Mark 1

Mark 1:3

The King’s Highway Make ye ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight.—Mark 1:3. In Eastern countries the roads are exceedingly bad. They are not made and kept as they are here. They are full of ruts and holes washed out by the rain, and are covered with great rough stones. These stones are thrown out of the fields, or they roll down from the hillside, and it is nobody’s business to take them away. Driving or riding over such roads is very unpleasant and dangerous. The wheel sticks in a hole, or jolts over a boulder, and the passenger is almost shaken to pieces. Sometimes he may stick in the mud altogether, or his carriage may lose a wheel or be overturned. So if some great person has to travel over these roads, he takes care that some preparation is made for him beforehand.

Before he sets out on his journey, gangs of men are sent on in front. They gather up the stones, fill up the holes, and make the road as even as they can, so that the king or governor may pass over it easily and pleasantly.Long, long ago a prophet in the land of Palestine spoke these words: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” How could anyone make a highway—a road—for God? We are told in the New Testament of one man who did, who prepared the way of the Lord.His name was John the Baptist. While Jesus was still living at home, and before He had become known to anyone outside His own little town or had done any of His great miracles, great crowds were gathering to hear John the Baptist preach. And when they came to him, this is what he said, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He said, too, “There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” And when our Lord came to him to be baptized he said, “This is he.” For John the Baptist was only the messenger who went before to tell people to make the way ready for the King.Who was the King who was coming, and what was His kingdom? The King was Jesus Christ, and His kingdom was the Kingdom of Heaven.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Thy kingdom come.” Christ has begun to rule on earth, but the kingdom will not have come till the whole world and everybody in it call Him their King. And, alas! there are a great many things in the way of the King as He comes into His kingdom.Here are a few of them: war, and cruelty, and oppression, and injustice.

These are big words, but they come to this—that men are ready to hate, or hurt, or starve, or kill their brother-men. Why? For the sake of a little gain for themselves.So all these, things must be cleared away if the Kingdom of Christ is to come. They are the holes to be filled up and the lumps to be smoothed down in the way of the King. But who is going to do it? Listen to this old story.Once upon a time there was a prince who came to visit one of the towns in his kingdom. Now the first thing he noticed was that the roads in and near the town were in a shocking condition. They were full of bumps and hollows that made driving very difficult and that hurt the horses’ feet; but nobody seemed to think it was their business to put things right.

There was plenty of grumbling, to be sure, and everybody was ready to blame somebody else for the state of affairs, but grumbling never did, and never will, mend matters.Well, the prince took in the situation, and what do you think he did? He went out one night after everyone was in bed and rolled a huge stone right into the middle of the biggest hollow in the road.Next morning there was a terrible fuss. The boulder blocked the traffic and the drivers got very angry. Then they hit upon the plan of driving on the side- path, and that endangered the lives of the foot passengers. There was great confusion and much shouting and grumbling, but nobody thought of removing the rock!At last a man came along who grasped the situation. “Why,” he said, “what a lot of mischief that boulder is doing! I must try to get it out of that.” So he put his shoulder to the stone, and with a strong heave pushed it right out of the way.

Underneath was a bag of money with a label attached, and on the label was written these words—“To the one who removes the rock.”Now, boys and girls, there is more than one way of dealing with the rocks that lie in the King’s path— the rocks of cruelty and injustice and oppression. Some people grumble about them but make no effort to clear them away; others pass them by indifferently; but those who are brave and loyal and unselfish put their shoulder to them and push them right out of the way.

And underneath they find a reward—not of money, but of something much more precious—the reward of the King’s smile and of His glad “Well done!”You may think this has not much to do with you. You cannot stir people up to see injustice and wrong, and you cannot pass Acts of Parliament to put things right. But in a few years you will be the grown-up people of this country. It is you who will have to vote then for the right things and against the wrong ones. It will be in your power to prepare the King’s way.At an American election some years ago the Temperance party was defeated. On the day of the poll many people had worn badges of little bits of colored ribbon showing with which side they sympathized, and the following day a message boy who was on the Temperance side still went about wearing his bit of ribbon.

