The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way, Mark 1:1-2
Today, I found myself smiling at a funny little thought while working on my commentary on Mark’s Gospel. I imagined Mark himself sitting across from me at the Writing Center—scroll unrolled, ink still fresh—sliding his opening lines in front of me and asking, “Does this sound right?”
So I read his words slowly:
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet…”
And I couldn’t help it—I slipped right into tutor mode.
“Mark,” I would say gently, “your ideas are beautiful. Truly. But you’re writing like a first-century Jewish author… and my job is to help modern English readers understand you.”
First, I’d point to that opening sentence. “Friend,” I’d smile, “you don’t have a verb here. Now, in Greek, that works just fine. It’s powerful, almost like a bold title carved into stone. But in English, it reads like a fragment. If this were a paper, I’d just ask you to add one simple word: is.”
And suddenly the line breathes a little differently:
“This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
Clear. Direct. Complete.
Then we’d move on to the second line. “Mark,” I’d continue, “you’ve written ‘as it is written in Isaiah,’ but your first quotation actually comes from Malachi. Now, I know why you did that. In your world, you name the major prophet even when you blend passages. That’s a perfectly acceptable practice in your time. But modern readers might get confused.”
So I’d suggest something like:
“As the Scriptures say—first in Malachi, and then in Isaiah…”
And then I’d lean back, smile, and say, “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re just writing from your own time, your own tradition, your own rhythm. And it works—it really does.”
Because the truth is, Mark’s Gospel doesn’t begin with careful, polished explanations. It bursts onto the page. It feels like someone who can’t wait another second to tell the story of Jesus. There is urgency in his voice. There is movement. There is life.
And maybe that’s the deeper lesson for all of us walking this prayer path.
Sometimes we worry so much about getting every word right, every detail perfect, every sentence polished… that we forget the joy of simply telling the good news. Mark reminds us that the gospel is not primarily about flawless grammar—it is about a living Savior.
He doesn’t linger long in introductions. He doesn’t slow down for perfection. He simply begins:
“This is the beginning of the good news…”
And what a beginning it is.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the writers of Scripture, who spoke Your truth with passion, urgency, and faith. Thank You for Mark, whose words remind us that the gospel is living and powerful, not confined to perfect sentences but alive in every heart that receives it.
Help us not to hold back out of fear of saying things imperfectly. Give us courage to share the good news boldly, joyfully, and faithfully. Teach us to love Your Word deeply, to understand it responsibly, and to speak it with grace.
And Lord, let our lives themselves become part of that unfolding story—evidence that the good news is still being written today.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
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