Forming Faith Blog

Racing to the Good News (Mark 1)

Posted on December 19 2023 by Gregory Rawn

At the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus proclaims the good news of the kingdom of God, good news that the evangelist connects to Jesus himself, Messiah and Son of God.

A woman announcing good news into a megaphone.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
On the Seventh Day of Christmas…

December 31st marks the seventh day of Christmas. By now you have collected a medium-sized aviary (23 birds according to the song) and are wondering where you are going to put all of them. On a minor note, this is also the First Sunday of (after) Christmas and the last day of 2023. It is also often the least-attended Sunday of the church year. For that reason, Christian ed programming is often canceled and many pastors/preachers choose to do something like a service of reading and carols, possibly avoiding preaching altogether. Since said pastors/preachers sprinted a marathon the week before, you can’t blame them (not to mention we actually get to sing some of our favorite Christmas songs).

If you are covering the reading for Christmas 1 (this weekend or the next), here are some of my thoughts.

Mark: A Speedrun to the Resurrection

The Gospel of Mark is the shortest—by far—of the Gospels. It covers the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (today’s reading) to the resurrection in only 16 chapters (678 verses). The same set of events (adding Jesus’ birth narratives) takes Matthew 28 chapters (1,071 verses) and Luke 24 chapters (1,151 verses). Mark is basically the speedrun of the Gospel narrative. (For the uninitiated, a speedrun is a term in video gaming for an attempt to see how fast a player can finish a game or level in a single sitting.)

To get from the beginning of the Gospel to the last event in our assigned reading (Jesus calling the first disciples), Mark takes 20 verses. In comparison, Matthew gets to this event in 87 verses, while Luke takes a whopping 187 verses to get there.

Mark 1:1: The Unused Title

The first sentence in the Gospel of Mark is, well, not a sentence. It has no verb, and if you remember back to your grammar lessons, a verb is the most basic unit of a sentence (e.g., “Go!” is a complete sentence of only one word—a verb). And, Mark 1:1 doesn’t have one.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This has led some scholars to wonder if this verse was the intended title of the book—and the origin of a new genre in biblical literature: the Gospel.

Key Word: Euangelion

The original Greek for this “good news” is euangelion, which comes from the words for “good” and “announcement/message.” The English word “gospel” means the same thing, going through a different set of languages. But what is the news that is considered so good?

In Ancient Greek, euangelion was not a common word, but it did have a fairly common meaning. It referred to any type of news that was deemed favorable (if you are curious, you can read this helpful list of pre-Christians usage of the term). Probably the most famous usage is in the Priene Inscription (9 BCE), which connected the good news to the birthday of Emperor Augustus as god and savior.

Mark’s Meaning?

But what did Mark mean with this word? It might or might not have been a political statement (though it was for Luke and many Christians with the assertion that it was Jesus, not a Roman emperor, who was God and Savior.) Within this assigned reading, the word is used three times:

The beginning of the [euangelion] of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mark 1:1

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the [euangelion] of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the [euangelion].”

Mark 1:14-15

I think that Mark as author (v. 1) and Mark as narrator (vv. 14-15) meant two slightly different things in these verses. In verse 1, the euangelion belongs to Jesus, whom Mark asserts to be the Messiah (Christ) and Son of God. That assertion very well could be the beginning of his meaning, a meaning explicated in this whole book.

When Jesus is using the term, the good news belongs to God, specifically that the time of waiting (for the promise) has been completed and that the kingdom of God is very near. These are intertwined meanings, since it is because of the arrival of Jesus—the promised Messiah and Son of God—that completes the time and brings the kingdom near. And we’ll have the opportunities to explore this kingdom of God more soon.

Faith Formation Connections

Given the likelihood that congregations would not have educational programming on or around December 31st, we make the decision for our curriculum products to not create a lesson specifically for the Christmas 1 reading. We also don’t ignore it. We create an extended lesson that is approximately one and a half times longer than a normal lesson and covers both the reading for December 31st and January 7th. There is enough material to do two different classes, but—if you decide to cover both assigned readings on the same day—you can easily integrate the two passages into one class period.

So, with our free download for this week, you can use it on December 31st, send it home to households to do during the week, or save it for January 7th.

Merry Christmas!

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Download a FREE Activity for 12/31/2023
Free Resource

During the main Narrative Lectionary year (this year: September 10 to May 19), we provide a free resource download from one of our products to help you in your faith formation ministry. This week, download the activity “God in Our World” from our Living the Word: Cross+Gen Education (NL) resource (you can also order individual lessons!), though the activity can be adapted for most ages!

Order Faith Formation Resources

You made it through Christmas! But have you ordered faith formation resource for the winter? Purchase and immediately download the Winter quarter for the Narrative Lectionary, the Revised Common Lectionary, or even classic Sunday school Classroom curriculum for PK-2nd and 3rd-6th (check our blog post for a special discount)? Our faith formation resources are easy-to-use, theologically sound, and effective.

Looking for a resource for intergenerational events, a whole-church series, or even something new for Sunday school? Check out our Learning Together series! These five-lesson units are available on six different topics, one of which is FREE! The other five are quite affordable with variable pricing starting at $25 for a program with 1-10 participants. Perfect for children’s and intergenerational ministries, family or churchwide events, and even a whole-church Epiphany or Lenten series. A new unit will be announced soon! Follow us on Facebook, subscribe to our e-newsletter or blog to be the first to know.

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