Sermon and Worship Resources

Mark 1:1-8 · John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way" -- 3 "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' " 4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Blazing a Path to Christ
Mark 1:1-8

Sermon
by Richard Gribble

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." When we were children we were taught this little rhyme as a way to remember one of the most momentous events in modern history. Columbus was a trailblazer who dared to believe that it was possible to reach the East Indies by sailing west across a vast uncharted ocean. By its very nature the voyage was dangerous and the sailors who braved the challenge were filled with fear. People are instinctively afraid of what they do not know. Yet, even with the odds stacked against him, Columbus sailed with his flotilla of three ships. His eventual discovery of the New World blazed a path that many have followed. He was the first in a long and distinguished line of adventurers who made the Age of Discovery so critical to world history. Without Columbus it may…

CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons On The Gospel Readings: Sermons for Sundays in Advent, Christmas, And Epiphany, New Beginnings in Christ, by Richard Gribble

Overview and Insights · Mark · Following Jesus, The Suffering Son of God

Jesus, the Suffering Son of God, Prepares for Public Ministry (1:1–8): Unlike Matthew and Luke, which begin with Jesus’s birth, the Gospel of Mark jumps right to the public ministry of Jesus. The good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begins with the ministry of John the Baptizer followed by the baptism and temptation of Jesus.

Mark’s opening line, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” tells us what to expect from the whole book: “good news.” Specifically the news will feature Jesus, the “Christ” or Messiah (8:29; 9:41; 12:35; 13:21; 14:61; 15:32). He is the much-anticipated king and ruler sent by God …

The Baker Bible Handbook by J. Daniel Hays, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Mark 1:1-8 · John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Commentary · Preparation for Ministry

The first verse of Mark summarizes the content of the Gospel and functions as its de facto title. The opening word, “Beginning,” recalls the opening word of Genesis (so too the book of Hosea and Gospel of John), implying that in the gospel of Jesus Christ a new creation is at hand. “Beginning” should probably be understood not as the first of several things in a sequence but rather first in terms of “source” or “essence.” Mark’s Gospel thus intends to set forth the essence of God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ. The word “gospel” does not mean a book but rather the story of salvation in Jesus. The Greek word for “gospel” means “good news.” Several verses in the Greek Old Testament use the term in this sense (1 Sam. 31:9; 2 Sam. 1:20; 1 Chron. 10:9), and even in the Greco-Roman world th…

The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary by Gary M. Burge, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Dictionary

Direct Matches

Baptism

The immediate precursor of Christian baptism was the baptism of John the Baptist (Mark 1:4 pars.), a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, preparing the hearts of the people for the coming Messiah. But when Jesus himself was baptized by John to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt…

Camel

A large four-footed mammal that has been used by humans as a pack animal and for transportation since at least the second millennium BC. The camel found its greatest use in caravans, groups of traders that crossed deserts with goods in order to sell them in foreign markets.…

Christ

The founder of what became known as the movement of Jesus followers or Christianity. For Christian believers, Jesus Christ embodies the personal and supernatural intervention of God in human history.

Birth and childhood. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great (Matt. 2:1; Luke 2:4, 11). Jesus was probably born between 6 and 4 BC, shortly before Herod’s death (Matt. 2:19). Both Matthew and Luke record the miracle of a virginal conception made possible by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35). Luke mentions a census under the Syrian governor Quirinius that was responsible for Jesus’ birth taking place in Bethlehem (2:1 5). Both the census and the governorship at the time of the birth of Jesus have been questioned by scholars. Unf…

Desert

A broad designation for certain regions in Israel, typically rocky, although also plains, with little rainfall. These areas generally are uninhabited, and most often “wilderness” refers to specific regions surrounding inhabited Israel. A fair amount of Scripture’s focus with respect to the wilderness concerns Israel’s forty-year period of wandering in the wilderness after the exodus (see also Wilderness Wandering).

More specifically, the geographical locations designated “wilderness” fall into four basic categories: the Negev (south), Transjordan (east), Judean (eastern slope of Judean mountains), and Sinai (southwest).

The Negev makes up a fair amount of Israel’s southern kingdom, Judah. It is very rocky and also includes plateaus and wadis, which are dry riverbeds that can bloom after …

Forgiveness

Biblically speaking, to forgive is less about changing feelings (emotions) and more about an actual restoration of a relationship. It is about making a wrong right, a process that usually is both costly and painful. To capture the biblical sense, the English word “pardon” may prove more helpful.

Forgiveness expresses the character of the merciful God, who eagerly pardons sinners who confess their sins, repent of their transgressions, and express this through proper actions. Forgiveness is never a matter of a human right; it is exclusively a gracious expression of God’s loving care. Human need for forgiveness stems from actions arising from their fallen nature. These actions (or nonactions), whether done deliberately or coincidentally, destroy people’s relationship with God and can be resto…

Good News

The English word “gospel” translates the Greek word euangelion, which is very important in the NT, being used seventy-six times. The word euangelion (eu = “good,” angelion = “announcement”), in its contemporary use in the Hellenistic world, was not the title of a book but rather a declaration of …

Holy

Holiness is an attribute of God and of all that is fit for association with him. God alone is intrinsically holy (Rev. 15:4). God the Father is holy (John 17:11), as is the Son (Acts 3:14), while “Holy” is the characteristic designation of God’s Spirit (Ps. 51:11; Matt. 1:18). God’s name is holy (Luke 1:49), as are his arm (Ps. 98:1), ways (Ps. 77:13), and words (Ps. 105:42).

With reference to God himself, holiness may indicate something like his uniqueness, and it is associated with attributes such as his glory (Isa. 6:3), righteousness (Isa. 5:16), and jealousy—that is, his proper concern for his reputation (Josh. 24:19).

