Road Construction Ahead
I hate road construction. Hey, I’m a guy. When I’m behind the wheel, it’s all about making good time. It’s all about getting from Point A to Point B. That being the case, I can’t stand seeing those pesky orange barrels and signs that say “Road Construction Ahead.”
When I grumble as I slow down, that’s when my wife reminds me of just how great the road will be when it’s done. The DOT will transform a crowded, crooked, two-lane blacktop into smooth, wide, six-lane highway. Short term pain for long term gain.
Mark begins his biography of Jesus with a report of holy road construction. He backs up in the story of the Son of God to describe highway conditions before the Messiah arrives. Our author introduces to the dude whom Christ personally selected to run this critical transportation project. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The Fab Four
Flip to the opening lines of Mark’s story of Jesus, one of the Fab Four of the New Testament Gospels. It’s right after Matthew and just before Luke and John. If you’re like me (and if you are, I’ll certainly pray for you!), you’re probably wondering why there are not one but FOUR bios off the radical Rabbi/Carpenter in the Bible.
It seems that each of these authors are writing to different audiences. Matthew has Jewish folks in mind. Luke hopes to appeal to Greek speakers. John throws the doors wide open to everybody with a closer look at what trusting in Jesus looks like.
The Fast and the Furious
Which brings us to Mark. He’s writing to Romans. And just like 21st Century Americans, Romans love them some action. This Gospel is not for the faint of heart. It’s action packed. Mark moves at breakneck speed. Think the Fast and the Furious. Buckle up, buttercup.
Things are going to change dramatically when Christ arrives. That’s why the author says, “This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (v1). Jesus’ arrival is Good News. His message is Good News. And by “Good News,” Mark means GREAT NEWS!!!
Jesus’ Swan Dive into Sin
The Son of God left the luxurious comforts of the heavenly palace to make a swan dive into the dumpster of sin. Our sin. Your sin. My sin. He came to live the life of perfect obedience we failed to live. He came to die the brutal death we should have died. He came to rise to a glorious new life we don’t deserve.
He came to do for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. See, I told you this Good News! And it doesn’t stop there. Jesus comes to not only save us but lead us. We have the privilege of following the loving leadership of our Lord. His commands act as glorious guardrails to keep us out of the ditch and on the road to what He calls the abundant life (Jn 10:10).
Before the Green Flag Drops
Before we strap in and put the hammer down, we need to make serious road improvements. Smooth pavement. No potholes. Straighten out the curves. That’s why Mark rewinds the story just a bit to show us the work needed to be done before the green flag drops on the story of Son of God.
As a matter of fact, Mark zips all the way back to the Old Testament for perspective. “It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written” (v1-2). Despite popular belief, the story of Jesus doesn’t start when you get to the New Testament. Every bit of the Hebrew Bible, the part Jesus’ followers have renamed the Old Testament, is a preview of the One who is to come.
The Big Hero of the Big Story
That’s because the Bible is one Big Story with one Big Hero. That Hero is Christ Jesus. God promises He will send Someone to the rescue from the moment our first parents trash His perfect creation (Gen 3:15). Throughout the story, He gives us pictures, predictions, and prophecies of the coming Messiah.
A series of prophets play an important part in predicting Jesus’ arrival. Mark specifically mentions Isaiah here in his opening lines. That makes sense. Isaiah is a heavyweight when it comes to prophets. The OT document bearing his name talks so much about the Hero coming from heaven that some folks refer to it as the fifth Gospel.
Prophetic Predictions
But actually, Mark drops a quick quote first from Malachi, one of the lesser known of God’s spokespersons. “Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, and he will prepare Your way” (v2; Mal 3:1). Get this. Malachi wrote his 450 years before Jesus! God used him to not only to correctly predict Messiah but His advance man too!
Mark pairs that prophecy with a legendary line from Isaiah written around 700 BC. “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for Him!’” (v3). This messenger gets on the loudspeaker in the middle of the chaos for a very important announcement. Get everything ready! God is coming! Drop what you’re doing and start fixing the roads!!
Isaiah’s original prophecy gets a little more specific about what needs to be done to the highways before Messiah makes it here. “Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all the people will see together. The LORD has spoken!” (Is 40:4-5).
