Title: “For Whom Is Justice ‘Good News’?”
Summary: Mark continues his introduction to the ‘good news’ of Jesus by quoting two short texts from the First Testament. These lines link Mark’s readers to the greater story of Redemption, allusions to great episodes in history that set even greater expectations for what YHWH was going to do. The first of these, and the text that we are considering, was delivered by the prophet Malachi. Commissioned by YHWH after Israel’s return from Exile, Malachi in his role as a covenant enforcer confronts his fellow Israelites with the truth that YHWH was about to rain justice on the earth—an event foreshadowed in Adam’s fall and referred to in the prophets as the ‘Day of the LORD’. Pessimistically, Israel had begun to question whether YHWH was really just, and in so doing, revealed their own unbelief. YHWH through his prophet reassures Israel that He was indeed coming, and that He was about to send a messenger to clear out the way. After this, He Himself—the “messenger of the covenant in whom you delight”—would come, bringing justice in the form of refining fires for His people and judgment for the wicked. Drawing from the language of the Conquest found in Exo. 23 where YHWH promises to send His angel before Israel to fight their battles in Canaan, He tells Malachi’s audience that He has indeed heard their cries and was about to give them exactly what they asked for—even if it wasn’t what they were expecting. Mark connects this ‘Day of the LORD’ to the coming of Jesus, the ‘messenger of the covenant’. Through this link, the Gentiles hearing about Jesus of Nazareth were shown that His life, death, and resurrection were the result of YHWH’s covenant faithfulness—a relationship that they too could be part of by faith. By entering into this relationship, even these people who were ‘foreigners to the promises’ were guaranteed justice at the final Day of the LORD—the day in which the God-King Jesus would glorify the righteous and judge the wicked. This Day was only ‘good news’ to those who were faithful to the covenant, trusting in YHWH to forgive their sins on the merits of His Son, Jesus. For these Gentiles, and for us, YHWH calls His people to have faith in His justice and to patiently practice faithfulness as they await the return of Jesus. Pessimism, false religion, sexual immorality, false testimony, failure to provide for widows, orphans, and foreigners, and lack of right fear are failures to live faithfully in light of the Gospel.
