Unlike the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the Gospel of Mark
contains no stories of the birth of Jesus or any information about his
miraculous conception. Instead, Mark begins his Gospel with the baptism of the
adult Jesus at the hands of John the Baptist, who comes to “prepare the way of
the Lord” (Mark 1:3, quoting Isaiah 40:3). Luke similarly starts his story with
John the Baptist. Prior to narrating his account of the conception and birth of
Jesus, Luke presents us with a story of the conception and birth of John.
John’s conception is reminiscent of the conceptions of many
significant figures from the Hebrew Bible. His father, Zechariah, is an old
man, and his mother, Elizabeth, is barren when the angel Gabriel promises them
a son. One parallel is to Abraham and Sarah, to whom God promised Isaac when
Abraham was already an old man and Sarah was barren (Genesis 18). But there is
another interesting parallel in the story of the birth of Samson (Judges 13).
Like Sarah and Elizabeth, Samson’s mother was barren when an angel came to her
and told her she would conceive and bear a son. And just as Gabriel tells
Zechariah that John “must never drink wine or strong drink” (Luke 1:15), the
angel urges Samson’s mother that she too must abstain, for her son will be a
Nazirite (see Numbers 6:3).
Luke is clearly concerned with showing that John will be a
great figure like the Old Testament heroes who came from similar origins. He
wishes to highlight the fact that there is continuity with what came before.
But as we will see in next week’s reading, there is also continuity with Jesus,
whose conception and birth stories share many parallels with John’s. In this
way, John the Baptist serves as a bridge between the old and the new. |