Getting Ready for Royalty
Back in the day, local residents would get everything ready for the arrival of royalty. A big part of the preps would be improvements to the local roads. You wouldn’t want the king’s motorcade hitting potholes on the way into your town. It was one way of making the ruler feel welcome.
You still see this sort of thing today. Anytime a city or region hosts a large event like the Super Bowl or the Olympics, they make loads of improvements, especially to the local infrastructure. They fix local roads. They build new ones. The last thing you want is out-of-town guests frustrated by traffic and gridlock.
Practical Application…of Asphalt?
So what does this mean for you and me? Is God calling us to put on an orange vest, and run a steamroller as part of a DOT crew? Is Mark telling me that the practical application of this passage is the very practical application of asphalt along a local highway?
Let’s remember what the author is talking about. This is all about prepping for the arrival of Jesus and the Good News. We’ll see in the next few verses that this advance man was Jesus’ weird, bug eating cousin known as John the Baptizer (Mk 1:4-8). His job was to get folks ready to meet the Son of God and His amazing message of grace.
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
How can we pave the way for the Good News to move quickly in the lives of those around us? It’s really pretty simple. We need to remove every obstacle that will get in the way of meeting Jesus. Is there something that might get in the way? If so, clear the road.
Our problem is that many of us come from religious traditions that seem to add a lot of extra stuff to following Jesus. We really need to remember that sharing the Good News shouldn’t be like adding bonus materials to the blu-ray. As one pastor likes to say, Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Adding anything destroys the formula. Jesus + Anything = Nothing.
Clearing the Road
The Gospel isn’t about my preferred style of doing church. Not music style. Not preaching style. Not clothing style. Not architectural style. Any of those things can become barriers to someone who needs to meet our Savior.
This is a big deal because the Good News can be tough to swallow. People do NOT like to hear how badly they need help. They make the fatal mistake of believing they fix their lives. Both Paul and Peter realized that the Gospel could be a huge stumbling block for many people (Rom 9:33; 1Cor 1:23; 1Pet 2:8).
Since that’s the case, get everything else that doesn’t matter out of the way. “Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for Him!” (v3). Take a look around. What’s in the way of people you know meeting Jesus. We all probably need to do a little holy road construction.
©2017
Jay Jennings
I hate road construction. Hey, I’m a guy. When I’m behind the wheel, it’s all about making good time. It’s all about getting from Point A to Point B. That being the case, I can’t stand seeing those pesky orange barrels and signs that say “Road Construction Ahead.”
When I grumble as I slow down, that’s when my wife reminds me of just how great the road will be when it’s done. The DOT will transform a crowded, crooked, two-lane blacktop into smooth, wide, six-lane highway. Short term pain for long term gain.
Mark begins his biography of Jesus with a report of holy road construction. He backs up in the story of the Son of God to describe highway conditions before the Messiah arrives. Our author introduces to the dude whom Christ personally selected to run this critical transportation project. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The Fab Four
Flip to the opening lines of Mark’s story of Jesus, one of the Fab Four of the New Testament Gospels. It’s right after Matthew and just before Luke and John. If you’re like me (and if you are, I’ll certainly pray for you!), you’re probably wondering why there are not one but FOUR bios off the radical Rabbi/Carpenter in the Bible.
It seems that each of these authors are writing to different audiences. Matthew has Jewish folks in mind. Luke hopes to appeal to Greek speakers. John throws the doors wide open to everybody with a closer look at what trusting in Jesus looks like.
The Fast and the Furious
Which brings us to Mark. He’s writing to Romans. And just like 21st Century Americans, Romans love them some action. This Gospel is not for the faint of heart. It’s action packed. Mark moves at breakneck speed. Think the Fast and the Furious. Buckle up, buttercup.
Things are going to change dramatically when Christ arrives. That’s why the author says, “This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (v1). Jesus’ arrival is Good News. His message is Good News. And by “Good News,” Mark means GREAT NEWS!!!
Jesus’ Swan Dive into Sin
The Son of God left the luxurious comforts of the heavenly palace to make a swan dive into the dumpster of sin. Our sin. Your sin. My sin. He came to live the life of perfect obedience we failed to live. He came to die the brutal death we should have died. He came to rise to a glorious new life we don’t deserve.
