1. John the Baptist.

1.1-8 — "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets: 'Behold, I send my angel before you, who will prepare your way before you.' The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the land of Judah and the people of Jerusalem went out to him, and they were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. And John wore a robe of camel's hair, and a leather girdle on his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "He who is stronger than I am is coming after me, from whom I am not worthy, stooping down, to untie the strap of His shoe; I baptized you with water, and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

The first verse, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," can be understood in two ways: 1. As the heading of the whole scripture. Then you need to put a full stop after this title. 2. As the beginning of a long sentence that includes the subordinate clauses of verses 2 and 3, and continues in verse 4: then it could be translated as follows: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, ... John appeared..."

Thus, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which has been proclaimed by Christians since Pascha, and which the Church proclaims to this day, has a very definite foundation and a definite beginning. Both in the Greek language (cause, foundation and beginning) are denoted by one word, with which Mark opens his Gospel.

The foundation of the gospel is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. This is what is spoken of in the writings of our Evangelist. But the beginning of the Gospel is formed by the appearance of John the Baptist, for he not only set in motion all Judea and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Mark 1:5), but also stood at the beginning of the path of Jesus of Nazareth, who came from Galilee.

But how?

The origins lay in ancient times. Ever since the temple was destroyed in 586 BC and most of the people were taken into captivity to Babylon, there have always been groups in Israel that cared about the faith and obedience of the people of Israel to God. Such a catastrophe was not to be repeated, as it was when the fathers refused to listen to the words of the prophets of God. Therefore, those who had already returned from captivity and all the people swore to "walk in the law of God, which was given by the hand of Moses, the servant of God, and to keep and fulfill all the commandments of the Lord our God, and His statutes, and His precepts" (Neh.10:29).

However, it was not easy to keep this promise. The Greeks who came to Palestine with Alexander the Great, and who brought the country into contact not only with trade but also with the philosophy of the "wide world," the Babylonians and Persians, the Egyptians and Romans, among whom lived the Jews who had emigrated – all of them daily showed the Jews that it was possible to live differently from the faith of their fathers, and at the same time remain, so to speak, "decent people." Therefore, quite soon a significant part of the people began to find a common language with the pagans. Others, of course, opposed all aspirations, "to make an alliance with the surrounding peoples" (1 Mac. 1:11). These were the Maccabees, the Teacher of Righteousness, the people of Qumran, but also the Pharisees and, above all, the Zealots.

The longer the controversy about the righteous path of the people continued, the stronger grew the conviction among the pious Jews that the present moral state of the people could no longer continue. Therefore, some prayed for the restoration of the kingdom of David and the defeat of the Gentiles:

"Lord, you yourself are our King forever and ever; In Thee, O Lord, our soul boasts. As long as a person's life on earth lasts, so long does his hope in Him. But we trust in God our Saviour; for the authority of God our God (endures) forever with mercy, and the kingdom of our God (is exercised) forever in the judgment of the nations. You, O Lord, chose David to be king over Israel, and you swore to him for his Son for all time, that his kingdom would not pass away from you... Look, then, O Lord, and raise up unto them, O God, in Thy appointed time their King, the Son of David, that He may reign over Thy servant Israel. And bind Him with power, that He may defeat the rulers of the unrighteous, that He may cleanse Jerusalem from the Gentiles, who trample it on our mountain. Wisely and righteously may He drive sinners out of their inheritance, as clay vessels will crush the arrogance of sinners, with a rod of iron He will break their whole life, with the word of His mouth He will destroy the godless pagans, let the Gentiles flee before His wrath, and may He guide sinners in the thought of their hearts." (Psalms of Solomon, 17:1-4, 21-25).

Others withdrew to the desert near the Dead Sea, to Qumran, and there, in their community, they made promises:

"To seek God with all your heart and with all your soul, to do what is good and righteous in His sight, as He commanded through Moses and through all His servants the prophets; and to love all that He has chosen, and to hate all that He has rejected; to abstain from all evil, and to cling to all good works... to love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in the counsel of God, and to hate all the sons of darkness, each according to his sin in the retribution of God." (Community Rules I QS I.1-5, 9-11).

Finally, there was no shortage of those who, like the Maccabees of old, called the people to armed revolt against the enemies of Israel and its faith. The Jewish people were very, very restless.