The second Sunday in Advent every year features the ministry of John the Baptiser as forerunner to the public career of Jesus. All four gospels agree that Jesus and his movement were launched from among those who went out into the desert to hear and respond to John’s prophetic challenge to Israel. In Mark’s case, he makes it the very first paragraph in his Gospel, literally “the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, and includes features that will be fundamental themes in all that follows. His was the very first such Gospel account of Jesus’ career written, and this year we will have 30 opportunities to hear it in our Sunday eucharists, along with John, which gets 21 (They are the two shortest gospels, and so are lumped together in Year B, although John also gets a good run every Easter season). So this Sunday we get our first taster of the year to come, before lurching back into the other gospels for Christmas, about which Mark is entirely silent! My comments can be found here…
Howard Pilgrim