a big inning

"The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
Mark 1:1


So I was having an ice cream with hipperken yesterday and we were talking about the implications of an existential understanding of the variegated nomism which characterized the salvific expectations surrounding second temple Judaism as is depicted through the narrative dynamics of the Pauline corpus within the first century. He had made some pretty good points, but really caught my attention with some comments on the process of living life on this side of eternity. For the sake of berevity, I'll save the comments on the former topic and focus our attention on the latter.

It is very apparent that the New Testament is (from start to finish; top to bottom; front to back. . .) essentially a balance. The entire notion of a new covenant is built upon what biblical scholar George Ladd once called an "inaugurated eschatology." Even though this phrase can astound your friends and family with its percieved percipience, it is a very simple descriptor which means "the beginning of the end." This inaugurated eschatology is found in the coming of the kingdom. As Christians we believe that the kingdom of God has arrived (coming with and through Jesus) but also recognize that the kingdom of God has not come in its fullness, which will happen at the second coming of Christ.

The point that stuck with me through the conversation with hipperken is statement regarding the importance of this present age. If the kingdom is in fact already present among us (through the church), then it is of vital importance that we work to see this kingdom realized (. . .as it is in heaven). I could not agree more. In fact I believe there are far too many Christians who write-off this world as something temporary and (therefore) insignificant. Not if we are to believe that the advent of Jesus truly means something. We have a great work to do and this world is not just something we endure until we move on. . .it is a place where ministry and worship and glorification and spiritual warfare happens.

The beginning of the gospel is not just some clever way to start an adult biography. Mark intentionally places this phrase at the outset of his work to remind us that what Jesus came to do only started something that cannot be stopped. This really seems to be a title of what follows. . ."Interpreting 1:1 as the title of the book, therefore, helps make sense of the abrupt ending of 16:8 - the beginning of the good news is over on Easter morning; after that "the good news of Jesus" will continue through the life of the church."

The life and work of Jesus did make for a big inning, but it wasn't the ninth.



*Joel Marcus, Mark 1-8 (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 146.