Only the Beginning

Mark 1:1

April 19, 2026 • Mount Pleasant UMC

His name means “hammer,” and it’s a good Roman name (Card, Mark: The Gospel of Passion, pg. 17). He shows up eight times in the New Testament, as a cousin to Barnabas and a fellow worker with Paul. Some think he might be the young man who ran away naked from the Garden of Gethsemane (14:51-52; Card 171-172). Eventually, he ended up as a companion of Peter and was the first one to write down the story of Jesus right about the time Emperor Nero decided to burn down the city of Rome and blame the Christians (cf. Card 22-24). And while the Gospel he wrote is short and quick and lacks what we think of as a suitable ending, it does not lack for detail. He’s writing down what the original disciples, particularly Peter, had preached, and it’s important that he get it right because they are being arrested and killed and someone has to tell the story.

Today, as we continue our journey through the New Testament, we come to the first Gospel that is also the second Gospel. Mark was the first one written (in fact, Matthew and Luke in particular rely heavily on Mark as a source—over 90% of Mark is used as a source in Matthew), but when the New Testament was put together, Mark was included second, most likely because Matthew had the genealogy that connected it to the Old Testament. And because he was the first to write it, it’s natural that Mark is concerned primarily with getting the word out about Jesus—quickly. He loves the word “immediately.” And he tells us his theme in the very first verse (a verse that might have been the original title of the book, cf. Kernaghan, Mark [IVPNTC], pg. 289): “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (1:1). Another way to say “good news” is “gospel,” and that’s our “word of life” for today.

Some Christians seem to think that “good news” only began in the New Testament—that the Old Testament is all about law and the New Testament is all about grace—but that’s not true. There is “good news” all over the Old Testament. From the moment that humankind turned away from God, God has been trying to turn our bad news into his good news. He promised at the start that eventually someone would come who would make all things right, turn things around and make the bad news good. Isaiah, the prophet, didn’t use the word “gospel” but he did promise the people a day would come when “good news” would come to Jerusalem, and this was the news: “Here is your God!” (Isaiah 40:9). A bit later in the book, he talks about a messenger whose feet are beautiful because he announces good news. Do you ever think of feet as beautiful? Isaiah did, and he says the one with beautiful feet will proclaim peace, declare good tidings, proclaim salvation and tell people, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7). The “good news” promised over and over again in the Old Testament is that God was coming to his people and he was going to rescue them—from slavery in Egypt, from exile in Babylon, from sin and death and every other form of bondage. Some prophets and preachers in the Old Testament told the people they shouldn’t look forward to the day when God shows up. Because of their sin, the prophets said, it might go badly for them (cf. Amos 5:18-20). But overall, the Scriptures from the beginning promise that God showing up is good news for the world.

By the time Mark is writing, the term “good news” or, the Greek, “evangel” (there’s your Greek word for the week!), was completely tied to the Roman emperor (cf. Card 27). It was not particularly a religious word, though when it came to the emperor it did have religious overtones, particularly when it came to Octavian, who was later known as Caesar Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire. He was referred to as a soter or savior of the world, a son of god, and “the climax of Roman hope” (cf. Gupta, 15 New Testament Words of Life, pg. 19). His title, “Augustus,” means “exalted” or “majestic.” An inscription has been found that refers to Augustus this way: “The birthday of the god was for the world the beginning of ‘joyful tidings’” (Card 27). The beginning of good news.

So imagine, you’re in a Roman city somewhere and there’s a preacher in the town square and he’s talking about “the gospel.” He says he’s come to bring good news or joyful tidings about a savior whose arrival meant good things for the whole world. What is your first assumption? In that world, you would assume they are talking about the emperor and the good news and peace that he brings. It’s a political speech, but then again, in that world, politics and religion weren’t all that far apart (cf. Gupta 19). The emperor was a god, after all. But then you listen carefully and hear him talking about someone named Jesus from the backwater province of Palestine. And they are saying he came to save people, and that he is a king, and that his kingdom will never end. That sounds somewhat like a threat to Rome and yet it’s also very alluring. So you stay to listen. Whatever it is, you want to know about this good news.

Then it becomes obvious and apparent to Rome that there is a different “gospel” going around, one that isn’t about the emperor and one that is drawing people away from emperor worship to worship the Jewish God and this crucified so-called Messiah. Soon, the officials begin going after the leaders and preachers of that “gospel” and those who knew Jesus personally are being killed. Peter, the leader of those who originally followed Jesus, is among those who are killed and his young companion, Mark, realizes that if anyone in the future is going to know about this good news, someone needs to write it down. So Mark puts pen to paper and begins to record the stories, parables and sayings he has heard Peter talk about. And his first words sound a lot like that 50-year-old inscription dedicated to the emperor: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (1:1). He doesn’t even try to hide his belief that there is a new good news and a new savior in town. Jesus is better than the emperor.