At one house a servant girl teased him about wearing the colors of a defeated party; but the boy replied proudly, “Just wait a bit! It was the turn of the men yesterday, but it will be the turn of us boys soon!” And it is the turn of these boys now, boys and girls, for they have grown up, and all America has decided in favor of Total Prohibition.But you don’t need to wait till you are grown up.

You can begin now—the sooner the better. Before Christ’s Kingdom can come in the world, it must come in the hearts of men. What makes the misery in the world? Selfishness and greed and anger and pride— these make the most of it.Yes, Christ’s Kingdom is in the hearts of men. And if you wish His Kingdom to come, you must make Him King of your heart, and before He can come and reign there you must make a way for Him to come. He cannot find room to come and reign while the heart is full of bad thoughts, and angry feelings, and grudges, and unkindness. All these things are blocking up the way of the Lord. “Repent,” said John the Baptist. That is just “Be sorry” and clear out of your heart everything that hinders the coming of the King.

Mark 1:13

Angel Ministers Angels ministered unto him.—Mark 1:13.Some years ago there was a very pretty Christmas card for sale. It was the picture of a little baby in its cradle, with its mother bending over it. But when you held it up to the light, two beautiful transparent wings became visible on the mother’s shoulders, and instead of a mother putting her baby to sleep you saw an angel. A lady showed this card to a very little girl and explained to her that there are people among us so good and helpful and loving that they are like angels. “Yes,” said the child, “I know that, for Miss Johnstone, my teacher, is one.”Now we can all be angels, although we can’t grow wings; for an angel is just a “ministering spirit,” and to “minister” just means to do some service for others. After the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, the angels came and ministered to Him. But there were human angels, too, who ministered to Him when He was on earth.One Sabbath Jesus had been teaching in the synagogue, and after the service He went home with His disciple Peter.

When they came into the house Jesus was told that Peter’s wife’s mother was lying very ill with fever. He went to her, and took her hand, and made her well.

And she rose and “ministered” to them. Most likely what she did was to get them some dinner and wait on them. But she was ministering to Jesus in her own way just as the angels were in theirs.On another occasion Jesus sat at meat in a Pharisee’s house. Now it was the custom in that hot land to give the guests, when they arrived, water to wash their tired, dusty feet. Simon the Pharisee had omitted this courteous act, but a woman came to Jesus and washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair and anointed them with oil. She, too, was ministering to Jesus.And just at the end of His life on earth, when He came riding into Jerusalem, the multitude cut down branches from the trees and strewed them in the way to do Him honor.

And the little children He had loved and blessed joined their voices with the voices of the grown-ups and cried, “Hosanna to the son of David!” They, too, were ministering to Jesus.Jesus no longer treads the ways of men, but He has taught us that wherever there is anyone lonely, or suffering, or sad, or poor, wherever there is anyone who needs us, there He is. And He has told us that, if we minister to them, we are really helping and serving Him; if we are kind to them it is just as though we were kind to Him.There is a beautiful story which comes to us from olden times.

It is called the story of Eager-Heart.Eager-Heart was a beautiful woman who lived in a tiny cottage in a little village. One day the Great King was expected to pass through the village and to spend a night there. And all the village people began to be very busy getting their houses ready to receive Him; for who knew which house He might choose to sleep in?Now Eager-Heart also busied herself preparing her little cottage. And she took special pains to make everything very nice, for she had had a dream that the King might stay with her. She swept her floor, and dusted all the corners of her room. She put beautiful clean linen sheets on the bed. She cooked some food lest her visitor should be hungry. Then she lit her lamp and waited.And while she was waiting, there came a knock at the door.

