Preparing the Son of Man : Part 1
Sometime around 2003 or 2004, George W. Bush was the US President, and he was invited to speak at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. Joyce and I were attending that event at the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the things I remember about that experience was the security surrounding the event.
As you can imagine, the president didn’t just show up and walk in the door. There was an advance security team that did a thorough sweep through the hotel and convention center. Only when they were satisfied that there were no threats, was the president allowed to enter the building; and then only flanked by members of his Secret Service security detail. Everyone who went into the hall where the president was going to speak had to pass through a metal detector. We had our infant daughter with us, and they searched our stroller carefully.
Now imagine how it would’ve been if, when the time came for the president’s speech to the people at the convention, the moderator had introduced the head of the security team instead of the president. You’d say, “That’s crazy; that’s not how it works.” And you’d be right! The presence of the security team announced that someone important was coming, but the focus wasn’t on the security team, the focus was on the president.
As we learned in our previous study, Mark’s gospel begins with a joyous declaration of the good news of the divine King, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When we use the word, gospel, we’re generally referring to one or two things. We talk about the four gospels, the records of Jesus’ life and ministry, or the gospel message, the Good News of salvation through Jesus. But Mark’s audience had a different understanding of the word.
The word gospel was not an inherently religious word. In the first century usage, it signified the ascension of a king to his throne. Mark’s Gentile readers would’ve immediately made the connection between the use of this word and the announcement of a coming Sovereign. Yet, by His name and title, Jesus Christ, and by His identification as the Son of God, Mark’s audience would’ve understood that this coming One was no ordinary earthly king.
In their understanding of this gospel concept, the king was always preceded by a royal herald. He was an authorized messenger whose responsibility was to proclaim the coming king and to prepare the way before him. That is exactly what we saw in our previous study with the introduction of John the Baptist. He was the forerunner, the herald, the messenger announcing the coming of the King, Jesus Christ the Son of God. So, the focus wasn’t on him, but on the King who was about to make his appearance. He was preparing the way for Jesus.
But there were also some preparations that Jesus needed to make. And those preparations will be the focus of our study this time, “Preparing the Son of Man.” Our text is Mark 1:9 to 15 so, listen carefully as I read.
From these verses, we observe the important PROCESSES involved in preparing the Son of Man. These processes are also an important part of our preparation for sharing the Good News.
The processes we will examine are approbation, authentication, and proclamation.
The First PROCESS (involved in preparing the Son of Man) is,
His Approbation
Approbation has a similar meaning to the word, approval, but it also carries with it the ideas of admiration, commendation, and praise. I think you’ll understand why I chose this word as we continue our teaching. And I believe that Jesus’ approbation is received from God and men.
Here’s the setting. John is baptizing people in the Jordan River on the basis of their repentance and confession of sin. Jesus travels from Nazareth of Galilee so He can be baptized by John. While the site where John was baptizing hasn’t been identified beyond doubt, Jesus most likely traveled a significant distance; perhaps as much as 50 to 75 miles to the vicinity of Jericho!
According to John’s gospel, John the Baptist said, “I did not know Him [Jesus], but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” Either John had never met Jesus in person, or it had been such a long time since a previous meeting that he didn’t recognize Him! Common people didn’t travel long distances in those days for vacations or family reunions.
We know that Jesus didn’t need repentance and confession of sin, He was God in the flesh. So, why should He come to John for baptism? Matthew’s account tells us that John didn’t want to baptize Jesus; he felt unworthy, and he repeatedly refused to do it. Here was the sinless Son of God coming to him, a sinner, to be baptized. It didn’t make sense to him. He said to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you!” But Jesus said, “No, we need to do this in order to fulfill all righteousness.” What did that mean?
For one thing, we don’t know much at all about Jesus from his early childhood until He appears at John’s baptism. We have the one incident in the Temple when he was 12 years old: that’s it. So, this baptism is His reemergence onto the public stage, we might say. According to Hebrews 7:26, our Savior is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens…” And yet, here was His public identification with us sinners. Jesus didn’t need to be baptized for repentance, but He set an example for us. God had sanctioned John’s baptism and that was enough for Jesus to participate.
Is it also possible that John was taking some of that Jordan water, symbolically polluted by the sins of the people he baptized, and baptizing Jesus with that polluted water? In that case, this baptism is symbolic of the cross where He took our sins on Himself. And remember, Jesus did refer to the cross in Luke 12:50 as “a baptism I must be baptized with.”
