Holy Disruption: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark (Tracy Daub) - Review

HOLY DISRUPTION: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark. By Tracy S. Daub. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2022. 141 pages.

When we think of Advent what may come to mind are the angelic announcements made to Joseph and Mary, or Elizabeth and Zechariah about unexpected births. We might also think about Mary's song (Magnificat) during her visit to Elizabeth or John the Baptist’s ministry of preparation for the coming Messiah. In other words, everything is geared toward getting believers prepared to celebrate the first Advent. That is, they prepare us to welcome the Christ child who is born in Bethlehem. These stories are all found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of Mark on the other hand lacks the traditional Advent and Christmas stories. John the Baptist appears in Mark, but not until Jesus has reached adulthood. As for Mary and Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth, they’re nowhere to be found. So, the Gospel of Mark is not a Gospel we expect to encounter during Advent (or Christmas for that matter). However, it does speak to issues and concerns that are connected to Advent. It just takes a bit of imagination to get there.

In Holy Disruption, Tracy S. Daub invites us to consider how the Gospel of Mark might speak to our observance of Advent. Daub is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), serving as pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, New York.  She makes it clear from the beginning of this book offered to readers as a guide to their Advent observance that one will not find a baby in this book. That's because Mark doesn’t offer us an infancy narrative but instead starts the story with the adult Jesus coming to John at the Jordan seeking baptism. While the birth of Jesus might not be at the forefront of the story, Mark does offer us an eschatological vision. Instead of focusing on the first Advent, Mark invites us to consider the coming second Advent.

In her introduction, Daub addresses the absence of the baby Jesus, along with Joseph, Mary, the Magi, and the rest. Thus, there isn’t a creche scene present in Mark. While John, which also lacks an infancy narrative, does have an origin story in his prologue. Mark begins with Jesus’ baptism. By drawing on Mark's message for the season, Daub helps us hear a word from Mark that "will not permit us the soothing, sentimentalized Christmas our cultures have created from the nativity stories of Matthew and Luke, nor will it let us reduce John's incarnational message into a set of abstract and remote ideas." Instead, it's a counter-cultural event (p. 5).

Having addressed the lack of a baby and origin story, Daub introduces us to other themes that should resonate with us during Advent. The first of these themes is Mark's apocalyptic message in Mark 13, the so-called "little apocalypse." Here she addresses the apocalyptic elements of the Christian story, reminding us that Christianity always has had at its heart an expectation that Jesus would return at some point in the future, most likely the near future. Mark doesn’t tell us when or how this reordering of Creation will take place, but he assures us that it will take place, all in due time. This might not be where many of us would choose to start, but it's a useful one. What Mark does in chapter 13 of his Gospel is let us know that whenever the return of Christ happens, this world we inhabit must come to an end at some point so something new can take its place.

The second chapter of Holy Disruption is titled "Peace on Earth, Good Will to All." Here Daub asks us to reflect on the "faux peace" that is often offered to us in place of the peace found in God's realm. Accordingly, Mark's Jesus offers us a path to peace that disrupts the status quo (Roman peace). This is the “Holy Disruption” that the book title refers to. She suggests that the path to peace involves confronting empires. The good news is that while confrontation is necessary, we won’t do this alone. That’s because, as Mark argues, Jesus is our partner in bringing peace to the world.

There is something about being home for the holidays, and so in chapter 3, Daub speaks of the kingdom of God being our true home. While we yearn to return home, Mark invites us to expand our definition of home, even as Jesus expanded his definition of family (Mark 3). From this longing for home, we move in chapter 4 to the messianic secret ("Hidden in Plain Sight). While Matthew and Luke present us with the Jesus being the Messiah from the beginning of their Gospels, Mark wants to keep Jesus' identity a secret, at least until the appropriate time arrives. Mark offers clues as to Jesus’ messianic identity, but do we see them? She notes that even as Mark lacks a birth story, in the minds of many Mark also "lacks a satisfactory version of the resurrection" (p. 110). While this is true on the surface, there are signs of resurrection running throughout the Gospel, if only we can see them.

The closing chapter of this brief Advent devotional is titled "The Cradle, the Cross, and the Gift of Emmanuel." Rather than offering us a birth story, when it comes to the incarnation, Mark's Gospel speaks of the God who "walks with us through the triumphs and tragedies of life and ultimately our deaths. That is why the incarnational events in Mark are found not in the sweet baby Jesus in the cradle but in Jesus' life and ministry and especially in Jesus' dying on the cross" (p. 118). It might not be where we expect to find Emmanuel, but that's where Mark wants us to look. 

If you are looking for a study guide for Advent this would be a good place to look. Daub doesn’t offer us the usual Advent set of readings, but that means it is not limited by the lectionary cycles. Additionally, in Daub’s hands, we are given a vision of the incarnation that is present in places we might not at first look for Jesus. So, take and read so that your Advent might be marked by a Holy Disruption!