God’s dwelling place is in heaven (Ps. 20:6), and “holy” functions in some contexts as a virtual equivalent for heavenly (11:4). God’s throne is holy (47:8), and the an…

Holy Ghost

For Christians, God is the creator of the cosmos and the redeemer of humanity. He has revealed himself in historical acts—namely, in creation, in the history of Israel, and especially in the person and work of Jesus Christ. There is only one God (Deut. 6:4); “there is no other” (Isa. 45:5). Because “God is spirit” (John 4:24), he must reveal himself through various images and metaphors.

The OT refers to God by many names. One of the general terms used for God, ’el (which probably means “ultimate supremacy”), often appears in a compound form with a qualifying word, as in ’el ’elyon (“God Most High”), ’el shadday (“God Almighty”), and ’el ro’i (“the God who sees me” or “God of my seeing”). These descriptive names reveal important attributes of God and usually were derived from the personal e…

Isaiah

The first of the Major Prophets in the canon, the book of Isaiah is one of the longest books in the Bible. This, coupled with the NT’s frequent use of Isaiah, has contributed to the book’s great importance in Christian tradition. Isaiah contains some of the most memorable passages in Scripture, with its majestic poetry and evocative sermons making it a literary masterpiece.

The authorship of Isaiah has been one of the most debated issues in biblical interpretation. Ancient tradition credited the eighth-century BC prophet Isaiah with the entire sixty-six chapters. However, an early Jewish tradition in the Talmud claims that “the men of Hezekiah” compiled Isaiah, showing their awareness that the book did not come entirely from Isaiah. Most scholars today, including many evangelical scholars,…

Jerusalem

The central city and capital of ancient Israel. Throughout its history, the city has also been referred to variously as Zion, Jebus, Mount Moriah, and the City of David.

The name “Jerusalem” occurs more than 650 times in the OT, particularly in the history of Israel, and in the NT more than 140 times. The OT prophets used the city as a symbol of God’s dealing with his people and his plan. Jerusalem is viewed collectively as God’s abode, his chosen place, and his sovereignty, while its destruction is also representative of God’s judgment on apostasy among his people (e.g., Jer. 7:1 15; 26:18–19; Mic. 3:12). The rebuilding of the city represents the hope and grace of God (e.g…

John

A common name in first-century Judaism. The Greek name Iōannēs comes from the Hebrew name “Yohanan.” (1) The Baptist or Baptizer, he was the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth. (See John the Baptist.) (2) The son of Zebedee, he was an apostle originally belonging to the inner circle of the twelve main disciples of Jesus. (See John the Apostle.) (3) John Mark, a cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4:10) and the son…

Jordan River

Eden’s rivers. Genesis 2:10 14 describes the garden in Eden as the source of an unnamed river that subsequently divided into four “headwaters”: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. This description defies any attempt to locate the purported site of Eden in terms of historical geography. The Tigris and the Euphrates do not diverge from a common source, but instead converge before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Moreover, the Gihon, if it is to be identified with the sacred spring of the same name in Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:45), is several hundred miles away from the Tigris and the Euphrates. The Pishon is otherwise unknown. If, as various commentators since antiquity have suggested, the Gihon and the Pishon are to be identified with other great rivers in the same class of impo…

Land

Israel shared the cosmology of its ancient Near Eastern neighbors. This worldview understood the earth as a “disk” upon the primeval waters (Job 38:13; Isa. 40:22), with the earth having four rims or “corners” (Ps. 135:7; Isa. 11:12). These rims were sealed at the horizon to prevent the influx of cosmic waters. God speaks to Job about the dawn grasping the edges of the earth and shaking the evil people out of it (Job 38:12 13).

Israel’s promised land was built on the sanctuary prototype of Eden (Gen. 13:10; Deut. 6:3; 31:20); both were defined by divine blessing, fertility, legal instruction, secure boundaries, and were orienting points for the world. Canaan was Israel’s new p…

Prophets

A prophet is a messenger of God, a person to whom God entrusts his message to an individual or to a nation. Indeed, the last book in the OT is named “Malachi,” which means “my messenger.” Isaiah heard God ask, “Whom shall I send?” and he cried out, “Send me!” (Isa. 6:8). A good template for understanding the phenomenon is Moses and Aaron. Moses was to tell Aaron what to say, and Aaron would say it. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet’” (Exod. 7:1).

In the NT period there were a number of prophets. John the Baptist could point to Jesus and proclaim him to be the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Agabus the prophet predicted a famine and, later, Paul’s arrest (Acts 11:28; 21:10 11).…

Remission

A word used in the KJV to describe the removal of the guilt or penalty of …

Repentance

The act of repudiating sin and returning to God. Implicit in this is sorrow over the evil that one has co…

Son of God

Spirit

In the world of the Bible, a person was viewed as a unity of being with the pervading breath and thus imprint of the loving and holy God. The divine-human relationship consequently is portrayed in the Bible as predominantly spiritual in nature. God is spirit, and humankind may communicate with him in the spiritual realm. The ancients believed in an invisible world of spirits that held most, if not all, reasons for natural events and human actions in the visible world.

The OT writers used the common Hebrew word ruakh (“wind” or “breath”) to describe force and even life from the God of the universe. In its most revealing first instance, God’s ruakh hovered above the waters of the uncreated world (Gen. 1:2). In the next chapter of Genesis a companion word, neshamah (“breath”), is used as God …

Water

Water is mentioned extensively in the Bible due to its prevalence in creation and its association with life and purity. The cosmic waters of Gen. 1 are held back by the sky (Gen. 1:6 7; cf. Pss. 104:6, 13; 148:4). God is enthroned on these waters in his cosmic temple (Pss. 29:10; 104:3, 13; cf. Gen. 1:2; Ps. 78:69; Isa. 66:1). These same waters were released in the time of Noah (Gen. 7:10–12; Ps. 104:7–9).

