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Advent Devotional for Second Sunday
December 10
• Mark 1:1-8
What’s your first reaction when you hear good news? Do you smile? Is your heart filled with joy? Do you want to share it with someone? If so, with whom?
Mark’s gospel opens with these words, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God …” God prepared the way for this good news to be heard just as the prophets foretold. The messenger was a strikingly unique figure named John the Baptist. His clothes were made of camel’s hair and he ate bugs. (I love the way God empowers unique and interesting people.) John’s message was one of confession and repentance—turning away from selfish pursuits and incomplete pictures of the work of God.
I must admit that I am a bit of a sap when it comes to the season of Advent. The music, the décor, the symbols, and the spirit all move me. Each year, I confess and repent of my satisfaction with sentimentality as I look upon the brokenness of our world and see the work that needs to be done. I am reminded to heed John’s message by looking to Jesus and to follow John’s lead by pointing to Jesus—the embodiment of the good news—who came to reconcile and restore the creation to its Creator.
In this text, John mentions two baptisms: his baptism in water and Jesus’s baptism in the Holy Spirit. As humble recipients of the good news who have been baptized in the waters of repentance, how will we, like John, faithfully point to Jesus? As empowered and enabled recipients of Jesus’s baptism in the Holy Spirit, how will we bear witness to this good news? As the Spirit enabled those faithful followers on the Day of Pentecost, may we also be empowered to proclaim this good news in fresh and unique ways that can be understood, participating with God in this reconciling and restorative work.
ou are the God who sends and embodies the good news. May we, like John the Baptist, faithfully point to Jesus the Messiah. As we are baptized in your Holy Spirit, enable us to embody the good news with our words and deeds as you send us. Amen.
Curt Davis
Student from Austin, Texas
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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