Cousins on a Mission

Hebrew names often have meanings. Adam meant the product of Adamah, “the dust of the ground” (Gen 2:7). He came from the dust (Adamah) and returned to it (3:19b). Abraham meant “a father of many nations” (lit. “a father” av, “of many roars” hamah). Joshua in Hebrew is Yah-shua, which means Yahweh saves (yah being a shorthand for Yahweh; shw‘ meaning “saves”).

Mark begins his Gospel with the story of two cousins with similar and meaningful names on a mission.

“The beginning of the good news of Yah-shua Christ, son of God . . . Yah-ḥanan the baptizer came in the wilderness proclaiming the washing of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:1, 4)

By the time these names get translated into Greek – Jesus and John – the meaning is muddled. Jesus (o Iesous) is the Greek version of Yah-shua, “Yahweh saves.” And John (o Ioannes) is the Greek version of Yah-ḥanan, “Yahweh is merciful” (yah being a shorthand for Yahweh and ḥanan meaning “mercy”). By their names and their proclamation, they proclaimed that God is merciful, and therefore he saves. In Mark’s words, Jesus announced the “good news,” and John proclaimed the “forgiveness of sins.” This dynamic duo declared that a time had come for Israel’s salvation – God had come to forgive their sins and redeem them.

Their mission and message were based on the Old Testament prophecies of Malachi and Isaiah.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Suddenly, he, the Adonai, will come into the temple – he whom you seek. The messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Behold, he is coming, says YHWH of the Armies.” (Mal 3:1)

Yahweh God promised to send his messenger to prepare his way, and he called him Adonai, “the lord” and “the messenger of the covenant.” The people desired him and waited for him. He would come and enter the temple of God, a symbolic representation of God’s presence and forgiveness of sins.

All these describe the mission of Jesus – Adonai and messenger of the covenant – who prepared the way for God to come and be with the people. But he had a parallel message from his cousin John.

“A voice crying in the desert: Prepare the way of YHWH, make smooth the highway for our God.” (Isa 40:3)

Whereas Jesus, the Adonai, entered the temple and was God’s messenger, John stayed in the wilderness preparing Yahweh’s path, God’s highway. His message would accompany the symbolic representation of purification, the cleansing by the water for their forgiveness of sins, provided they repented.

Mark understood this and rewrote two words in these prophesies.

“Behold, I will send my messenger before you (singular), who will prepare your (singular) path.” (Mark 1:2)

God’s messenger, Jesus, would precede John (you, singular) and prepare his path for the mission. Luke explained how: when the pregnant Mary with the baby Jesus in her womb entered her cousin Elizabeth’s house, the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth, and the baby in her womb, John, was stirred by the Spirit (Luke 1:41).

Two sets of cousins are at work here: Mary and her first-cousin Elizabeth and Jesus and his second-cousin John. All four together proclaim a powerful message: Yahweh God is merciful, and he saves/rescues his people. May this message not depart from our hearts in the year 2023!