Water is also an agent of life and fertility and is therefore associated with the presence of God. Both God himself and his temple are described as the source of life-giving water (Jer. 2:13; 17:13; Joel 3:18; cf. Isa. 12:2–3). Ezekiel envisions this water flowing from beneath the temple and streaming down into the Dead Sea, where it brings life and fecundity (Ezek. 47:1–12; cf. Zech. 14…

Direct Matches

Baptism

The initiatory ritual of Christianity. This rite is of great significance in connecting the individual both to Christ and to the greater community of believers. Baptism carries an equal measure of symbolism and tradition, evoking a connection between OT covenantal circumcision and ritual cleansing and NT regeneration and redemption. It is the visible response to the gospel, reflecting the internal response to the gospel: the climactic moment in the journey of reconciliation of the believer with God.

The word “baptism” (Gk. baptisma) carries with it the sense of washing by dipping (Gk. baptizō); the word can also carry the sense of being overtaken or subsumed, or of joining or entering into a new way of life. In either sense, a distinct change in the recipient is envisioned. Through bapti…

Baptism in the Spirit

The outpouring of the Spirit that was prophesied in the OT to take place in the last days, in connection with the arrival of the Messiah.

Spirit baptism in the Bible. The OT prophets had spoken of both the Spirit of God coming upon the Messiah (e.g., Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1) and a giving or pouring out of the Spirit in the last days (e.g., Isa. 32:15; 44:3; Ezek. 36:27; 37:14; 39:29; Joel 2:28). Peter connects the giving of the Spirit with Jesus’ being received by the Father and being granted messianic authority (Acts 2:33–38). The experience of Cornelius in particular associates the pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 10:45) with a baptism with the Spirit (11:16).

Seven passages in the NT directly speak of someone being baptized in/with the Spirit. Four of these passages refer to John the Ba…

Baptism with the Spirit

The outpouring of the Spirit that was prophesied in the OT to take place in the last days, in connection with the arrival of the Messiah.

Seven passages in the NT directly speak of someone being baptized in/with the Spirit. Four of these passages refer to John the Ba…

Belt

Clothing serves not only the utilitarian function of protecting the body from the elements (1 Tim. 6:8; James 2:15–16) but also a number of socially constructed functions, such as identifying the status of the wearer (James 2:2–3) and expressing cultural values such as modesty and beauty. The full range of such functions is attested in the Bible, and clothing plays a prominent symbolic role in a number of texts. Evidence concerning Israelite and other ancient clothing comes not only from the Bible but also from reliefs, pottery decorations, incised ivories, and, to a limited extent, textile fragments recovered in archaeological excavations.

In biblical lands most clothing was made from the wool of sheep or goats. More expensive articles (such as the garments of priests and aristocrats) co…

Camel's Hair

The thick coat of hair from a camel shed every spring, often used for weaving into a rough cloth. The camel was considered unclean t…

Clothed

In biblical lands most clothing was made from the wool of sheep or goats. More expensive articles (such as the garments of priests and aristocrats) co…

Clothes

In biblical lands most clothing was made from the wool of sheep or goats. More expensive articles (such as the garments of priests and aristocrats) co…

Clothing

In biblical lands most clothing was made from the wool of sheep or goats. More expensive articles (such as the garments of priests and aristocrats) co…

Desert

An arid environment challenging to life. Desert comprises about a third of the earth’s land surface, often overtaking verdant areas and squeezing human beings and animals into narrower oases. The deserts of the Bible—Negev, Sinai, Paran, and Zin—are part of the greater Saharo-Arabian desert system, the largest and driest in the world. Most of the land east (areas of present-day Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia) and south (Egypt) of Palestine is desert. However, the desert experience of most Israelites was not vast sands but rather arid environments that could otherwise flourish with sufficient water. In this regard, the biblical “wilderness” and “desert” semantically overlap, but they are not the same environments.

With average precipitation of ten inches or less, these regions typically have s…

John the Baptist

A Jewish prophet at the time of Jesus, he was the son of priestly parents (Zechariah and Elizabeth), executed by Herod Antipas, and identified as “John” (a common Jewish name), often with the title “the Baptist” or “the Baptizer,” the latter possibly being the older title.

Our primary sources on John the Baptist are the canonical Gospels, Josephus (Ant. 18.116–19), and Acts. Both Jewish and Christian sources note John’s message of the kingdom, call to baptism, and popularity. Josephus and the Gospels can speak of him without introduction. In the Gospels, only Jesus is a more prominent character. It is possible that the typical peasant was more familiar with John than with Jesus, at least until after Pentecost.

