Chapter One

Verses 2 to 13

(Cropped image © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro - CC BY-SA 3.0)

Synopsis

In this learning unit, we will study how Mark introduces the reader to the second theme of the gospel: Jesus’ mission or way. The gospel presents Jesus as the new Moses who leads us on a new exodus that will free us from our slavery to sin. Mark also introduces us to John the Baptist, who, as Malachi had prophesied, would come as the new Elijah to prepare the way for the Messiah.

Just as the original exodus started and ended with the parting of the water (the Red Sea and the River Jordan), this new exodus also starts when Jesus enters the waters of the Jordan to be baptized. But this time, however, the waters don’t part; instead, the heavens are opened. This unexpected event tells us that this new exodus will lead us into the life of the Trinity.

Learning Objectives

You will have successfully completed this learning unit when you can:

Explain the meaning of the new exodus and its connection to Mk 1:2–3.

Explain what a conflated citation is and why Mark conflated Mal 3:1 and Ex 23:20 with Is 40:3

Explain how Mark shows that John the Baptist is the new Elijah.

Explain how Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the desert are related to the exodus.

The New Exodus

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,

who shall prepare thy way;

the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.” (Mk 1:2–3)

Mark claims to be citing a prophecy given by Isaiah, but the reality is a bit more complicated. This citation isn’t just from Isaiah. Instead, it is a conflation of three different Old Testament passages. A conflation is the combination of several texts into a new one. This practice of combining different texts to form a new one was not uncommon back then.

The main part of Mark’s citation does come from Isaiah, specifically Isaiah chapter 40.

A voice cries:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Is 40:3)

We already looked at this chapter in the previous learning unit, when commenting on Mark’s opening verse. God tells Isaiah to proclaim from the mountain tops the good news that he is coming with might to save Israel. In doing so, Isaiah used language and imagery that recalls the exodus in which Moses liberated the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. The exodus was one of the most important events in biblical history because it was the foundational moment that established Israel as a nation. In liberating the Israelites with the help of Moses, God demonstrated his power, love, and faithfulness.

Now that the people were once again in exile—David’s Kingdom had come to an end and Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed—Isaiah and the other prophets began to look back at the original exodus as the model for God’s future redemption. They proclaimed that God would liberate the people again, as he had done in the time of Moses. Revealing his power and faithful love, the prophets claimed, God would reunite the scattered tribes of Israel and bring them back to Zion, that is, Jerusalem. By saying this they were proclaiming a new exodus.

The prophets used various images and motifs taken from the original exodus to speak of this new exodus; for example, desert, wandering, mountain of God, highway in the wilderness, deliverance from oppression, judgment, mighty deeds, covenant, and banquet. We can identify the new exodus prophecies by looking for these images. In the passage of Isaiah that Mark is quoting, Isaiah foresaw that this new exodus would start in the desert. Just as the people travelled through the desert for 40 years in the original exodus, so too, will they travel through the desert during this new exodus. This is why he calls the people to make straight a highway in the desert. Other prophets used other images.

Mark’s quotation of Isaiah’s call to prepare a way in the desert recalls this original event and implies that God will once again save his people this way. Mark could have cited other Old Testament prophecies, but he probably chose this one because Isaiah was one of the more famous prophets.

However, Mark added something from Malachi that was missing in Isaiah. Although some of the people had already returned to Jerusalem after the exile, Malachi saw that they were still living in a spiritual exile because of their continued sinning. So, in his book, he describes their sins, both of the priests and of the people. God’s main challenge for the new exodus wasn’t going to be the reunification of the tribes, scattered throughout the world. His real problem was overcoming their sin. This is what had caused the exile in the first place, and their continued sinning kept them in a state of spiritual exile. What Malachi included in his prophecy, which is not found in the other prophets, is that in this new exodus, God will come to judge the people and purify them of their sin. This could be why Mark conflates a passage from Malachi into Isaiah’s prophecy. Namely,

Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me. (Mal 3:1)

By doing this, Mark is saying that Jesus has come to save us from our sins. In this new exodus, which Jesus sets in motion, the emphasis is placed on our purification and liberation from slavery to sin rather than our liberation from physical slavery, as happened during the original exodus.

