(for Long)
During this liturgical year, our Sunday readings are usually from the Gospel of St Mark and the Gospel of St John. St Mark’s Gospel was probably the first of the four to be written (It is dated around 70AD and many feel that it was written in
As we begin our recitation of Mark the Stark, the evangelist tells us in the opening verse that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. However, in the difficulties that Jesus experiences, it does not always appear that way. In a difficult setting, St Mark tells his audience to trust Jesus and to follow Him on the way to
The first segment of the Gospel which we hear until the Sunday before Ash Wednesday is subtitled by some as “a typical day in life of Jesus”. In the first two chapters, Jesus proclaims in word and deed, “The
Jesus heals the man with the evil spirit, the leper, (today) the paralytic and a man with a withered hand. For all these efforts at bringing wholeness to the lives of the less fortunate, the “system” plans to eliminate the One Who heals the broken.
In a curious scene today, Jesus backs up His words with His action. Incidentally, grammatically, the home where the roof was torn off probably belonged to Jesus Himself. (Perhaps, the itinerant Preacher-Healer rented the house in
It was the faith of the people who brought the paralytic to Jesus that prompted Jesus to action. Surprisingly, to all, certainly the paralytic himself, Jesus forgave His sins. (The bystanders clearly understood that forgiveness of sin is reserved to God alone. Who was this person who dared to forgive sins (in the Name of God)? To bolster faith in God’s Presence in their lives in Jesus, then, the man was relieved of his paralysis.
The little vignette today is but one example of St Mark’s efforts to bolster a Christian community under duress. Down through the ages, he can bolster our faith as well by reminding us that as imitators of Christ, viz., that we are called to bring healing and forgiveness to situations in which we find ourselves. However, we are reminded of an “anthropological constant”, that sometimes our good intentions are interpreted hostilely by others. The Evangelist tells us that we are called by Jesus to get behind Him quickly , as He called the first disciples. To follow Jesus means to experience reality as He experienced it, recalling that He was like us in all things but sin.
At any rate, St Mark tells us to do and say what Jesus did and said, as best we can, with His Help each day. For all His valiant efforts in these early chapters of Mark the Stark, He becomes a marked man, ending up on
He calls all of us to join Him in His efforts to reclaim the world for God. However, He tells us that the struggle of reclamation might be a tough one. The Paschal Mystery involves all of us, at one time or another in our lives, that we have to make leaps of faith, we have to bear pain, that we have to surrender, let go and trust the Mystery. In the Paschal Process, with and through and in Christ Jesus, we feel the Presence of God in on good days as well as bad, in all the joys and sorrows and glories of life. For Mark the Stark’s original audience, that was the beginning of the good news. With faith in Jesus, the good news begins with us as well. Our lives can get tough, but God is with us in all things. Let us rejoice. 021906AD jfq