The Gospels, particularly Luke, parallel the stories of John and Jesus. Both …

Latchet

In the KJV “latchet” refers to the portion of a sandal that bound the walking surface t…

Leather

A material made from the skin of animals, leather was used for various articles, including belts (2 Kings 1:8) and sandals (Ezek. 16:10). Leviticus gives detailed instructions on how to deal with contaminated leather articles and textiles (Lev. 13:48–59). John the Baptist’s leather belt and garment of camel’s hair recalled Elijah’s style of dress (Matt. …

Locust

A swarming insect notorious for its devastating effects on vegetation. Ten different terms are employed to describe locusts, nine in the OT and one in the NT. Several passages in the OT employ multiple terms for locusts. Sometimes a clear distinction appears in the text between various species of locusts, though the distinctions are not always apparent in English, as is evidenced by the various translations of the terms (Lev. 11:22; Joel 1:4; 2:25). The various types of locusts have been described as grasshoppers, crickets, katydids, locusts, great locusts, young locusts, and other locusts. Some suggest that several of the Hebrew terms represent various stages in the life cycle of a locust. At other times, the use of multiple terms for locusts in the OT likely reflects Hebrew parallelism,…

Path

A track worn by footsteps (Gen. 49:17; Num. 22:32; Neh. 9:19; Mark 4:4), often distinguished from a wider, smoother road (Num. 22:24; 2 Sam. 22:37; Matt. 7:13–14). The Bible exhorts the reader toward the “path of life” (Ps. 16:11; Prov. 15:24) in contrast to the wa…

Remission

A word used in the KJV to describe the removal of the guilt or penalty of sin acquired through belief in Christ (Acts 10:43) and effected through his shed blood (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:22), bringing about salvation (Luke 1:77). Accompanied with repentance, baptism, either by John the Baptist (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3) or in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38), is done “for the remission of …

River

Rivers in Cosmology

Genesis 2:10–14 describes the garden in Eden as the source of an unnamed river that subsequently divided into four “headwaters”: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. This description defies any attempt to locate the purported site of Eden in terms of historical geography. The Tigris and the Euphrates do not diverge from a common source, but instead converge before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Moreover, the Gihon, if it is to be identified with the sacred spring of the same name in Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:45), is several hundred miles away from the Tigris and the Euphrates. The Pishon is otherwise unknown. If, as various commentators since antiquity have suggested, the Gihon and the Pishon are to be identified with other great rivers in the same cla…

Sandals

In ancient times, footwear generally was sandals, a flat sole constructed of leather, wood, or matted grass secured to the foot with leather straps. Soldiers and dignitaries had more-substantial foot coverings than common people had (cf. Eph. 6:15). Sandals were common and cheap; their quality and presence or absence were indicators of social status (Ezek. 16:10; Luke 15:22). Prisoners were unshod (2 Ch…

Shoe

Shoes

Son of God

In the OT, heavenly beings or angels are sometimes referred to as “sons of God” (Gen. 6:2; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Pss. 82:6; 89:6). The more important background for the NT, however, is the use of the term with reference to the nation Israel and the messianic king from David’s line. Israel was God’s son by virtue of God’s unique calling, deliverance, and protection. Hosea 11:1 reads, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” Similar references to God as the father of his people appear throughout the OT (Exod. 4:22; Num. 11:12; Deut. 14:1; 32:5, 19; Isa. 43:6; 45:11; Jer. 3:4, 19; 31:9, 20; Hos. 2:1). The king from the line of David is referred to as the son of God by virtue of his special relationship to God and his representative role among the people. In the…

Spirit Baptism

The outpouring of the Spirit that was prophesied in the OT to take place in the last days, in connection with the arrival of the Messiah.

Seven passages in the NT directly speak of someone being baptized in/with the Spirit. Four of these passages refer to John the Ba…

Water

Water is mentioned extensively in the Bible due to its prevalence in creation and its association with life and purity. The cosmic waters of Gen. 1 are held back by the sky (Gen. 1:6–7; cf. Pss. 104:6, 13; 148:4). God is enthroned on these waters in his cosmic temple (Pss. 29:10; 104:3, 13; cf. Gen. 1:2; Ps. 78:69; Isa. 66:1). These same waters were released in the time of Noah (Gen. 7:10–12; Ps. 104:7–9).

Wilderness

Geography

The Negev makes up a fair amount of Israel’s southern kingdom, Judah. It is very rocky and also includes plateaus and wadis, which are dry riverbeds that can …

Secondary Matches

The following suggestions occured because Mark 1:1-8 is mentioned in the definition.

Badger Skins

Book of Malachi

Malachi is one of the last prophetic voices in the OT. It is likely for this reason that it is the last of the twelve Minor Prophets, the last book in the entire OT, at least in the English order of books. In the Hebrew canon it concludes the second of three parts of the Hebrew Bible, the Nebiim, or Prophets.

Since the prophet comes from the period after the judgment of the exile, it is sad to see that he addresses the sin of the people and thus threatens further judgment. Intriguingly for the Christian, the book ends with the promise that Elijah will come before that great day of judgment, a promise that the NT authors see fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist, whose ministry comes as a prelude to the appearance of Jesus Christ (Matt. 3; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3; John 1:19–34).

Histori…

Crawling Things

The Bible is full of teeming creatures and swarming things. These creatures, insects, often play significant roles in the stories and the events described in them. From the first chapter of the Bible to the very last book, these flying, creeping, hopping, and crawling things are prominent.

Terms for Insects

Insects are described in the Bible with both general and specific terms. In the OT, there are three general terms for insects and twenty terms used to refer to specific types of insects. In the NT, two different types of insects are referenced: gnats and locusts.

The two most common general terms for insects are variously translated. Terms and phrases used to describe them include “living creatures” (Gen. 1:20), “creatures that move along the ground” (Gen. 1:24–26; 6:7, 20; 7:8, 14,…

Dress

In biblical lands most clothing was made from the wool of sheep or goats. More expensive articles (such as the garments of priests and aristocrats) co…

Filled With the Spirit

The outpouring of the Spirit that was prophesied in the OT to take place in the last days, in connection with the arrival of the Messiah.

Seven passages in the NT directly speak of someone being baptized in/with the Spirit. Four of these passages refer to John the Ba…

Forerunner

A soldier who goes ahead of the main army as a scout, or a herald who travels ahead of a political delegation to announce the arrival in a city of an important figure such as a king. In the apocryphal book Wisdom of Solomon, “forerunner” is used to describe ravaging wasps that God sends ahead of Israel’s army as it invades to conquer the promised land (Wis. 12:8).

