This is the second of a little two-part series on the beginnings of the gospel about Jesus from perspectives of the not-so-usual Christmas gospels of Mark and John. The idea of using such passages, apart from the fact that they appear in the suggested lectionary passages to be read on these Sundays, is to jar us a little bit out of our comfortable, acculturated vision of the season leading up to Christmas as a season entirely of warm cozy fireplaces, Christmas trees, and jingle bells, and to remind us that when John proclaimed his role as one sent to say, "Make straight the way of the Lord," he wasn't just making up a cool line for future Christmas card content. He was saying that something very big was on its way to happening. Very big. Scary big.

As we reflected last week, the four gosp…