Have you ever wondered why Mark’s Gospel doesn’t have a Christmas narrative?
After all, Matthew’s Gospel sets the birth of Jesus in the middle of the announcement to Joseph by the angel of the Lord, and the visitation of the wise men to worship the young child after following the star. This announcement affirmed the miraculous conception and heralded the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin birth.
Luke’s Gospel begins with the miraculous birth of John the Baptist, and continues with Cæsar’s taxation decree, the glorious pronouncement to the shepherds, and their arrival at the actual place in real time that they, “…found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:16). Luke also includes the great Christmas “Canticles” or “songs” of Zacharias, Mary, the heavenly host, and Simeon.
Even John’s Gospel includes the preincarnate Word, who is the Creator God, the Life, and the Light of men, becoming flesh and dwelling among us so that we could behold his glory.
But what about Mark’s Gospel?
Mark’s Gospel begins abruptly: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Mark 1:1-3).
For Mark, what is even more important than the birth accounts found in Matthew and Luke (as absolutely essential as those are), comes in the gospel message to which the birth narratives point.
That’s why he writes, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ…” However, before this Gospel message would be received by the people, there had to be a preliminary voice heard first.
You see, rather than describing the historical events of the birth of Jesus like Matthew and Luke, Mark jumps right into his Gospel the same way John would later do: Mark starts with the Word. The only difference is that John begins his Gospel with the living Word, Jesus Christ, while Mark initiates his Gospel with the written Word, the Bible, “As it is written…“
“The King James Bible at Mark 1:2 has, ‘As it is written in the prophets‘ followed by two quotations from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3 respectively. Note the plural word, ‘prophets.’
The Word of Truth
New versions however, following the Critical Text family of manuscripts, have, ‘as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:’… (ESV, NIV, NAS et al.), or ‘just as the prophet Isaiah had written:…’ (NLT). So, even though the two quotes from the Old Testament are retained, only one prophet is cited.”
So, the King James Bible correctly has the plural word “prophets.” As we discover differences like this between the King James Bible and modern versions, we must ask ourselves, ‘which Bible consistently bears witness to the truth?’
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mark combines these two texts in order to form a biblical portrait of the Messianic forerunner. The “messenger” of Malachi gets paired with the “voice of him that crieth in the wilderness” from Isaiah. The descriptions of the forerunner drawn from both texts combine into a very vivid depiction of John the Baptist.
While both passages speak of him preparing the way of the Lord, the contexts of the two prophecies from the Old Testament are quite different.
In the next parts, we will take a closer look at these two Old Testament prophecies and the perspective or tone each brings to the opening verses of Mark’s Gospel.