Beginning of the good news of Jesus Anointed, Son of God.
As it has been written in Isaiah the prophet: See, I send out my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, voice of the one shouting in the desolation, Ready Lord's Way, build levelly his highway.
John came, the one immersing in the desolation and declaring repentant immersion for pardon of failings. And all the territory of Judea and Jerusalem were pouring out to him and were being immersed by him in the Jordan river, acknowledging their failings. And John was clothed with camel pelt and belt of hide around his loins. And he is eating locusts and wild honey.
And he was heralding, saying, The mightier than I comes after me, for whom I am not fit, having stooped, to loose the strap of his sandals. I immersed you with water, but he will immerse you with Holy Spirit.
[Mark 1:1-8, my rough translation. This is deliberately very wooden, in a crude attempt to capture the rough vividness of the passage. I have done a slightly smoother (but equally experimental) translation here, where I also commented on the attribution to Isaiah.]
Today is the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist.
