“1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You,
who will prepare Your way.
3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make His paths straight!”

4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were flocking to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

6 John wore a camel- hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He was preaching: “Someone more powerful than I will come after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of His sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.””
Mark 1:1-8 HCSB
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Mark opens us up into a scene where the action is already taking place. There is no lag, no waiting for Jesus to grow and mature, the other Gospel writers handle that, and so Mark skips ahead to a camel-clad John preaching loudly in the wilderness, the place of Israel’s disobedience. He also makes no qualms about describing Jesus’ nature by calling Him “The Son of God” right away in his opening sentence.

There’s a boldness and an urgency here that we cannot miss or afford to mistake. Mark legitimizes Jesus by calling to the prophets and their proclamation of a forerunner, an announcer, John the Baptist. John’s own birth circumstances were miraculous, being born to an older, barren couple. And John, a Nazarite from birth, comes with a bold message that cannot be mistaken. This message is not about himself for even a moment, but he is actively pointing toward someone else, and that someone is the Messiah, the Christ, God’s Anointed One, Jesus.

And so what do we take from this? What do I learn from an introduction?
I see that there is an urgency and an excitement that is too often lacking in my own life. I tend to get bogged down in details rather than focusing on the main thing. I get sidetracked by things that look legitimate, but really could stand to wait until a better time, or maybe even be pushed aside in favor of something better. We all make use of our time, we don’t have a choice in that matter. We cannot push a pause button, or step outside of time, we must do something with it, but what we do with it is what matters most. Do we get hung up in the day-to-day, or do we tell ourselves that there is a more urgent work to be done? Do we start each day recognizing that our time is precious, and the time to get started on the work of God is –>now<–, or do we pretend like it can wait, like people can wait? People who are still dead in their sins, who need to be resurrected, resuscitated and brought back to life, do we tell them to wait? Do we dare tell them that they don't need to know quite yet because we think we have the time later to tell the, the best news they will ever hear? Why do we delay? Why do we make other things a priority? The time is now, it has already begun. The work of the Gospel starts with us, today, now, and the ones who need to hear cannot afford for us to wait. Urgency compels us to go stand in the wilderness, to GoLove them as Jesus would. Nothing else takes priority over that…