Questions for a Quiet Christmas #16

Mark, the Gospel writer, did not like boring details. He, like the fast-paced, "can't-wait" young people of today wanted to get right to the heart of things. Maybe we all feel like that this Christmas, and after a year of bad news are asking like the author who reflected on the life of the Peanuts' characters are asking: "When Do the Good Things Start?" Mark has the answer: 

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In this opening paragraph Mark answers some key questions for us to ask ourselves. First, Where can I find someone who cares?  We all have questions about what is going on. We look around us and see all the discontent and feel it in our own hearts at times. Who out there really seems to care? In Mark's day, John the Baptist did. John was not socially-acceptable, mainstream or even well-received, but his message resonated with hurting, searching souls.  So what was John talking about? Cleansing and Forgiveness. So another question for us to ask ourselves is: Is what I really need true holiness and forgiveness - not only for myself, but toward others? Are those missing elements in society and in my soul?  It seems in Mark's day that they really were, because people did come out for that baptism that identified them with these ideals. But John the Baptist knew his place. He was not the Savior. There are plenty of people out there who want us to believe they are, but all fall short. So the final question we are pointed to is: Are these people pointing us to Someone and something greater than they themselves can do? Do they want us to just jump on board with their agenda - what we as people can accomplish - or what God has in mind to do? Only when we look beyond the plans of man will we find the beginning of really good news.