She opened it quickly, but, alas! it was only a poor tired woodman with his wife and little shivering boy. And the woodman asked her if she would take them in and give them shelter for the night, for they were tired, and cold, and hungry. The woman replied, “Oh no, no, not to-night! Come tomorrow night, or the next, or the next. Come any other night except to-night; for to-night I am expecting a dear friend.”The woodman turned sadly away. “It is what they all say,” he sighed, “‘Come any other night but to-night. We have no room to-night.’” But as he was turning away the little boy looked up into the face of Eager-Heart.

And he smiled such a beautiful smile— the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. The smile went straight to her heart, and the next moment the weary travelers were inside her door, and the little child was lying in the white bed that had been prepared for the King.Then the woman took a lantern and went out into the village street.

She had hoped to shelter the King, and now that could never, never be, but perhaps she might still get a glimpse of Him passing through the village.And as she went she met the shepherds and the Wise Men coming to look for the King. The Star was leading them, and following them was a great crowd of men and women, all anxious to see the King.Eager-Heart joined the crowd, and she followed the Wise Men down the street till they stopped at the door of her own little cottage. Then she spoke. “No, no,” she said, “not there. That is only my humble home.”But the Wise Men made answer, “Even so; yet the King must be here.” And they pointed to the Star which stood still over her doorway. Then the woman made haste to open her door. And lo, her little room was ablaze with light.

There in her home were Mary and Joseph, and on the snow-white bed lay the little child Jesus.Then Eager-Heart fell on her knees and worshipped. And her heart was filled with a great joy and a great thankfulness because she had opened her door to the weary travelers.No more, as on that night of shame,Art thou in dark Gethsemane,Where worshipping, an angel cameTo strengthen Thee.But Thou hast taught us that Thou artStill present in the crowded street,In every lonely, suffering heartThat there we meet.And not one simple, loving deed,That lessens gloom, or lightens pain,Or answers some unspoken need,Is done in vain,—Since every passing joy we makeFor men and women that we see,If it is offered for Thy sake,Is given to Thee.

Mark 1:18

Straightway Straightway.—Mark 1:18.I wonder if you have a pet word—a word you use very often. Many people have a pet word that they like to produce on every possible occasion. This word " straightway” is St. Mark’s pet word. He uses it forty-one times, nearly twice as many times as St. Matthew and St. Luke together.What does St. Mark mean by “straightway”?

He just means “immediately,” “at once,” “straight away.” Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and He saw two men casting a net into the sea. He called them to come with Him, and straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him. They didn’t say, “Oh yes, well come, but just wait a minute till we haul up our nets again or find somebody to look after the boat.” They came at once, without any doubt or hesitation, and if they hadn’t done so the likelihood is that they would never have come at all, and Jesus would have had to choose two other disciples in their place.Now I think that word “straightway” is a very good word. There are so many things that it is best to do straightway. Under the clock of a certain factory there is a sign with the words, “Do it now.” It is the motto of the factory, and it means that the best time is the present. It is just another way of saying, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” Well, straightway just means “Do it now.” I think it would be not at all a bad idea if we took that word as our motto; so I want to speak to you about a few of the things that it is best to do straightway.1.

Be diligent straightway.—Every day brings its own work, and if you don’t do today’s work today, then tomorrow will have more to bear than it ought, and neither tomorrow’s work nor today’s will be properly done, because they will both have been hurried.And there is another reason why we should be diligent straightway. When time goes past we can never get it back again, and wasted time very often means wasted opportunity.Do you know the story of how the klipdas came to be without a tail?

The klipdas is the rock badger, a little animal something like a rabbit. It lives in South Africa, and the Zulus have a sort of fable about it, which Rudyard Kipling tells.At the beginning of the world, say the Zulus, none of the animals had tails. But after some time they were told that if they would meet at a certain place on a certain day they would all get their tails. Now the klipdas was a lazy fellow, and when the day arrived he was lying in the grass having a good snooze. Later he was wakened by a noise. It was Mr.

