baptist is the messenger being sent before the Messiah.

  450 years before Jesus' birth, it was prophesied in the OT that he will come into the world. To be exact, soon after Adam and Eve's disobedience, the coming of a very special person was hinted. And as we travel through the OT history, it became clearer and clearer that this special person is the Messiah, the son of God.

  So at the beginning of his book, Mark wrote that Jesus is the Messiah that was prophesized in the OT. He is the fulfillment of the OT. He is the son of God. He is God. From this we learn that:

1.   God 's plan requires patience.

  It was 450 years after Isaiah's prophecy, that Jesus came. Isaiah did not see the fulfillment of this prophecy. People of his day did not see the fulfillment of this prophecy. It was a very long wait.

  This is very foreign to our culture. We want instant gratification. We are told to have fun now, pay later. You have seen this commercial: Dinner - $30.00; Two movies tickets - $20.00; Ice Cream- $10.00;   Spending time with family members- PRICELESS. There are some things in life that money can't buy. For everything else there is MasterCard. Our culture tells us: Get it now, pay later.

This is very different from the way God works. God's timing is different from ours. Sometimes we feel that we have been in the dark for a very long time. We still haven't seen the light. We want to know what God's plan is for our future. We're impatient, we can't wait and we become anxious. We want to know it now. We want to start this program now; we want an English minister now, we want a children minister now. But you know what? Even before we knew we had a need, God started 30 years ago, quietly preparing some one for this particular situation. This is the reason patience is such an important quality in our spiritual journey.

2.   Jesus came with his way.

  “ 2 ………“ Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, ……. ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,' ” It is about the way of the Messiah. The work of the Messiah on earth is described by the ‘way'; the ‘path'. The text also suggests that his way is not a 4 - lane paved highway, instead , it is rugged and needs to be prepared. As the story in Mark unfolds, we see that Jesus' way does not lead to that romantic manger with the infant lying there. Instead, this way leads to wilderness, misunderstanding, rejection, wrongful accusation, injustice, death and resurrection. For those that walk in this way, one's priority is to do God's will and not what benefits me or makes me feel good. In this way, one is to love his enemy ; put ting away, put ting to death thoughts and behavior that are not compatible with God's love, mercy, holiness and justice. The Messiah He h h as come with His way. His way It is different from our expectations. But this is the way we are to walk in if we are to follow Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God.

II.   Jesus is the one announced by John the Baptist.

  In vs.2 and 3 we also learn that John is the one being sent to go before the Messiah. John did not come out of nowhere. He came as a fulfillment of the OT prophecy. Mark did not tell us much about the content of John's message. We are simply told that many came to him to be baptized in the river Jordan . It was a baptism of repentance of sin. For this reason, he was called John the Baptizer, or John the Baptist. The focus here is not on John but on Jesus.

  Let's take a look at what John said. Vs.7,8, ‘ 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”'

  First he referred to Jesus as someone more powerful than he was. There is an ironic twist in this statement. As the story of John unfolds in this gospel, John the powerful one, died young. It was also a tragic death. King Herod cut off John's head in order to please his wife. And then later; the one mightier than he died on the cross.

  Secondly, John said that he was not worthy to untie Jesus' sandals. In those days, a disciple will do all the work of a servant except untying the sandals. The job of untying the sandal was the work of a servant or slave. John said he was not even worthy to do that. Standing before Jesus, he was lower than a slave.

  Thirdly, John said that Jesus would come and baptize people with the Holy Spirit. To be baptized with the Holy Spirit refers to the inner cleansing and transformation of life. To baptize with water is easy, but to bring about an inner change requires the work of someone mightier than John.