So, John overcomes his initial reluctance and baptizes Jesus. As far as we know, this is the only in-person meeting between John and Jesus. Immediately, (by the way, that’s one of Mark’s favorite words), several things happened simultaneously. As Jesus was coming up out of the water after His baptism, the heavens were opening up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove was descending on Him. In addition, a voice is heard from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; therefore, in You I take delight.” Here you have a clear expression of the triunity of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Now can you see why I chose the word approbation over approval? God did more than approve of what Jesus did. It was more than a pat on the back, or a fist-bump, or an “atta boy.” It was more like an embrace coupled with a verbal blessing. He called Him “Beloved” and expressed His delight in Him. There was admiration, commendation, and praise in these words from God the Father. Later, the Father had a similar, yet different, message for the three disciples of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. “This is my Son, the Beloved; hear Him.”
The biblical record only contains a few times when the heavens were opened under special circumstances. The prophet, Ezekiel, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, and John the Revelator come to mind. And I find it interesting that the word Mark uses here in our text for the rending or opening of the heavens is the same word Matthew uses to describe the rending of the veil in the Temple at the time of Jesus’ death. The earthly life and ministry of Jesus were bookended, as it were, by special signs of God’s approval.
As all this was happening the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon Him. The dove is a symbol of peace, of purity, and of innocence. This was, at least in part, a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him…” Here, in the presence of John the Baptist and the watching crowd, the Holy Spirit visibly anointed Jesus for His role as Messiah.
Reading some comments from the early church fathers on this passage was illuminating. They compared the descending dove at Jesus’ baptism with the dove that Noah released from the ark after the worldwide judgment of the Flood. The dove that Noah released illustrated deliverance from the raging waters of judgment. Jesus came to bring us a way to escape the wrath of Almighty God against our sins. Both doves signified the beginning of a new era of peace.
Isn’t it interesting that Jesus didn’t go to Jerusalem to inaugurate His earthly ministry? That was the center of the religious life of the nation. But just as he had been born in obscurity among the common people of Bethlehem years earlier, here He was coming to the common people of Judea who needed the confession and repentance that John’s baptism symbolized.
He came from Nazareth of Galilee, a “wrong side of the tracks” kind of place. You might recall that when Jesus was calling His twelve disciples, Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It sounds like the place had a reputation, doesn’t it? In John chapter 7, when Nicodemus was defending Jesus among the religious leaders, they said, “Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” The Jewish leaders expected the Messiah to come from Jerusalem and to be a king who would free them from bondage to Rome. That expectation was so ingrained that they ignored the prophecies that told them otherwise.
Like the Jewish leaders of that day, you and I have similar prejudices about certain people or places. We may assign labels to people based on where they live, on the reputation of their parents, or where their ancestors came from. We know from Jesus’ ministry that He didn’t do that. He identified with all the people. He understood that the human condition is the same all over the world, and so the divine prescription is the same.
Certainly, this is an interesting record of an event in the life and ministry of Jesus. But if all we do is look at the historical narrative, we miss so much of what God has for us today.
Do you have God’s approbation on your life? Are you willing “to fulfill all righteousness” whatever that obedience means in your circumstances? What hardships are you willing to endure, what condescension or humility will you embrace to fulfill God’s calling on your life? Paul describes for us in Philippians chapter 2 what Jesus gave up in order to reconcile us to His Father. Of course, you and I are not equal to Jesus, but we’re His followers and He is our example.
Do you sometimes feel like you’re a “nobody,” that your background isn’t that great, that you come from an obscure place or from a messy family? Remember, people made accusations about Jesus’ family too. It doesn’t matter. If you’re a follower of Jesus then you have more true riches than Bill Gates, George Soros, and Elon Musk all put together! Don’t forget that just like God prepared the plan of salvation before the world was created, He also chose you at that time to be “holy and without blame before Him in love.” And His seal of approval on you, His approbation, is the presence of His Holy Spirit.
Would God say of you, “This is my beloved son or my beloved daughter?” Does He delight in you? Maybe you can’t see how that’s possible but let me read something for you that might help. This is Jesus speaking in John 14:23. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him…”
Did you catch that? Jesus said that if we love and obey Him, He and His Father will come and make themselves at home in us. Doesn’t that sound like acceptance, like delight? I like to travel, and I’ve been to many different places, but my favorite place to be is at home! I am delighted to be at home. If you don’t have the assurance that God loves you and delights in you, it will hinder what He wants to do in your life.
So, the first process needed in preparing the Son of Man was approbation.