The only instance of “forerunner” in the NT is Heb. 6:20. Here the word is used to describe Jesus Christ’s entrance into the heavenly holy of holies by virtue of his sacrificial de…

Garments

In biblical lands most clothing was made from the wool of sheep or goats. More expensive articles (such as the garments of priests and aristocrats) co…

Insects

Terms for Insects

Porpoise

Rivers and Waterways

Rivers in Cosmology

Sash

In biblical lands most clothing was made from the wool of sheep or goats. More expensive articles (such as the garments of priests and aristocrats) co…

Sea Cow

Synoptic Gospels

In NT studies, “Synoptic” refers to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which, due to their similarities, can be compared side by side (synoptic = seeing together). Although coined earlier, the term “Synoptic” did not become the commonly used reference to the first three Gospels until the nineteenth century.

Synoptical comparisons reveal texts that are similar in wording (e.g., Matt. 19:13–18 // Mark 10:13–16 // Luke 18:15–17), order (e.g., Matt. 12:46–13:58 // Mark 3:31–6:6a // Luke 8:19–56), and parenthetical material (e.g., Matt. 9:6 // Mark 2:10 // Luke 5:20). Most interestingly, the Synoptics agree in their quotation of the OT even when they differ from the Hebrew OT text itself (compare Matt. 3:3 // Mark 1:3 // Luke 3:4 to Isa. 40:3). Beyond such similarities, significant diffe…

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1. Two Forces at Work

Illustration

Fred Craddock

"What's frightening about listening to John preach is that he puts you in the presence of God. And that's what everybody wants, and that's what everybody doesn't want. Because the light at the altar is different from every other light in the world. In the dim lamps of this world, we can compare ourselves with each other, and all of us come off looking good. We convince ourselves that God grades on the curve, and what's the differenc…

2. A John the Baptist Christmas Card

Illustration

Darrick Acre

I love receiving Christmas cards. I especially like Christmas cards with good Christian artwork on the cover. The lion with the lamb; the three wise men and the message, "Wise Men Still Seek Him;" the Madonna and child; or the star piercing the darkness over stable and manger; all are beautiful depictions of the Christmas story. Again, I am positive that as a group we have all perused thousands of Christmas cards like these. Yet I do not recall ever receiving one with John the Baptist preaching in the desert. Do you? I can picture it in my mind: a card front marr…

3. Break Free From the Scrooge Syndrome

Illustration

Gregory Knox Jones

Each year, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, a great number of people find delight in the marvelous story written by Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. There is something in the story that lures us back to it year after year; we never seem to grow tired of hearing its message. The main character in the story is a surly old man named Scrooge, who lives a miserly existence. He sees no benefit in being generous with the poor, or even providing a living wage to dedicated workers. He clutches onto his money and despises the thought of parting with any of it. But it is not only his money that Scroog…

4. Wait Patiently

Illustration

Mickey Anders

Henri Nouwen once said, "If we do not wait patiently in expectation for God's coming in glory, we start wandering around, going from one little sensation to a…

5. Getting to Bethlehem

Illustration

Mickey Anders

If you ask a travel agent how to get to Bethlehem you'll be booked on an El Al airlines flight to Tel Aviv, ride on an air conditioned coach up through the hills, probably pass through Jerusalem, and then into the tourist trap called Bethlehem.

Ask anyone in the New Te…

6. A Relationship Changed by Baptism

Illustration

Edward F. Markquart

Let us pretend that you are a young lieutenant, part of the military, part of a presidential honor guard. Every day the President walks into his office, and you snap to attention, click your heals and salute the President. The President nods. Every day, this same procedure occurs. The President walks in; you snap to attention, click your heals and salute. The relationship is stiff, formal, technical, with eyes never looking the President in the eye but eyes always straight ahead, frozen like a stiff wo…

7. A Chance to Warm Up

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

In a "Peanuts" cartoon strip, good old Charlie Brown says to Linus, "Life is just too much for me. I've been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we're thrown into life too fast. We're not really prepared." And Linus asks, "What did you want . . . a chance to warm up first?"

The Advent season is supposed to be our chance to warm up. It's that time to prepare our hearts and …

8. The Importance of Words

Illustration

In a book on preaching by George Sweazey, the author reminds us that "Christianity is not something you talk about, it is something you do. Sitting through sermons can become the major Christian activity." And, of course, that is not all that we are called to do, is it? "What we want is deeds, not words," we sometimes say. But Dr. Sweazey says that that is a false dichotomy. Indeed, says he, words are deeds! The ancient Greeks had a saying, "By words alone are lives of mortals swayed." Sweazey writes: "the talkers are the doer…

9. The Promise of Baptism

Illustration

James Mueller

When I baptized my three children I did a new generation kind of thing. We made a DVD for each of our kids so they can celebrate their baptism birthdays. They can see it, th…

10. A New Way of Living

Illustration

Sarah Jo Sarchet

Sarah Jo Sarchet is a Presbyterian pastor in Chicago. A 10 year-old boy in her congregation named Cameron, walked into her office and said he needed to talk to her. Fresh from soccer practice, and wearing his Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, he had a request for her. "I'd like to be baptized," he said. "We were learning about Jesus' baptism in Sunday School. The teacher asked the class who was baptized, and all the other kids raised their hands. I want to be baptized too."

