Quick Summary:

Mark opens his gospel with a sentence that, at first glance, seems totally perfunctory and inconsequential: THE BEGINNING OF THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. But this verse is actually loaded with clues telling us what Mark’s narrative of Jesus is about. The Priene Calendar Inscription dating from the year 9 A.D. helps us uncover Mark's deeper purpose. He introduces us to an understanding of "GOSPEL" that is a radical departure from the meaning of that word within Rome's empire.

What’s good about the news proclaimed in Mark's gospel is that God is ALL IN. God himself is coming to town, not in the guise of a Caesar, nor with the arms of a well-provisioned warrior, but—crazy as it seems—as a teacher and healer named Jesus. This proclamation has consequences for how we live and act as followers of Jesus today.

Friends, one glance at today’s headlines tells us that the bridge God determined to build in Jesus is still under construction. That God’s dream of unity, of redemption, of SHALOM is still not complete.