Contents
Introduction
If a person is expecting someone in his/her house, then, that person must ensure his/her house is in order. Since Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus the saviour on the Christmas day, the period of advent offers them the opportunity of making adequate preparations to welcome the saviour. What Mark does at the beginning of his documentation as regards the Gospel is quite interesting. For him, the Gospel is a message of salvation, hence, those reading it must get themselves prepared. “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus” is a call to repentance and to believe the Gospel. It is a reflection of Isaiah chapter 40.
The good news
From ‘the beginning’, the evangelist Mark leads us through the pages of the Gospel with the intention and goal of presenting Jesus as the crucified and risen Lord. This is not only the beginning of the good news, but in Jesus’ death and resurrection we have the fulfilment of all the aeons of time in Jesus the Christ. John the Baptizer leads us in this Advent season to the one who is our Lord, whose birth we await and whose reign in eternity will never end. This is “the beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Son of God.”
How many baptisms?
“I have baptized you in water; but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8). How many baptisms do we have? In Mark 1:8, we hear about two forms of baptisms – baptism in water and baptism in the Ruach HaKodesh. The baptism of.…
Conclusion
How do we prepare for the Lord’s Coming? How did John prepare? How does the baptism in the Holy Spirit prepare us for his Coming? What do we need to clear out of our way back to God? We have all been taken captive by Babylon. We have been deluded by the riches and glamour of an ungodly world. We have fallen into the world’s ways of wrong thinking and wrongdoing. Our Babylonian world is lost. As the people ran to John, and as he baptized them, they confessed their sins. This means the people disposed themselves and God worked in their hearts as they prepared themselves for the arrival of the messiah. How about us? How are we preparing?
FOR DETAILS, GET YOUR OWN COPIES OF THE BOOK “THE WORD OF LIFE: SUNDAY REFLECTIONS” (vols. I and II)!! The reflection for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B is found on vol. II pages 7–17. Happy reading!
For details on how to get it, contact the author on this link: https://m.me/uchennabiblia?fbclid=IwAR2yeg4a6sDGBp9QGkIvKj6FSADumMokN6lshdE0zuo-JHs6qOmlhA7jyHo or email me at: postmaster@uchennabiblia.com or simply send an SMS on 08116100926, and I will get back to you.
