I think Andy Griffith is one of the better storytellers. If you’ve got about five minutes listen to how he draws these kids in to the story of Paul Revere. And notice in particular how he draws the listener in with the way he plays with verb tenses.
“Paul Revere asked a man ‘what was new’, and the gentleman told him that the British were coming. This startled Paul and he thought of a way to warn others.”
That’s an okay way to tell the story. But it’s not how Andy would tell it. He places you into the story and changes the tenses as if they are happening then and there. Watch from around the 2:20 mark if you’re in a hurry and listen to a master storyteller.
Andy Griffith Paul Revere Ride from dsiano on Vimeo.
Why am I telling you this?
Because Mark is also a master storyteller, he does something similar in Mark 1:9-11 at the baptism of Jesus. While he was speaking of John the Baptist he uses the aorist tense. That’s his way of just telling you facts that had happened in the past. But then at the baptism of Jesus he switches to the imperfect tense. And this draws us in and places us right there at the baptism.
You can picture a guy walking around with a belt and eating bugs and honey. But you picture it a bit like you might a sidebar pic in an encyclopedia. It’s not nearly as vivid. But we’re invited in Mark 1:9-11 to see, hear, smell, taste, everything that is going on.
Can you hear the creek bubbling? Do you see the beautiful dove descending upon Jesus? Does the voice from heaven startle you? That’s what Mark is doing here because what happens in verse 9 is a dramatic shift.
Why is this so important? It’s important because this is a climactic moment in history. It is the point when the baton is being passed. It is here that we move into the new stage of redemptive history. And Mark wants us to see it and feel it.
When Jesus comes out of the water three things happen that signify this new era: the heavens open, the Spirit descends, and God speaks. Something new is happening. The reader would immediately pick up on the fact that this one who is being baptized is the very same mighty one of whom John said would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit”.
You can also see this great shift in the way Mark uses the passive voice in verse 9. Notice how for the first eight verses he is talking about John the Baptist. If this was the first time you had read this story, and I told you there was a baptism scene right after learning about John the Baptizer, who would you assume was the main subject? You would not be faulted for assuming it was John. You’d expect it to say Person A was baptized by John. But notice what Mark does:
“Jesus…was baptized by John in the Jordan.”
He’s shifting to the passive voice. John is no longer the main subject. He is just the instrument who does the action to the main character—Jesus.
A new era has dawned and it is all because of Jesus. And Mark, the great storyteller, doesn’t use drab language to tell the story. He draws his readers in and tells us the good news as vividly as possible.
This is why I would say we have biblical precedent for not being boring preachers or bad storytellers. Yes, God’s Word is powerful and it does the work. God’s Word does all the heavy lifting and it doesn’t need fancy storytelling. But it’s beauty kind of demands it. Can you rightly be said to be sharing the beautiful gospel if you aren’t doing it with beauty?
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Photo source: here
