St. Mark, Evangelist 2021
Isaiah 52:7-10; 2 Timothy 5:5-18; Mark 16:14-20
April 25, 2021
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
Today we commemorate the festival day of St. Mark the Evangelist. John Mark, who served as a missionary along with Paul and Barnabas, also served so with Peter. Very early on in Christian history it was the near unanimous tradition that Mark’s account of the Gospel is what he learned from Peter before the apostle’s martyrdom in Rome. It was said that Mark finished his earthly services to Christ by serving as a bishop in the great city of Alexandria, Egypt, where he ultimately died a martyr’s death.
Special days like this are not observed for the glorification of any person but as occasions for thanking and praising God who did wonderous things through men to build and preserve His Church. Our thanksgiving is directed to God for the work of this saint, especially for recording God’s Word and the good news of salvation through Christ by means of his Gospel account. The Gospel is not simply a message of individual salvation for you and me, but first and foremost the story of Jesus Christ and His disciples. Mark is the shortest of the four Gospel accounts and the fastest paced. It provides a beautiful picture of Christ as the conquering King, who battles and drives out the enemies of the God’s people, culminating on the cross. A good portion of the account takes up the Lord’s suffering, death, and resurrection. It has been called a Passion narrative with a preface. It tells us how the Lord went about doing good, how He attracted to Himself some disciples. It tells us of the work He did, the words He spoke, His miracles and parables. The point is the reign and rule of God in Jesus Christ has come in power, but also in hiddenness in humility and lowliness. The goal of Jesus’ ministry was to serve, not to be served, and to give His life as a ransom of many. The true revelation of the Son of God was at the cross, where He gave His life, and in His bodily resurrection.
The Gospel with its wonderful account of the Passion and the glorious Easter message speaks about the source of the continuous life of the Church. Today we heard from what is sometimes called the long ending of Mark. It speaks of the Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and then to the Eleven Disciples. We heard of Jesus instructed His disciples to go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation and then of His ascension to the right hand of God.
Just as the disciples did not immediately see Him clearly and had only His promise, so we all and all Christians do not see Him and His kingdom fully now. It’s through hearing the Word of God that the Holy Spirit calls a person to faith, so that they believe and are baptized and saved. It is difficult to be faithful on the basis of the word alone. The disciples are testimony to that fact.
We want to be confessors of the faith. We want to be faithful, to stand firm on the Word of God, to be faithful followers of Christ, not ashamed of the Gospel. But it sure would be easier to endure if we could see some proof or sign. If only we had been there when Jesus walked the earth. If only we had wonderous miraculous signs. If only we had been there on Easter. It would be so much easier!
But Mark reminds us that if you had been there, it would not be have been any easier than today. What you have is what the disciples and the woman at the tomb had, also on that Easter morning: you have the promise of God’s Word, the Word that endures. Yet His promise is always sure. There will be a full revelation of the glorious, risen Christ, but for now we can only believe the witness of the Word. It’s through hearing the Word of God that the Holy Spirit calls a person to faith, so that they believe and are baptized and saved.
So we give thanks to God for St. Mark, for driving home the point again and again that this is no dead story nor a mere record of past events. This Good News is the source of the present life of the Church, the body of Christ. The best way for us to commemorate St. Mark is to ask ourselves whether, as the body of Christ in this place, we are experiencing the living truth of what St. Mark describes. Are we true disciples? Do we love Him, follow Him? Do we hang upon His every word eager to hear more? Have we read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested what God has caused to be written concerning His Son Jesus Christ? Do we live in the realization that by our Baptism we were admitted into the body of Christ? Do we rejoice that as Jesus appeared to His disciples in His resurrection glory that He still reveals Himself to us through His Word and Sacrament and makes Himself known?
Jesus ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, but He is not absent from His Church. Though we cannot see the Lord in the same way as those first disciples, we are still His disciples as truly as those of whom the Gospel account tells. Learn to love the Lord and follow Him, to pray, to seek Him where He promises to be. The kingdom of God is still in our midst. The essence of the teaching and preaching of Christ for Mark as well as for us is the inbreaking of the kingdom of God by the King Himself! The Son of God is still going about doing good. Baptisms are still being done wherein a person is washed clean, snatched from the hands of the devil, and welcomed into the Kingdom. The Word is still being proclaimed which rebukes unbelief and hardness of hearts, and offers the free forgiveness of sins. The Holy Supper is again and again realized among us every Sunday. The Lord still works with and through His people. For Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!