Using her best pastoral care tone of voice, she said, "Cameron, do you real…

11. If You Understand This Message...

Illustration

Back when the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, there was a story, perhaps just a legend, about a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to th…

12. My Fellow Lepers

Illustration

Jerome D. Cooper

Father Damien was a Belgian missionary in Hawaii. Hard place right? Back about 150 years ago, he began to plant churches on the island of Molokai. He planted several churches on the main part of the island, but there is another part that nobody ever went to, willingly. It's a small Peninsula that juts out north from the island and is separated from the rest of the Molokai by an almost sheer cliff 2,000-3,000 feet high. The only ways to get to that peninsula were to jump off the cliff or go by boat in the open ocean. That deserted peninsula was where the …

13. A Water Ritual for a New Year

Illustration

Mark Trotter

Norman MacLean in his wonderful book, A River Runs through It, has this tremendous phrase: "I am haunted by waters." This Sunday in which we remember the Baptism of our Lord, is haunted by waters. Reminders and symbols, such as in the Prayer of Thanksgiving over the Water, which reminds us of all the way…

14. Baptism: No Need to Practice

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

I just read about a certain preacher, a recent seminary graduate, who was appointed to his very first congregation. He and his wife went to visit his family one Saturday afternoon for lunch. This preacher's mother sensed that her daughter-in-law was not all that happy, but not wanting to be one of tho…

15. Preparation - or Lack of It!

Illustration

Dave Barry

To avoid offending anybody, the school dropped religion altogether and started singing about the weather. At my son's school, they now hold the winter pr…

16. Don't Let That Be All That There Is

Illustration

The message of Christmas is that God intrudes upon the weak and the vulnerable, and this is precisely the message that we so often miss. God does not come to that part of us that swaggers through life, confident in our self sufficiency. God leaves his treasure in the broken fragmented places of our life. God comes to us in those rare moments when we are able to transcend our own selfishness long enough to really care about another human being.

On the…

17. Music to Remember

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

In Alex Haley's book, ROOTS, there is that memorable scene of the night the slave, Kunta Kinte, drove his master to a ball at a big plantation house. Kunta Kinte heard the music from inside the house, music from the white folk's dance. He parked the buggy and settled down to wait out the long night of his master's revelry. While he sat in the buggy, he heard other music coming from the slaves' quarters...…

18. Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

In our Lord's Prayer we are often puzzled by the traditional words: "Lead us not into temptation." How can this be? The Letter of James says that "God tempts no one." (James 1:13) Many of us much prefer the more modern ecumenical version of the Lord's Prayer. I'd like to know what you think. Do you find it helpful to understand the words, or would you rather use the mo…

19. You Are a Leader

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking gas meters in a subdivision. They parked their truck at one end of the street and then worked their way to the other end, checking meters along the way. At the last house, a woman was looking out her kitchen window, watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.

As they finished checking the meters,…

20. They Were Only Children

Illustration

Brett Blair and Billy D. Strayhorn

Many years ago a Philadelphia congregation watched as three 9-year-old boys were baptized and joined the church. Not long after, because of dwindling membership, the church sold the building and disbanded.

One of those three boys was Tony Campolo, who became an author and Christian sociologist professor at Eastern College in Pennsylvania. Listen to this short story as he tells it: "Years later when I was doing research in the archives of our denominations, I decided to look up the church report for th…

21. A Super Callused Fragile Mystic

Illustration

Paul Tucker

Most of us are familiar with Mahatma Gandhi (the great spiritual leader of India). As you know, he walked barefoot most of the time, which, I am told, produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet…

22. God’s Chosen

Illustration

Gary Nicolosi

Mike Barnicle, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist, told about a baby born to Mary Teresa Hickey and her husband in 1945. The parents came from Cork, Ireland. The baby was a Down's Syndrome boy. Mary Teresa held the baby tightly, saying, "He's ours and we love him. He is God's chosen one."

The family lived in the Dorchester section of Boston. Their other boy was Jimmy. The dad died young of a heart attack, and Mary was left to raise the two boys, nine-year-old Jimmy and seven-year-old Danny. To pay the rent she scrubbed floors at a chronic care hospital.

Jimmy took good care of Danny. Dan felt at home with all the kids because no one told…

23. The Tiniest Hinges

Illustration

John A. Stroman

Experiences have the effect of changing the direction of our lives. These experiences are so casual they are frightening. They are critical experiences because they are life-changing. Albert Schweitzer casually walked into a library and sat down at a table to study. He picked up a magazine that some…

24. Rock Turning

Illustration

Douglass M. Bailey

There is a school run by Catholic nuns in Cleveland, Ohio. I don't know the name of their Order, but they have committed their lives to working in the Catholic schools in Cleveland's inner city. Day after day after day, they focus their faith and energy on the education of inner-city youngsters, youngsters whose lives are at risk in so many areas.

One day, out of nowhere, a wonderful gift was given to these nuns. The gift was to pay for the entire Order to go on a vacation. Vans were supplied, and all the necessary money for their trip was contributed anonymously. So, that summer, the nuns closed their Order house and headed to the vacation spot of their choice, the Rocky Mountains.

