Waiting for the Messiah

This morning I decided to start reading the Gospel of Mark, which I read the least of the 4 Gospels. I thought it would be a refreshing change. I like Mark's Gospel for he jumps right into it, and Jesus ministry is quickly evident.

Jesus starts His ministry by teaching in the synagogues and teaching with authority (Mark 1:21-22). He announces the good news that their time of waiting has come to an end, and the Kingdom of God was near.

An few thoughts here, since He is the Word of God, it would make sense that He could teach the word with an authority and insight that had never been heard before. I love listening to inspired teachers, those who draw deep connections and parallels between different scriptures, those who can take a single passage and mine it for incredible riches. I imagine that Jesus was better than anyone we have ever heard, or will ever hear - no wonder the people were amazed.

Second the proclamation of the end of their wait (Mark 1:15), is a very significant statement, one that we really can't comprehend, as it is something that had been building for 400+ years. The Jews were waiting to hear a fresh word from God, for the last prophet had spoken 400+ years ago. This is also a fulfillment of a prophecy of Daniel, given during the time of their exile in Babylon (605 BC, although some believe it wasn't written until much later around 165BC) proclaiming an end to the time of waiting, or as Jesus said, waiting for the time to be fulfilled or completed (His words based on the original Greek). Regardless of how we date the books or the time of waiting, it had been significant, and something that was on the common pysche, as the fulfillment of time was when the Messiah would come and restore Israel.

They were a country and a people who were occupied, but they never forgot their identity as God's chosen people, so they were waiting for His promise of a Messiah to be fulfilled. I think the closest we could get to understanding the communal anticipation for a messiah, would be the tearing down of the wall in Berlin, the setting free of those people from an oppressive government. There was an almost worldwide waiting for the day that wall would be torn down, almost from the day it was built nearly 30 years earlier. The East Germans never forgot who they were, what freedom was like, and never stopped resisting the wall. In much the same way, the Jews never forgot who they were, never stopped calling to mind the promise of the coming messiah, and reminded themselves for hundreds of years that God would establish His Kingdom through the Messiah and save them all.

The awesome nature of the Gospel is that it is still good news today! The same message of God's Kingdom present, the Messiah who has come to set us free, the healing of disease, the cleansing of lepers and sin, is available to us all today! So whether we have waited hundreds of years, tens of years or only a few days, Jesus is present to change our lives. He is the Lord, the Messiah and He has established His Kingdom here on earth. Let us turn to Him, as the leper did in Mark 1:40 and ask Him for His help, whether we need cleansing, healing, restoration, hope, health, or freedom.

Amen Lord!