With all the TV channels and streaming video services, there are new TV series starting regularly. The first episode of a new series is often about setting the stage for following episodes. We are introduced to the characters, places, events, and other information important to the story.

This Sunday’s gospel lesson, and the verses following it, is like a pilot episode. Mark’s gospel begins to build a foundation for the dramatic narrative that will follow. In this Sunday’s lesson we are introduced to John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was a Judaean preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early 1st century AD. John is mentioned by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus and he is revered as a major religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí faith, and other faiths.

John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his pre-messianic movement. Some of Jesus’ early followers had previously been followers of John. According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas.

In this Sunday’s lesson from Mark, John is introduced as “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ ”