In the Beginning...of Mark

 Do you like long introductions? Me neither. Get to the point. Here's the introduction of Mark, the Gospel for those in a hurry:

​The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1 NASB) 

That's it. But look what's packed into it:

1. "gospel" - this is good news. It's not the Eleven O'clock News, not the Times, not CNN. This is good news. When is the last time you heard really good news, news that was good for everyone? It's been a while for me.
2. "Jesus Christ" - this is good news about THE Messiah. Not "a messiah". They had lots of news about such people, and it was rarely good news. This Messiah was all the messianic anointed ones rolled into One:
   1. The Prophet Like Moses - who would speak for Yahweh
   2. The King Like David - who would lead Israel to victory over enemies
   3. The High Priest like... - who would reform the corrupt religious system. This one turns out to be like Melchizedek instead of Aaron, which caught everyone off guard.
3. "the Son of God" - this is a term we often miss in English and our culture because of the "idiom" of Hebrew where "son" was used to refer to a category. This title puts Jesus in the category of God, which is claiming equality with God. That was extremely offensive to most Jews. This good news was about the Messiah of all messiahs, and every reference to the appearance of God among His people.

All these titles were found in the human being, Jesus. In this season, we celebrate the impossibility of the Creator of all matter in the universe contained in a manger sharing space with straw. What a strange beginning to such an immense story.