Mark 1 (2): 1:3-8 Mark and The Lord of the Rings

Now that we have gotten a fix in the last post on what Mark thinks the “good news,” the gospel is: an account and announcement of how Jesus of Nazareth has brought God’s plans for Israel and humanity, his eternal purpose, to its culmination and successful climax. That’s the story he tells in all its peculiarity and grandeur.

Let me posit an analogy that can help us keep both the peculiarity and the grandeur of that story in mind. Remember the three parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy? The Fellowship of the Ring (FR), The Two Towers (TT), and The Return of the King (RK).

-FR shows the formation of an implausible community tasked with an impossible deed.

-TT dramatizes the perils and the possibilities of the struggle to finish their task.

-RK pictures the “impossible possibility” of the task completed and the afterlife of the community.

I suggest these three categories map pretty well on to the way Mark composed his story of Jesus.

-chs.1-7: Jesus gathers an improbable group of followers and tasks them to follow him on his journey to announce and embody the kingdom of God. Let’s call it the Fellowship of the Bling. Jesus’ community is as ambivalent, confused, and unfocused as Frodo and the gang of FR.

-chs.8-10: Let’s call this section The Two Ways. The towers in Tolkien test the courage, perseverance, and capacity for discernment of the Fellowship of the Ring. The Two Ways are a similar gauntlet Jesus leads the disciples through in these chapters.

-chs.11-16: This section obviously mimics Tolkien’s tale and is “The Return of the King” as well. It narrates the climax and victory of Jesus and gives brief glimpse of the community’s afterlife.

 I will illustrate along the way with examples from the Tolkien’s trilogy.

The King’s Arrival Heralded (1:2-3)

God had told Israel that he will come to rescue his people from exile and that he will send a “messenger of the covenant” (Mal.3:1) to prepare his way in a composite citation of Isa.40 and Mal.3 (though referred to only as Isaiah because he is the more prominent prophet). We already know that Mark’s story is about Jesus so our ears immediately perk up when we hear a prophecy about God’s coming to his people heralding his story.

The term “way” is a key term in Mark, especially in what I am calling the “Two Ways” section (8:27; 9:33-34; 10:17, 32, 36, 52). While the way is a way of life to be practiced, in this first occurrence it is not this ethical aspect that is to the fore. Instead, the stress here is that this way is God’s own way of deliverance and rescue. This focus colors all the rest of the references and should not be eclipsed by the ethical aspect (though the ethical is surely there if subordinate). When we find the way mentioned in Mark we must always remember that we are participating in God’s and Jesus’ way not a way of our own devising or wisdom. The focus remains on God’s initiative and direction. This will be important to recall when the story takes the strange twists and turns it will (see esp. Joel Marcus, The Way of the Lord, 29-47). Whatever comes Mark assures us through this scriptural cite will be the work of God’s will and wisdom.

Focus on God as active and redeeming is a hallmark of Tolkien’s tale as well. Indeed, Fleming Rutledge notes: ”Tolkien understands God in the biblical sense, not as the object of the human quest or journey, not as the goal of human moral striving or human religious activity, but as the active subject, calling and sending, independent of the creation but always ways engaged in redemptive activity on its behalf” (The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings, Kindle Location 69-70).

The King’s Herald Arrives (1:4-8)

The prophesied herald of the Lord appears suddenly in the story. He’s in the “desert.” Jewish ears hear two nuances in this word. It referred both to a demonic haunt and place of danger and also the place where God meets his people to renew and reconstitute them (Hos.2:14). Probably both senses are intended. This moment inaugurated by this figure in the desert is fraught with promise and peril. The promise is God’s readiness to intervene and lead a New Exodus out of the River the people first crossed to enter the land under Joshua with echoes of Exodus sounding loud and clear.

A New Exodus was a treasured hope of Israel. It was among the fondest hopes of the Jews. When an Elijah-like figure, John the Baptist, appears at the river preaching baptism and repentance, well, the Jews took notice and came running to find out what was going on.

And what was going on in John’s baptism?

“What was it for? It was for “repentance” and “the forgiveness of sins.” The Jews who came out to John were not “repenting of their sins so they could be forgiven and go to heaven when they die.” They were repenting of both personal and national sins. As Jews they were repenting of their Jewish national sins. And why? So that YHWH would return His presence to them…so that they could have a king again, be a great nation again, and finally be God’s people to rule the world. The significance of the Jordan River should be obvious—they were symbolically passing over the Jordan River, ready to “take possession” of the Land and the promises of YHWH. It was their symbolic “New Exodus” declaration” (http://www.joeledmundanderson.com/?p=669).

A new and decisive moment in God’s subversive counter-revolutionary action to reclaim and restore his creation to his creational designs was launching. John the Baptist was its herald and in the Jordan River he was enlisting all who would submit to the baptism that marked their readiness for the struggle.