Finally, Mark also adds a snippet from the Book of Exodus. If he is going to speak about a new exodus, then it makes sense that he would try to connect it to the original story.

I send an angel before you. (Ex 23:20)

In verse 1, Mark told us that Jesus is God with us, who has come as the new David and the new Joshua to bring us a new creation, shepherd us, and save us by leading us to heaven. Now, in verses 2 and 3, he tells us that Jesus is also the new Moses who will lead us on a new exodus that will free us from our slavery to sin.

John the Baptist

In most Catholic Bibles, Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. This is because in the standard Catholic ordering of the books, the prophetical books come at the end, although some translations place the wisdom books there. In any case, Malachi is the last of the prophetical books. He ends his book by telling us that God will send Elijah before the arrival of great day of the Lord.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse. (Mal 4:5–6)

That is, according to the standard ordering of the books, the Old Testament ends with the prophecy that Elijah will return to prepare us for the coming of the Messiah. Therefore, in verse 4, Mark brings John the Baptist onto the scene. He wants us to understand that he is its fulfillment. That is, he is the new Elijah who is preparing for Jesus’ coming by calling the people to turn away from their sins.

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mk 1:4)

How do we know that John is the new Elijah promised by Malachi? Mark tells us this by describing his clothing.

Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist. (Mk 1:6)

John dressed in the same way that Elijah did. We see this in 2 Kings 1. It tells the story of king Ahaziah, who was an evil king. He had had an accident and lay sick in bed, so he sent his servants to enquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether he would recover or not. The servants departed, but on their way they encountered Elijah who asked them: “Is there no God in Israel that you have to go enquire of the God of Ekron?” And then he told them that because of this, Ahaziah would die.

So, they returned to the king to report this to him. He wanted to know who this man was. Today he would have asked for his business card or his Twitter account, but these things didn’t exist back then. Instead, he asked:

“What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?” They answered him, “He wore a garment of haircloth, with a girdle of leather about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.” (2 Kgs 1:7–8)

Elijah was identified by his clothing. By telling us that John dressed the same way, Mark is announcing that he is the new Elijah. That is, Malachi’s prophecy has been fulfilled.

In verse 7, John gives witness to Jesus by saying:

After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. (Mk 1:7)

We know that John was a very popular prophet, and many thought he was the Messiah, so he and Mark make it clear that he is not. He is just the one preparing the way for him. When John says “he who is mightier than I” this could also be a refence to Is 40:10 which states:

Behold, the Lord God comes with might.

In the Gospel of Mark, the idea of John being the new Elijah will come up again in chapter 9, after the Transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mountaintop. The apostles ask Jesus why the scribes say that Elijah will come before the Messiah and Jesus replies that Elijah has already come, implying that John the Baptist is the new Elijah.

Jesus’ Baptism

In the next scene, Mark describes Jesus’ baptism.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” (Mk 1:9–11)

Once again, we see Mark’s typical style. He describes the action but omits the dialogue between Jesus and John. We need to pay attention to the details because they tell us so much. Unfortunately, some of the meaning has been lost in the translation. For example, the specific word Mark used in Greek to describe the opened heavens is unique to him. It is schizomenous, a verbal form of schizein, which means to split or tear open. This is the root of the English word “schism.” It is often just translated as “to open” but schizein signifies opening something with violence.

In all of the New Testament, the word schizein is only found in Mark’s gospel. The other evangelists use another word to describe the opening of the heavens. Mark, in fact, uses this word twice: once, here during the baptism and then again at Jesus’ death, when he tells us that the temple curtain was torn in two.

Repetitions are important, so when reading the Bible, we should pay attention to them. This is an important principle as the biblical authors often inform their readers that different passages are related through the recurrence of words and images. For example, by using the word schizein in these two places, Mark is notifying us that Jesus’ baptism and his death are related. Just as his baptism opened the heavens, so did his death—the tearing of the temple curtain, which hid the Holy of Holies from the people, meant that our access to God had been reestablished.

