Week 540–The Word–Fr Tony Percy–Mark’s Prologue

The Word–Fr Tony Percy– Mark’s Prologue (This week we are presented with the prologue and it's just only eight verses, that’s typical of Mark. It's the shortest Gospel, shortest prologue. Mark says, “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This is reminiscent of the book of Genesis, where we have in the beginning there was darkness, emptiness, and chaos, and then God speaks a word, and out of the darkness, light begins to emerge, and then plentitude out of the emptiness, and then order out of the chaos. So, what Mark is saying here is look, yes, we had that beginning, but here's a new beginning and this has got even more power, more grace, more beauty with it. What Mark does in the middle of the prologue is to say, “Well, John the Baptist emerges," and he says, "Look, I've come with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, then he says as he finishes the prologue, there's one more powerful than me. He's coming and he's going to baptize in the Holy Spirit. So yes, here comes the power in and through the teaching of Christ, his new teaching and it's got authority behind it. This is a big theme for Mark. The power of Christ has come to move the devil out of the world and to secure the kingdom of God for people. It's most powerful, indeed.)