Week 1: Day 1
It's our first day of Orbit - our new daily reflection for young people! Join Martin Saunders as he takes a look at the first few verses of Mark chapter 1 and sets you a short challenge for the day.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”
Intro: Hello and welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites - I'm Martin Saunders. Each weekday we share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it, and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today.
Bible: This week we're starting to look at Mark's gospel - a story about who Jesus was, and what he did. Today's reading comes from Mark chapter 1, starting at verse 2 and skipping verses 5&6:
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins... And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”
Thoughts: John the Baptist was a very unusual man. The verses we just skipped over tell us that he wore clothes that were made of camel's hair, and that he ate locusts and wild honey, and the fact that the Bible goes to the trouble of pointing this out suggests that this wasn't what normal people did. John lived like this because he didn't have time for restaurant meals, or even for earning money to buy clothes. He was completely obsessed with his job - baptising people in the river Jordan, giving them a fully-clothed bath as a public demonstration that they were sorry for the things they'd done wrong in their lives. And it wasn't a job that paid well.
We're all familiar with the idea of people who live for their work - staying late in the office to close those deals, or ignoring the family all night to tap the laptop in the home office. Usually though, that's about building their own fortune or reputation; making a name for themselves in the world. John the Baptist had a completely different motivation for working that hard: he wanted to make a name for someone else.
John had been long-expected. In fact a prophet called Isaiah had written about him around 700 years earlier. And Isaiah knew that although John was important, and indeed that he'd work incredibly hard, his job was all about preparation. He was going to lay the groundwork for another man. All that hard work was just about preparing the way for Jesus.
"After me," he says in verse seven, "comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie." Could you imagine someone saying that about another person? No-one is that humble! But John is - and the reason why is that he's glimpsed the big picture. He might have been written about 700 years ago, but even he is nothing compared to the man who is about to join him. Even though people have flocked to be baptised by him, John doesn't believe his own hype. He knows his place in this massive, cosmic story about the son of God coming to earth - in fact, he's just thrilled to have a part in it.
In another part of the Bible, in a book written by a different John, we read John the Baptist explaining his relationship to Jesus. "He must become greater," says John, "I must become less." In a world where we're taught to follow our dreams and put ourselves first, we're not used to hearing people talk like that. But John gets it - he realises that Jesus really is the son of God. And if that's true, then he's worth absolutely everything. Even eating locusts, and wearing camel-hair clothes.
Pray: Jesus, I recognise that you are the most important person in the universe. I thank you that you want to be a part of my life; I don't need to be at the centre of it. Teach me to be like John, who lived to make your name greater, and his name less. Amen
Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.
Action: Every day on Orbit we give you a simple practical challenge to help you put this passage into action in your life. Here's today's:
Take a piece of paper or a journal, and write out the ambitions that you have for your life. Try to get as many down as possible - large or small. What are the things you are dreaming of? Now take a look at this list - and ask yourself: where is God in these dreams? Is he part of them? Do you have any dreams that actually involve God? Finally, pray through the list - that God would show you how he wants to be present in these things, but also that he'd give you new dreams that will help you to serve him and put him first.
Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining us - we'll be back with another reflection tomorrow.