Why Did Jesus Come?

In the Gospel of Mark there is no Christmas Story.  Mark is the most historically detail-sufficient Gospel of the four.  Mark stays with the facts, so to speak.  He started with Jesus adult life of ministry.  Beginning with an announcement: 1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God,…

Then begins to talk about Jesus’ cousin John’s ministry in the wilderness. And the difference between the Baptism of water and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Then immediately begins to call his disciples, heal, preach and tell stories.  Stories/parables that call his listeners to attention as to what is needed and important. Not too much fluff in Mark.  Just the details!

No Mary! No Joseph! No angels singing or shepherds watching!

Mark’s Gospel is focused on what Jesus came to teach, and to model, what life is suppose to be according the Creator God!  

Jesus came to bring a scramble mix of people, wondering around in a wilderness, back to some semblance of order.  He came to offer them a better way to be together.  And he did this by carefully explaining to them who God truly is.  

He came to bring peace, shalom, calm and comfort to the masses of confusion!  He came to show them what true living together looked like.  He did this my taking the servant role!  That is, he wanted them to realize that the way of living in peace and harmony would only be possible when people began to see the error of popular assumptions of what it means to be powerful.

In other words, he came to break the human misunderstanding of what it meant to be successful.  And destroy the myth that lots of land and money bring true happiness.  He came to show them, by who he was and what he did, that the only true way to contentment was God’s way of being. 

He came to bring peace on earth!

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as 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 wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” 4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, 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 comes the one more powerful than I, the straps 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.” (Mark 1:1-8)