Down to Brass Tacks


Zephyr United Methodist Church

Early First United Methodist Church

December 4, 2005


Rev. Eddie Smart

Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way;

3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,' "

4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."


     You have probably heard the expression. Some of you have even used the expression. You have talked about “getting down to the brass tacks.” It is a way of talking about getting to the essentials, or getting to the facts. As Joe Friday use to say on the old TV series, “Dragnet,” “Just the facts Ma’am.”

     The expression may have come into existence just because it is merely rhyming slang; brass tacks = facts. It may be that getting down to brass tacks comes from the custom of measuring cloth by placing it between two brass tacks placed in the counter top. Some say it dates back to the 1800's and relates to re-upholstering furniture and the need to strip everything down to the brass tacks.

     What ever the source, we are talking about reducing things to the essentials or the facts. Mark would say to you and me, “Let’s get down to the brass tacks.” I would even say he thought like an engineer. He asked what’s important? Mark was pragmatic. He wanted to get down to the point.

     No need for lineage to prove Jesus was related to King David. No need to discuss a virgin birth. No angels, wise men or shepherds in Mark’s story. No manger, inn keeper, or taxation for Mark.

     Mark doesn’t like to waste words. Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark writes like an engineer, always thinking, “What’s the point?” He feels no need to share any stories about the birth of Jesus. He is not interested in sharing “HOW” Jesus is born. He wants to get right to “WHY” Jesus is born.

     He writes, “The beginning of the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ. Mark wants us to know from the very beginning that he is bringing good news. Fred Craddock tells us that Mark was the first to use the word for good news, gospel. Endnote The word gospels was later applied to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

     The beginning is “good news.” It is news about Jesus Christ. While that sounds like two names, you will recall that Christ is a title. Mark begins with the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. That would have been important to Mark’s Jewish listeners, but mean nothing to his Gentile audience. Mark adds, Jesus is the son of God. Now that meant something to the Gentiles.

     So the beginning is Jesus. Before Jesus was born there were the prophecies found in Isaiah and Malachi. “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” We begin with one who is preparing the way. There is no doubt that the one preparing the way for Jesus is John the baptizer.

     John can be found in the wilderness–the place where Israel traditionally finds salvation, the place where people sin, and the place where they repent to restore their right relationship with God once again. Endnote

John is in the wilderness preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John was preparing the way in the wilderness by preaching repentance and forgiveness, and the people came. The people came. Why would the people choose to go into the wilderness to hear a wild man preach on repentance–turning away from sin and toward Jesus?

     Three years ago, Will Willimon shared a story in Pulpit Resources about graduation at Duke University. This week I was reading the Upper Room Disciplines devotional book only to find Bishop Willimon sharing that same story. He wrote:

     A few years ago, when then Chrysler president Lee Iaococa gave the commencement address at Duke, he stood behind his lectern (which he had brought with him from Detroit), looked at the graduates, and they looked at him, and he said, "Now, the only thing standing between you and your Duke graduation is me!" Endnote

     Willimon suggests, the only one standing between us and the Christ child at Bethlehem is John the Baptist. In order to get to Christmas, we must first get by John. So does it begin with John’s call to repent? Does it all begin with sin? Is sin the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Christ?

     To get to the Christ child in Bethlehem, we must first get by John. And yet John tells us there is one coming more powerful than him. There is one coming who is not even in the same class as John. He will baptize us with the Holy Spirit.

     I’m still stuck back on why all those people would come to hear John the baptizer. Why did they all come? I think they came to hear John for the same reason people come to Jesus today. They came because the Holy Spirit begins working in our lives even before we know it. Some choose to follow the nudging of the Holy Spirit. Some choose to ignore the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit will continue working on us.

     John said, “One will come who is more powerful than me.” John preached repentance for the forgiveness of our sin. Jesus would die for our sin. Jesus would pay the price once and for all.

     In the devotional I was reading this week, Willimon quoted the poet T. S. Eliot, who wrote the wilderness is not a geographical location; it is a corner of every heart. The wilderness is that place of sin and hardship. The wilderness is that place that causes us to ask, “Why?” The wilderness is “an excellent place to meet Messiah.” Endnote

     Mark writes of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. He writes of a beginning and the wilderness. For Mark, stories of shepherds, angels, wise men, mangers, and a virgin birth are not as important as the salvation that is ours through Jesus Christ. Mark wants to get down to brass tacks, to the essentials. We are here today, we celebrate the coming of Christmas because Jesus is the one who is more powerful. Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one who saves us from our sins!