There are other repetitions in this passage which enable us to connect Jesus’ baptism to other parts of the Old Testament. For example, in Isaiah chapter 64 the people ask God to rend the heavens open and come down. God fulfills this request when Jesus is baptized. As Jesus comes out of the water, the heavens are torn open and the Holy Spirit comes down in the form of a dove. By connecting these passages, we can see how Mark is telling us that the Holy Spirit is God. He has come down to anoint Jesus with his Spirit. Jesus is the Messiah, not because he has been anointed with oil, but because he has been anointed with the Holy Spirit, that is, God himself.

Two Old Testament prophecies speak of this moment:

The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD (Is 11:2–3).

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me. (Is 61:1)

A third repetition in the story about Jesus’ baptism allows is to identify him as Isaiah’s servant. When the voice from heaven says: “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased”, this calls to mind the following passage:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him,

he will bring forth justice to the nations. (Is 42:1)

Finally, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river. Several important events of the Old Testament happened there. First, the exodus ended when the people crossed the Jordan. At that time, the waters were miraculously opened so they could just walk across the river into the Promised Land. This was the second miraculous parting of water in the Bible. The first happened when Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea. So, we can see how the original exodus, which started with a miraculous parting of the waters, came to an end in the same way.

We find a third parting of the waters in 2 Kings 2. There, Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the waters of the Jordan River with it. At that, the waters were opened so that he could cross the river on dry ground. Once he reached the other side, a chariot and horses of fire brought him into heaven. By connecting Elijah’s miracle to the exodus through the repetition of the motif of opened waters, we see how the Old Testament is already hinting that our true promised land is in heaven.

Let’s return to the gospel. Jesus, the new Moses and the new Joshua, is now standing once again in the waters of the Jordan. The attentive reader, who should have all this background information in mind, would expect the waters to part once more. But this doesn’t happen. Why not?

A second bible-reading principle is that we should also pay attention to the differences. If things always happened in exactly the same way, there would be no progression or development in the story. The differences indicate to us that something new is happening. So, when reading the Bible, we should pay attention to both the similarities and the differences.

When Jesus enters the Jordan River, its waters don’t open up, but something else opens instead: the heavens. This is a very important detail. It tells us that the destination of this new exodus isn’t going to be somewhere here on Earth. Our destination isn’t even heaven, as such. The heavens are the doorway to our true destination—our promised land—which is the life of the Trinity. When the heavens are opened, we catch a glimpse of this. God the Father is revealed to us; he speaks from heaven. God the Son is revealed to us; he is standing in the water. And the Holy Spirit is revealed to us; he comes down in the form of a dove to anoint Jesus.

Putting everything together, in these first 11 verses Mark is telling us that Jesus is God with us, who has come as the messiah anointed by the Holy Spirit, the new Moses, and the new Joshua to bring about a new creation that will purify us and free us from our slavery to sin by leading us on a new exodus that will bring us into the very life of the Trinity. After writing this, the only words that come to mind are: “Amen! Alleluia!”

The Temptation in the Desert

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him. (Mk 1:12–13)

Isaiah saw that the new exodus would pass through the desert. That is why he proclaims: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” So, the Holy Spirit now leads Jesus to the desert. There he will contend against the one who has enslaved us: Satan.

Once again, Mark omits the dialogue; he simply describes the action, and everything happens immediately. But he includes one detail that is not mentioned by the other evangelists. Jesus was with the wild beasts. This could be a reference to Adam who also was with the beasts in paradise. Because of the fall, paradise was transformed into a desert and the beasts became wild. If this was Mark’s intention, then it would suggest that Jesus is also the new Adam.

But, if it is true that Mark wrote his gospel in the 60s to strengthen Christians in Rome who had begun to suffer persecution under Nero, then perhaps he included this detail for them. They were being condemned to be killed by the wild beasts. Mark is telling them not to fear this fate because Jesus was also with the beasts.

Assignments

Read 2 Kgs 1, Is 40–41, and the Book of Malachi to understand the background to Mk 1:2–13.

Compare one of the following passages with Matthew’s and Luke’s parallel versions. What is similar? What is different? You can find the passages side by side in the attached PDF files (click on icons to download).