THE GOOD NEWS OF NEW BEGINNINGS

Reflections for the Second Sunday of Advent (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, 2 Peter 3:8-14, & Mark 1:1-8)

Mark is the only evangelist to call his book a “gospel” (Matthew talks of a book of origins and Luke envisages a narrative of events). Mark declares in his opening line, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God”. The word gospel, which is a literal translation of the Greek evangelion (meaning good news) is coupled here with the word archē meaning beginning. The opening line of the gospel of Mark announces the good news of a new beginning, a commencement that necessarily involves a rupture in the present, a discontinuity from the past, and a new direction for the future. An interesting question to pose here: Was this new beginning truly good news for Mark and his community?

We know in advance where Mark’s announcement of the good news of a new “beginning” is headed, don’t we? Suspended between the heaven and the earth on a cross, the Son of God is destined to cry in desperation, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” (15:34) before breathing his last. His disciples are bound to be persecuted by Jews and Romans alike, expelled from the synagogues and fed to the lions. Peter, the cornerstone of the Church would be martyred in Rome during Nero’s reign of terror. It is in this gloomy context that Mark pens his unbelievably courageous opening line: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God”. Between the violence of the cross born by Jesus and the violence of persecution faced by Mark’s community, lies the crux of a new beginning, which Mark characterises as ‘the’ good news of Jesus Christ!

Whenever and wherever God intervenes through his Son, life refuses to give in to the power of death; light rejects the dictatorship of darkness; and wisdom defies the tyranny of ignorance. The good news of God’s intervention in the difficult moments of our history brings with it the promise of new beginnings. This year, we enter into Advent at a time when humanity is reeling under the weight of raging wars, economic instabilities, the decline in freedom of expression, the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots, rising nationalistic narratives, etc., However, let us not forget that Advent happens in winter, the darkest days of the year when nights are longer than days and days get shorter and shorter.

The beginning of the good news of God’s intervention in our winter moments calls for our response: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths” (first reading and gospel). This voice that cries out in the desert continues to resist history’s repeated efforts to stifle it and calls for our participation in the path of salvation from violence to life, discrimination to dignity, and godlessness to divine life and freedom. This is the permanent new beginning that waits to break into our history whenever the world is tempted to imprison itself in its violence, injustices and tragedies. Advent is not merely a season of preparation for an annual feast but a time to prepare for permanent new beginnings.

The new beginning of the gospel is set in motion regularly in different ages of our history. It is also reset time and again. It is accomplished in the prophetic ministry of Isaiah, in John’s ministry of baptism, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and also in our times through our proactive preparation of the “way”. The beginning, facilitated by the cry of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel transforms the solitude of the desert into a meeting place for the crowds: “People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him”. All of them acknowledged their sins and were baptized, thus “beginning” to welcome something radically new into their existence, a new order of relationships, new priorities and new horizons.

Peter declares in the second reading, “The Lord does not delay his promise, but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”. Acknowledging the truth about oneself, repenting for one’s failures, and embracing the opportunities of being reborn in the Holy Spirit, we "begin" a new adventure towards the realisation of the “Lord’s promise of new heavens and a new earth” (second reading). Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Mark, in their contexts, accompanied their communities in such new beginnings. It is now our time.

This advent, let us prepare the way for new beginnings: laying highways in our spiritual wastelands; filling the valleys that create inequalities and discriminations; humbling hills and mountains that ‘accumulate’ what belongs to all humankind; and making plain rugged lands and rough countries that resist change. Let’s begin anew!