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Opening
lines matter, especially when we’re dealing with a great writer. That’s
true with the Gospel penned by a literary and theological genius whom
we know simply as “Mark."
Mark inaugurates his Gospel with this line: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
Every
word here matters, but especially the first one. It is a word fraught
with significance for biblical people. Arche, in Mark’s Greek, is a
translation of Bereshith, the opening word of the Bible—we translate it
as, “In the beginning.” Arche means that a new creation, some new and
unheard of order is emerging out of chaos. John uses the same word about
twenty years later when he starts his Gospel with En arche: "In the beginning was the Word."
Everything
Mark is about to tell in his story is about drawing new order out of
chaos, about starting over, about a second chance and a new creation.
How and where does that new beginning commence? With the birth of a baby, in a small, forgotten outpost of the Roman Empire.
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