In many ways, this verse is an outline of the whole book because the first half is about the ways Jesus demonstrated that he is the Messiah, the savior of the world. Mark tells stories that show how Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the chosen one of God. He also tells stories about how the disciples don’t get it, which, as I’ve said before, is at least partial proof to me that he didn’t make this up. In a made-up story, your heroes would not be as thick headed as the disciples are if you wanted people to believe what they say. But the disciples come off as confused most of the time, until the end of the first half when Peter confesses Jesus as the Messiah (8:29). After that, the story begins to focus on Jesus as the Son of God who gives his life for the sake of the world. He begins to predict his death and resurrection and then he goes to Jerusalem and lives that out to the point where a Roman soldier—did you get that? a Roman soldier, someone who has sworn allegiance to the emperor and most likely participated in emperor worship—a Roman soldier says, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (15:39). Then the resurrection comes along as an affirmation that all of it is true. This is the good news that Mark wants you to know: Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the Son of God. And, by the way, he’s alive, not dead in a tomb. God is on the loose in the world! No wonder the original ending of Mark has the women running away from the empty tomb “trembling, bewildered and afraid” (16:8). Mark says Jesus is what it’s all about, and if it’s not about Jesus, it’s not really good news. He is the fulfillment of the promise Isaiah made all those centuries ago; he is the good news, the gospel, that the messenger (the one with beautiful feet) came to bring (cf. McKnight, Mark, pg. 14; cf. Card 28).

The Romans looked for good news in their god-like emperor. Mark says good news is found in a crucified and risen man in Palestine. Where do we look for good news today? Where can we find it? Not in the so-called news. Every evening, I skim through my news app on my iPad. Mainly I would like to know if the world ended and I missed it, or if something really big happened that I should pay attention to. But you don’t get that today. Since the advent of the 24-hour news cycle, it’s all about grabbing eyeballs and clicks online. Headlines are written so that you can’t just skim through it and learn anything; if you want to really know what happened you have to click on it or watch the video. It’s all about revenue, all about advertising, all about clicks and not about real news. And we don’t find good news on social media. It scares me that some people only get their news from Facebook. If you’re on that platform, remember the days when you actually saw information and life updates from your friends? Those are hard to find now because of all the ads and so-called news and videos. Where do we find good news today?

When you think about the world we live in, what words come to mind? Go ahead and jot down the first two or three words you think of on your outline. Just take a moment and do that. Now, what words did you write down? [TAKE A FEW RESPONSES] You know what all that sounds like to me? It sounds like the world isn’t all that different from the world Jesus walked around in. A world of conflict—conflict between nations, conflict between people, conflict between religion and politics. Sound familiar? The pax Romana or “Roman peace” is misnamed. It only came about because of Roman force—“peace” at the end of a sword. Peace as long as you behaved. Jerusalem found that out when they rebelled against Rome within ten years after Mark wrote. A world of poverty, of the haves and the have nots, a world of rich and poor and injustice and racial hatred where being a Roman citizen was valuable. Paul learned that when the punishment he was threatened with was cancelled once they learned he was a citizen (cf. Acts 22:22-29). Citizenship had its privileges! Upper class and lower class, ins and outs. We may be advanced in terms of technology and knowledge, but really we’re not all that different than they were. We are still a world desperately in need of good news—good news that only comes in the form of hope, hope that there is someone somewhere who can rescue us from all these things.

Into that world, into our world, Mark speaks: “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God” (1:1). Good news, gospel, is found in Jesus. The Gospel is Jesus. But—and here’s the important point—Mark says what he has to say is only the beginning. And I don’t think he just means that verse 1 is the beginning of the story, even though it is. But it’s a story that continues with you and me. The end of the book, as I mentioned, has the women who came to the tomb running away, bewildered and afraid. They’re running back into the world. We know from the other Gospel accounts that they are going to tell the disciples (the men, remember, who didn’t bother to get up that morning) what has happened. And they, then, will also tell others to the point where the whole Roman world is impacted by this story, by what happened in the little Roman province. The story of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is only the beginning. The disciples continued to tell the good news and so do we.

