Mark 1 Reflection by Jo E
Mark 1 begins with John the Baptist pointing the way to Jesus for those who don’t know who he is. Reading this I was struck by the similarity between John the Baptist and our aims in the Eden Team. It reminded me that, while we know and carry Jesus with us, we aren’t Jesus. We might encourage our young people to make good decisions, hoping their lives will be transformed in practical ways but it’s Jesus who has the power to transform lives, not us.
John the Baptist was very clear about this, he never wanted to be mistaken as a saviour but instead clearly and repeatedly pointed to Jesus. Let us never run the risk of mistaking ourselves for being the saviour or allowing anyone else to think that, thinking that our teaching or advice could be the answer. John never forgot his job was to point to Jesus, let us do the same. Even when flocks of people were gathering to hear his teaching and follow him. John paved the way for Jesus, always pointing to him, remembering his role and never being distracted.
John was teaching about Jesus and pointing to him as Saviour, even before Jesus’ ministry had fully begun. He was even imprisoned and killed before much of the gospels. There’s incredible faith in teaching like that. John had faith the Jesus would come and be saviour and transform the Jewish faith through it, so like John, we have to have faith that Jesus will come, that he’ll come into the lives of our young people. And when he does, then we’ll see miracles. Like Simon and Andrew, Jesus will call our young people into lives we could never have imagined for them.
As I continued reading, I continued to imagine the impact Jesus could have on the lives of young people we know, thinking of them as the disciples. I was reminded that we can’t offer them that kind of journey or experience, only Jesus can. And what a whirlwind live that would be.
It’s simply our job to faithfully point to him like John the Baptist did, Jesus will do the rest.
