A war zone!  That’s what it sounded like.  I was totally unprepared for the explosive culture shock of an Arkansas Fourth of July.   To say that Arkansans love their fireworks would be a gross understatement.  As a boy, growing up in Georgia, fireworks were illegal.  You had to slip across the Alabama line to acquire them from some shady operation whose entire ad budget was sunk into garish billboards. There were no New Years’ blasts. And if you wanted fireworks on the Fourth you had to battle the crowds at a Braves’ game or on the highways and byways around Stone Mountain Park.

My first Arkansas Fourth was raucous.  To a man, my neighbors all put on commercial grade pyrotechnics.  And the barrage ran into the wee hours.  Our dog Phoebe went into hiding and did not come out for days.   Welcome to the Shivaree culture!   Of course we have civic fireworks shows.  Many Arkansas towns, large and small, boast a large budget line item for Fourth of July Fireworks.   The displays are often quite spectacular, augmented prior to dark by the pyrotechnic contributions of dozens of local residents.

The display usually starts with a single mortar, shot high above the crowd, exploding into magnificent fiery glory to the delight and terror of small children.   Quickly the bombardment escalates with red, blue, green, purple and bright white.  Fizzlers and sizzlers, tracers and circlets, fiery fountains, and massive umbrella shaped fireworks, reigning ash and sparks on the gathered populace. 

The fiery fury builds until at long last there is the grand finale of every conceivable type and color, fired in a volley of shock and awe. Emotions are stirred.  The young are overwhelmed by sight and sound, the old by remembrance of friends and family who gave the last full measure of devotion under lethal barrages in foreign fields.  An Arkansas Fourth is an inescapable, explosive reminder of what freedom costs.

The Gospel of Mark begins in an explosive fashion.  Mark takes little time setting the scene or developing characters.   There are no birth narratives like we find in Luke’s gospel.  No genealogy, angelic pronouncement, or kingly line is recounted.  Both John and Jesus appear abruptly, John as the forerunner and Jesus as the Mighty One.  Every account is introduced with words like “immediately” or “straightway.”  Mark’s is the ‘action gospel.’   Probably written to a principally Gentile audience, representing the apostolic witness of Peter, Mark moves quickly to ask three questions.  Who is Jesus?  What did He come to do?  What is our response?

In the very first verse, Jesus is immediately set forth as the Savior, God’s appointed and anointed Messiah, and God’s own Son, fully God and fully man.  The next passage introduces John the Baptist who comes to prepare us to see and believe who Jesus is and what he has done.  Then without fanfare, Jesus, the Mighty One appears.  As he comes to be baptized by John and tempted by Satan, Mark gives us a thesis statement of Jesus’ saving work; his passive and active obedience that delivers us from the dominion of darkness and destroys the works of the devil.  

Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism and temptation is remarkably brief.  His brevity leaves us with lots of questions.  Why was Jesus baptized?  What does it mean for him to be tempted?  Join us as we examine Mark 1:9-13 and consider how Jesus’ baptism and temptation prepare us to understand what he came to do. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.