Most of them had never seen the Rockies, except in their imaginations. They were awed by the glory of the …

25. Leading the Way

Illustration

Richard Gribble

The twentieth century provided numerous examples of prophets who have blazed paths for others to follow. In India, Mahatma Gandhi, through a method of nonviolent resistance, led his people to throw off British Imperialism and bring freedom to the sub-continent and its peoples. In the 1960s, using similar tactics, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of the dream he had of a nation where people would not be ju…

26. Knowing the Secret Right from the Start

Illustration

Thomas Long

In Princeton, New Jersey, there is a legendary tale about the eminent scientist Albert Einstein walking in front of a local inn and being mistaken for a bellboy by a dowager who had just arrived in a luxury sedan. She orders him to carry her luggage into the hotel, and, according to the story, Einstein does so, receives a small tip, and then continues on to his office to ponder the mysteries of the universe. True or not, the story is delightful, precisely because we savor from the beginning a secret…

27. Facing The Unknown & Unknowable

Illustration

Thomas Long

"When I consider the briefness of my life," mused Pascal, "swallowed up before and behind it, the small space I fill, or even see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces which I know not, and which know not me, I am …

28. Living the Faith – Star of Peace

Illustration

Joel D. Kline

Pastor Joel D. Kline writes:

"Some years ago I read a novel by Jan de Hartog entitled Star of Peace. It's the story of a ship's captain transporting 250 Jews from Nazi Germany to Montevideo, Uruguay, the last port in the world willing to receive Jewish refugees. When the ship arrives there, however, it is soon discovered that all of the passengers' visas are forgeries, and authorities tell the captain that his only option is to return the Jews to Germany, regardless of the fate facing them there. The captain, recently converted to Christianity, cannot in good conscience do so. And so he hatches a plan to unboard the passengers by night along the coast of the U…

29. Look Into Your Father's Eyes

Illustration

James W. Moore

Carl Michalson, a brilliant young theologian who died in a plane crash some years ago, once told about playing with his young son one afternoon. They were tussling playfully on their front lawn when Michalson accidentally hit the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp blow full to his son's…

30. Four Perspectives

Illustration

Glenn Pease

The painter Lundwig Richter, tells in his memoirs of how he and three friends set out to paint the same landscape. They each were committed to produce as accurately as possible what they saw. Nevertheless, the result was four different pictures, as different as the four personalities of the artists.

The same thing happened when four well-known artists painted the portrait of the United Nations hostess, Maria Lani.…

31. Above the Noise

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

There is so much noise in the world today. There are so many voices competing for our attention. If you want to be heard, you almost have to shout.

During a typical lunch hour at the University of California at Berkeley, spokesmen for a dozen different causes can be found on the plaza, trying to outshout one another. One day a lone figure sat down defiantly in the middle of the crowd and held up a sign which said, "SILENT PROTEST." Someone tapped him on the shoulder and asked, "What are you protesting?" The defiant figure held up another sign whic…

32. Where Is Loyalty in an Age of Immediacy?

Illustration

Elton Richards

We live in an age of immediacy instant foods, instant winners with our lottery mentality, instant information in the computer world, instant gratification in the drug culture. There is little loyalty to the past nor sacrifice for the sake of the future. Christopher Lasch in his classic, "The Culture of Narcissism," notes the forgetful character of the late twen…

33. Ready All the Time

Illustration

Billy D. Strayhorn

Charles L. Allen tells about an outstanding businessman, J. Arthur Rank. Mr. Rank has an elevator straight up to his office, but he does not use it. He prefers the stairs, and he calls them his "Prayer Stairs." When he walks up those stairs in the morning, he takes each step separately and deliberately, and he prays to God to guide him every step he takes that day. In the morning he walks up …

34. The Failure of God to Die

Illustration

Paul Johnson

At the beginning of this century there were many learned people from all the disciplines of academia that were predicting the death of Christianity. Not only the death of Christianity but the doing away with religion in soc…

35. Humble Beginnings

Illustration

Samuel Massey

In Minnesota you can step across the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It is no more than a tiny stream. It is amazing that a river so mighty can begin in such an inconspicuous way.

Perhaps we have a similar experience as we read the first chapter to the Gospel of Mark. The message of Christ has raised up nations and brought th…

36. Simplify

Illustration

Dan Matthews

Certainly Mother Theresa was one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time. Many years ago Mother Theresa was to open a mission in New York City. A building was chosen and the diocese had it renovated. They had it spruced up with a fresh coat of paint. They put in new carpeting. They put in a large hot water heaters for the nuns. On the day the bishop drove up to visit Mother Theresa and the ne…

37. Called from the Water

Illustration

Frank Trotter

Philip Yancey tells the story of a friend of his who went swimming in a large lake at dusk:

"As he was paddling at a leisurely pace about a hundred yards off shore, a freak evening fog rolled in across the water. Suddenly he could see nothing: no horizon, no landmarks, no objects or lights on shore. Because the fog diffused all light, he could not even make out the direction of the sett…

38. There Are Many Paths to God and Sainthood

Illustration

Richard Gribble

Once upon a time long ago a young man decided to become a saint. He left his home, family, and possessions and journeyed into the hot sands of the desert where he eventually found a dark cave. He thought, "I can find God here. I will be alone and nothing will disturb me." He prayed day and night in the cave, but God sent him many temptations. He imagined all the good things in life and wanted them desperately, but he was determined to give up everything and be with God alone. After many months, the temptations stopped and the young man was alone with God.

Then one day God called to him, "Leave your cave and go to a distant town. Look for the local shoemaker. Knock on his door and stay with his family for a few days." The holy hermit was puzzled by God's request, but nonetheless left the …

39. Prepare the Way - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

His name was John. People knew him locally as the Baptist. Some would say of him that he was a religious eccentric. Others less kind would dismiss him as being simply a flake. He definitely did not seem to be the kind of "How to win friends and influence people" type of personality to usher in the news of the Messiah's coming. He just somehow doesn't seem to fit in with shepherds and wise men and the other characters that we traditionally associate with the Christmas story. Yet, this was God's unlikely servant chosen to herald the spectacular events that would soon follow. A most unlikely promotions man to be sure, but God's man nevertheless.