Gospel is good news. Good news is meant to be shared. And the only ones who can share it are those who already know it. We can’t rely on so-called Christian leaders or some mass media campaign or some guy with a video ministry on social media to do it for us. Good news needs to be shared by people whose lives have actually been changed by it. The primary way we do that is by the way we live, and I say primary not because it’s necessarily the most effective but because it’s the most common. Every day, every place were go, we have a chance to share the good news through the way we live, the ways we speak, the ways we treat each other, the ways we work for justice in the world. People are watching the way we live. People can tell if the gospel makes a difference or not. When someone becomes a member of the church, we ask them to pledge five things to the church and to Christ: prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. “Witness” means living out what you believe, being a Christian wherever you go and in whatever you do—being part of the answer to that prayer we talked about last week: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And, actually, as I say often, while those five things are the membership vows, they are actually things I would hope every person who is a part of Mount Pleasant, whether members or attenders, would be engaged in. Live your life in line with the Gospel. Live your life in line with what you know to be true of Jesus. Live your life so that others see good news in you.

And be ready. There comes a moment when you can speak of your faith. When people see your life, there will come a time where they want to know why you live the way you live. I still have not forgotten one day like that in my own life. I was in the dorm cafeteria at Ball State and it was during finals week. I don’t remember what we were talking about around the table, but one young lady turned to me and said, “You always seem to be calm in the midst of stress. Why is that?” I was surprised and I wasn’t ready to tell her about my faith. So I just sort of shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what to say. I wasn’t ready and I wonder to this day if that young lady ever found someone braver than I to tell her how you can be calm even when everything is going crazy. It wasn’t long after that I discovered what has become, for me, a go-to Scripture, written by Mark’s mentor, Peter. Late in his life, he had these words of instruction for the church: “In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). If Christ is our Lord, if Jesus is the one we serve, then Peter says we should always be ready. When? Not sometimes, not when we get more knowledge, not when we’ve read one more book. Always be ready because you never know when that person is going to turn to you and ask, “Why do you live the way you live? Why are you calm in the midst of stress?” Always be ready. Always be prepared.

And it’s not about sharing a three-point sermon or a long memorized outline of Scriptures. That has its place, but most of the time, especially in our world, people aren’t all that interested in that. They don’t respect the authority of the Bible anyway and aren’t all that interested in the archaeological and historical proof for Jesus’ existence. At least not at first. Which is too bad because I know a lot of that stuff. No, what they want to know is this: what difference does Jesus make in your life? What I should have said to my friend back in college, and what I would say to her today, is that I have someone I can turn to who helps me through crazy times. He doesn’t take them away and he doesn’t just magically solve all my problems, but he is there and walks with me and gives me a peace that I can’t conjure up on my own. He helps me through every single day. I’ve said it before: people can argue with logical proofs and they can argue with your Scripture outline, but they can’t argue with your story. They can’t argue with how Jesus walks with you and how he has changed your life. Yes, people need Biblical knowledge. Yes, they need to know the stories of Jesus. Yes, they need to know about the cross and the empty tomb. But first they need to know that this living savior is with you and is changing your life. The story Mark told was the beginning of the Gospel. You and me—we’re the continuation.

However—and there’s always a however, isn’t there?—Peter says more than just “be ready to give an answer.” He goes on this way: “But do this [the giving of an answer] with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15-16). Gentleness and respect. The Message says to do this with “the utmost courtesy.” Here’s my translation of that: be ready to talk about Jesus but don’t be a jerk about it. There are a lot of these around. There’s “The Constant Corrector,” the person who turns every conversation into a theological debate and feels the need to point out what’s “wrong” with other people’s beliefs. Or there’s “The Public Performer,” the one who likes to make a show of faith in public and is constantly using so-called “spiritual” language. Last Sunday evening, we went to get ice cream because it was such a nice night out, and as we sat eating our Blizzards, another man came in and sat at a table not far away. His shirt had “Matthew 11:28” written on it, and he sat down to enjoy his meal, turned to his phone, pulled up a sermon and proceeded to blast the sound throughout the restaurant. And it wasn’t even one of my sermons! I told Cathy as we left that he probably thought he was witnessing but really he was just being obnoxious. Another one of my favorites is “The Social Media Preacher” whose messages are usually judgmental and guilt-inducing with very little said about the love of God. And of course we can’t forget “The Hypocrite,” someone who talks all the time about certain values but behaves in ways that contradict what they are saying. We usually end up reading about them in the news after their bad behavior catches up with them. I could go on, but you know the sort I’m talking about and they are not in line with Peter’s direction here. Listen to Peter again: “Always be prepared to give an answer…but do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15-16). Share Jesus. Don’t be obnoxious.

The beginning of the Gospel happened over two thousand years ago, but the story isn’t done yet. What Jesus said and did was only the beginning. What you and I do and say is the way the good news spreads and reaches others. The gospel is good news for this weary and broken world. It is the only hope for this world. So will you be part of the solution in bringing good news? Will you continue the gospel? If not you, then who? Let’s pray.