He came to do for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. See, I told you this Good News! And it doesn’t stop there. Jesus comes to not only save us but lead us. We have the privilege of following the loving leadership of our Lord. His commands act as glorious guardrails to keep us out of the ditch and on the road to what He calls the abundant life (Jn 10:10).
Before the Green Flag Drops
Before we strap in and put the hammer down, we need to make serious road improvements. Smooth pavement. No potholes. Straighten out the curves. That’s why Mark rewinds the story just a bit to show us the work needed to be done before the green flag drops on the story of Son of God.
As a matter of fact, Mark zips all the way back to the Old Testament for perspective. “It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written” (v1-2). Despite popular belief, the story of Jesus doesn’t start when you get to the New Testament. Every bit of the Hebrew Bible, the part Jesus’ followers have renamed the Old Testament, is a preview of the One who is to come.
The Big Hero of the Big Story
That’s because the Bible is one Big Story with one Big Hero. That Hero is Christ Jesus. God promises He will send Someone to the rescue from the moment our first parents trash His perfect creation (Gen 3:15). Throughout the story, He gives us pictures, predictions, and prophecies of the coming Messiah.
A series of prophets play an important part in predicting Jesus’ arrival. Mark specifically mentions Isaiah here in his opening lines. That makes sense. Isaiah is a heavyweight when it comes to prophets. The OT document bearing his name talks so much about the Hero coming from heaven that some folks refer to it as the fifth Gospel.
Prophetic Predictions
But actually, Mark drops a quick quote first from Malachi, one of the lesser known of God’s spokespersons. “Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, and he will prepare Your way” (v2; Mal 3:1). Get this. Malachi wrote his 450 years before Jesus! God used him to not only to correctly predict Messiah but His advance man too!
Mark pairs that prophecy with a legendary line from Isaiah written around 700 BC. “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for Him!’” (v3). This messenger gets on the loudspeaker in the middle of the chaos for a very important announcement. Get everything ready! God is coming! Drop what you’re doing and start fixing the roads!!
Isaiah’s original prophecy gets a little more specific about what needs to be done to the highways before Messiah makes it here. “Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all the people will see together. The LORD has spoken!” (Is 40:4-5).
Getting Ready for Royalty
Back in the day, local residents would get everything ready for the arrival of royalty. A big part of the preps would be improvements to the local roads. You wouldn’t want the king’s motorcade hitting potholes on the way into your town. It was one way of making the ruler feel welcome.
You still see this sort of thing today. Anytime a city or region hosts a large event like the Super Bowl or the Olympics, they make loads of improvements, especially to the local infrastructure. They fix local roads. They build new ones. The last thing you want is out-of-town guests frustrated by traffic and gridlock.
Practical Application…of Asphalt?
So what does this mean for you and me? Is God calling us to put on an orange vest, and run a steamroller as part of a DOT crew? Is Mark telling me that the practical application of this passage is the very practical application of asphalt along a local highway?
Let’s remember what the author is talking about. This is all about prepping for the arrival of Jesus and the Good News. We’ll see in the next few verses that this advance man was Jesus’ weird, bug eating cousin known as John the Baptizer (Mk 1:4-8). His job was to get folks ready to meet the Son of God and His amazing message of grace.
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
How can we pave the way for the Good News to move quickly in the lives of those around us? It’s really pretty simple. We need to remove every obstacle that will get in the way of meeting Jesus. Is there something that might get in the way? If so, clear the road.
Our problem is that many of us come from religious traditions that seem to add a lot of extra stuff to following Jesus. We really need to remember that sharing the Good News shouldn’t be like adding bonus materials to the blu-ray. As one pastor likes to say, Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Adding anything destroys the formula. Jesus + Anything = Nothing.
Clearing the Road
The Gospel isn’t about my preferred style of doing church. Not music style. Not preaching style. Not clothing style. Not architectural style. Any of those things can become barriers to someone who needs to meet our Savior.
This is a big deal because the Good News can be tough to swallow. People do NOT like to hear how badly they need help. They make the fatal mistake of believing they fix their lives. Both Paul and Peter realized that the Gospel could be a huge stumbling block for many people (Rom 9:33; 1Cor 1:23; 1Pet 2:8).
Since that’s the case, get everything else that doesn’t matter out of the way. “Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for Him!” (v3). Take a look around. What’s in the way of people you know meeting Jesus. We all probably need to do a little holy road construction.
©2017
Jay Jennings
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