From the very beginning everything about John was unique. His mother Elizabeth was related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Elizabeth conceived six mon…

40. Back To Basics: The Three R's of Baptism - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

Baptism is a powerful force in the life of a Christian for two reasons. It is something we share in common. Christians all over the world can say that they were baptized in Christ. You met a Catholic in Ireland. He was baptized. You met a Pentecostal in Nigeria. She was baptized. The second reason Baptism is a powerful force is that baptism takes us back to the basics. Now let me set these two ideas up for you with a couple of stories.

You perhaps at one time or another have seen on TV the old black and white video footage of the civil rights marches in the sixties. Martin Luther King often at the front received his share of stinging high-pressured water hoses. Rev. King once remarked that he and the other marchers had a common strength. He put it this way, as "we went before the fire ho…

41. Breaking into Our Lives

Illustration

King Duncan

It was Christmas almost forty years ago when Rex Pickett was stationed in Korea as a young Marine lieutenant. His wife and baby daughter, whom he had never seen, were home in the United States. On Christmas morning the thermometer hovered around zero with several inches of snow covering the ground. Outdoor worship services were planned for that morning. Although no one was required to attend services Rex went out of respect and "to set a good example for the even younger Marines." Nearly two hundred marines turned out for the servic…

42. When We Are Reborn

Illustration

King Duncan

Author Marianne Williamson shares a conversation she had with a young man named Andrew. In his first year of high school, Andrew had acted like a self-described "jerk" and a "total loser." He treated people badly. Then, he moved to a different high school for a couple of years. Now, he dreaded returning to his old high school for his final year. He knew how people remembered him. They would treat him like the old Andrew. But he wasn't that guy anymore; he had matured and had a new perspective on his life. He didn't want to be…

43. Getting Ready

Illustration

King Duncan

The line at the Post Office was of a December length, too long really to wait for such a simple errand. But there he was. When he got to the window he asked for a sheet of Christmas stamps. The clerk proffered a brightly colored set showing lots of candles and emblazoned with the word "Kwanzaa." "No," he said, "I'd like some Christmas stamps." The clerk did a sort of ‘oh-h-h yeah' thing and rummaged around in the suppl…

44. The Last Chapter First

Illustration

King Duncan

The story is told about a fellow who loved to read mystery stories but he didn't like to be kept in suspense. He would read the last chapter first. That way he could read the book in the assurance that in the end good would triumph over evil. To the villain he would silently announce, "Don't get too sure of yourself. …

45. In the Wrong Place?

Illustration

King Duncan

Many years ago a pastor was invited to preach at a nearby country church he had never been to before. As he set out he was uncertain which road to take since most rural roads are not clearly marked and the directions he had been given left something to be desired. He stopped to ask directions along the way. The person he asked tried, but mistakenly steered him down the wrong road.

The morning was pleasant and although the road seemed a little longer than the pastor had expected, he cheerfully continued on his way. Finally he arrived at a little white church just as the Sunday School lesson was concluding. The pastor entered the chur…

46. Changing the Inner Parts

Illustration

King Duncan

A man once owned a large and expensive clock crafted in Switzerland. He kept the clock in a window, where it was seen by passersby who set their watches by it. But something was wrong with the clock. Its hands habitually showed the wrong time. So the man spent considerable energy every day, 3 or 4 times a day, turning the clock's hands to the ri…

47. A Sense of Urgency

Illustration

King Duncan

Time is important. And time is in short supply. Dwight L. Moody preached on Zacchaeus with great fire and conviction. The whole story of Zacchaeus just came to life right there on the platform. But he called him, "Zacchus." And on the way home from church his children would chide him. "Pa," they'd say, "it isn't Zacchus. It's Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus." "I don't have time to say Zacchaeus," Moody would bellow, "there's too much work to be done!" And later on in his life, his heart began to play tricks on him while he was in England. He had a checkup there, and the doctor told him to t…

48. REMEMBER YOUR BAPTISM

Illustration

John H. Krahn

On January 26, 1905, in Pretoria, South Africa, Captain M. F. Wells found a diamond weighing one and one-quarter pounds. Two years later, the diamond was purchased and presented to King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. In 1908, a diamond cutter from Amsterdam cut from that diamond the Star of Africa, the largest cut diamond in the world, containing seventy-four facets with a weight of 530 carats. Today, the diamond is still set in the British Royal Scepter. Can you imagine the value of such a jewel?

Then there is the Hope Diamond: the largest blue diamond in the world. It weighs in at 44.4 carats. Found in India during the seventeenth century, it has been displayed, since 1958, at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. At that time it was worth between $700,000 and $1,500,000.

Bu…

49. Trifling with the Trinity

Illustration

Brett Blair

There's a trend on social media to cancel peoples livelihood for even the slightest offenses that the person attacking them doesn't like. It's been billed the "cancel culture." It's an evil behavior often by anonymous sources. But it's not new. More prevalent but not new. And it certainly has been in the church for a long time. Let's use the acrostic CCC: Christian Cancel Culture.

A religious weight loss program called Weigh Down created in 1992 by a woman named Gwen Shamblin grew from a small business conducted out of a home garage to a multimillion-dollar Nashville corporation with over 30,000 churches and organizations participating. But last year the whole movement was threatened and her business placed in jeopardy when Shamblin, on August 10th made comments regarding her beliefs in…

50. A Good Word for The Pharisees

Illustration

Jirair Tashjian

It may come as a surprise to Christian listeners, who are used to thinking of Pharisees as hypocrites and enemies of Jesus, that in this passage it is Pharisees who warn Jesus to flee from Galilee because Herod wants to kill him. Not all Pharisees were hostile to Jesus. While Jesus and the Pharisees did not see things eye to eye, we find in Luke and Acts that Pharis…

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