St. Mark's El Camino - No Spain Needed

In the beginning of the Gospel according to Mark, we are introduced immediately to two key elements of his entire writing and in fact, the entire revelation of Christ. First, we have the phrase: 

"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." 

Our word "gospel" comes from the old English "god spel' which is itself a translation from the Greek 'euangelion.'  It means "Good Story" or "Good News," and its where we also good the word "evangelize."  St. Mark is effectively saying that he is about to tell the Good News of Jesus, and right from the start acknowledges him as the Son of God. 

What concerns us here is how St. Mark begins this story. Unlike Matthew and Luke who begin with the infancy (or unborn Jesus) narratives, and unlike St. John who begins even before the beginning of time, St. Mark skips his entire "hidden life" and begins with the proclamation of St. John the Baptist:

"Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way; 

the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

These are actually three Old Testament texts (Isaiah 40:3, Exodus 23:20, Malachi 3:1) woven together to tell us one thing: The New Exodus is about to happen. In English we miss the simplicity, because we don't realize that exodus and way are related words. We get the word exodus from the Greek word exodos (ex + hodos). Ex means to go out and hodos means (drum roll) WAY. So exodus means the WAY OUT, and is typically referred to a large group of people. In this context it is the WAY OUT OF BONDAGE. St. John is actually declaring, "Prepare for the New Exodus!" These are powerful words for anyone, but especially for that "god-forsaken" outpost of the Roman Empire known as Palestine. 

It gets better, because shortly this WAY/EXODUS is revealed. Immediately after we are pointed back to THE first EXODUS and the promise of a NEW EXODUS, Jesus arrives to be baptized. 

At the baptism, Jesus renews/redefines/fulfills the first exodus - he goes into the water (the Red Sea) and when he emerges from the waters the Lord declares him to be his beloved Son. Jesus then heads out to the desert, not for forty years, but for forty days and combats the devil fulfilling what Israel had never been able to do: remained faithful against false gods, hunger, and prestige. 

Jesus is truly THE WAY out of slavery to sin and into ETERNAL LIFE. 

You don't need to go to Spain after all, but in the words of Jesus after the temptation: Repent and Believe in the Gospel (Good News!), follow THE WAY and everyday of your life is a pilgrimage of magnificent magnitude!