Monkey passing along, and he seemed to be in a great hurry. “Where are you going?” asked the klipdas. “Why, to get my tail, of course,” replied the monkey; “aren’t you coming too?” But the klipdas was very comfortable in the grass, so he asked the monkey to be good enough to get both their tails. Well, what do you think Mr.

Monkey did? He asked for the klipdas’s tail right enough, but instead of handing it on, he joined it to his own tail. And to this day the monkey has an extra long tail and the klipdas has none at all!So don’t let other people excel you because you are too lazy to work. Be diligent straightway. Stick in to your lessons, however dull they may seem. Learn while you learn, and play while you play, and then you will be ready for your opportunity when it comes.2. Be obedient straightway.—I wonder how many of you are that? If I asked those people to hold up their hands who had never said “Wait a minute” when they received an order, I wonder how many hands there would be.

Well, I can’t tell you for certain, but there is one thing I do know—you wouldn’t see my hand held up.What makes us say things like “Wait a minute,” or “Why must I?” It is chiefly pride. We know we have to do the thing in the end of the day, but we want to show that we have a will too, and so we give a wriggle first.Now I am going to tell you something. You will never grow up unless you learn to obey. You may grow into big men and women, but your minds and wills will never grow up. For one of the first lessons you will learn when you go out into the world is that everybody has to obey somebody else. Employees have to obey their masters, masters have to obey the wishes of the public or their business will fail.

Soldiers and sailors have to obey their superior officers. Even the king cannot do as he likes.Now if you have to obey, don’t you think it is a great deal better to do it pleasantly and at once than unwillingly and with a grumble?

And if you can’t make yourself do it any other way, try to imagine that you are a soldier and your father or mother your superior officer. Of course no soldier dare say, “Wait a minute,” or “Why must I?”3. Be hind straightway.—Somebody was once trying to persuade the Duke of Wellington to do something that was not quite right, and he pointed out that the right thing would cost him a great deal of trouble. “I don’t care a rap,” said the Duke, “I haven’t time not to do right.” Well, I think we might say that we haven’t time not to be kind.There is such a thing as being kind too late. I read a story the other day about a man who spent his days vainly trying to smooth out the wrinkles that his wild boyhood had made on his mother’s brow.When he was a boy he gave his mother a great deal of trouble and worry by his bad ways. Nothing she could say or do made him the least bit better and he did not seem to mind though day by day her face grew more careworn. Finally, he ran away to sea.

At first he had a very hard time, but later he began to get on and he rose to be a captain. All these years his mother never ceased to think of him and write to him, and at last he resolved to go home and try to make up to her for all the unkindness of his earlier years.So he came home, rented a small farm, and took his mother to live with him.

But though he loaded her with kindness and love, nothing could undo the harm he had done. No amount of love and care could smooth out the wrinkles on her brow, or turn her snow- white hair black again. He had begun to be kind too late.Boys and girls, be wiser than that boy. I am glad he tried to smooth away the wrinkles, but it would have been infinitely better if he had never let them come. You have still your chance. You have not begun to put the wrinkles on mother’s brow, or perhaps you have put only one or two tiny creases. Don’t put any more there. Be kind to her now and you will have no bitter regrets.

And not only to your mother, but to everyone around you, be kind. If you get the chance of being kind take it “straightway.” It may never come back again. And remember that every opportunity of being kind is a gift sent from God. It is something He gives us to do for Him in the world.4. Follow Christ straightway.—It is never too soon to begin to do that. He called a little child to Him once on earth and He is still calling little children. He wants you for His very own: He needs you. Many people have put off following Him till later and it is their most lasting regret.

Imitate Simon and Andrew, who came straightway when they were called. He is calling you now. Will you go to Him straightway, or will you keep Him waiting through the weary years till the best of your life is past and you can offer Him only the dregs?