  What do we learn from John? He is the humble messenger. Fedex FedEx is a messenger. It's only objective is to bring your package to your destination at your time. As a messenger, John's main and only responsibility wa s to deliver the message, Jesus Christ. In John's words, He, that is Jesus, must increase, I, John, must decrease. This is a humble messenger. He is not the focus. The focus is Jesus Christ. It is like that Sergeant-at-arm on Wednesday's State of the Union Speech. At the right time, he opened the door and announced, “Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States .” We don't pay attention to him, we don't even know his name. This doesn't matter; what is important is the president that he introduced.

  You and I are also messengers. We don't make ourselves the center of attention. As messengers, our primary responsibility is to point others to the message, Jesus Christ. I think of some highly effective messengers, because of their pride, temper and lack of self-control, have caused many to turn away from the message. I constantly remind myself and those in the ministry, “We have a precious and noble message, don't let our personalities, preferences and pride overshadow it”. We are the humble messengers. He must increase, we must decrease.

III.   Jesus is the one approved by the Trinitarian God.

  Vs.9-11, “ 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan . 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Again, Mark did not go into the detail ed conversation between John and Jesus about baptism. He simpl y wrote that Jesus came to John and was baptized by him. The more powerful one condescended to the less powerful one. This foretells his humility.

1.   Heaven ripped open.

  “ 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening….” In the original language, the word opening means ripped open. Once it is ripped open, it cannot be closed again. The other time we see this word is s when Jesus was on the cross. The curtain in the temple ripped open from top to bottom; meaning Jesus was indeed from heaven. On that cross, it showed that God has taken the initiative to come into the world to reconcile his people to him. Here, the heaven ripped open; pointing to the fact that Jesus and his way is from heaven. It is not a human way, but a way from heaven.

2.   The affirmation of the Trinitarian God.

  “….. and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Here we see the meeting of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The sender, Father is here. The one being sent, Jesus is here. And now the Holy Spirit, the enabler is present. This further affirms that this Jesus, is no other than the son of God, and he is God. The prologue begins with …Jesus Christ, the son of God. It ends with, “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”

  Just two weeks ago, this nation witnessed the inauguration of President Bush to another term in office. He was sworn in before his wife and children, family members and former presidents. It was a joyous occasion.

This is what is happening here. As the Son begins his ministry; God the father, and God the Holy Spirit are there to witness and affirm him. At this moment we see the presence of the Trinitarian God. It is a solemn and joyous occasion. This is God's way of saying that this path of the Messiah is the right Way. It is the only Way that will lead God's children back to the Heavenly Father.

Conclusion:

  Who is this man? Who is Jesus? Is he a human as described just like us as suggested in the Da Vinci Code? The Jesus whom Mark portrays is the promised Messiah, the son of God, he is God. He came into the world with his way. This way is from God. This is the right way, the correct and the only way that will lead people to God. This way is not easy; it is the way of the cross; death and resurrection. Later, Jesus himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to my father except through me.” You see, he has come with his way. He has not come to bless our way, to make sure our way is smooth, instead, he has come to take us to walk in his way, his path.

  Many had come to John to be baptized. However, among them, many of them later on also refused to follow Jesus and traveled his way. How about us? You see, he has come with his way. He has not come to bless our way, to make sure our way is smooth, instead, he has come to take you to walk in his way, his path.

   Frank Sinatra is known for the song, “My Way.” “ I planned each charted course - Each careful step along the byway, And more, much more than this, I did it my way…..To think I did all that, And may I say, not in a shy way - Oh no. Oh no, not me. I did it my way….yes, it was my way.”

This is just the opposite of a follower of Jesus Christ. We don't do it our way. We walk in his path, travel his way. To some it means we are to be more disciplined in our reading of his word and talking to him. To other s , walk ing in his way means to be better stewards of our financial resources. Instead of hoarding money for ourselves, we are to learn to give 1/10 to God. It also means that we are not to expect others to cater to us, to meet our needs. Instead, we are to change ourselves to meet others' needs. This is not an easy way, but this is the only way that will lead us to our heavenly father. We don't live our lives our way; it is his way.

Content Here]