Wednesday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, January 31, 2007

Scripture: Hebrews 12:4-7,11-15. Psalm 103:1-2,13-14,17-18 Mark 6:1-6

One of my friends who started a Chinese Catholic Bible Study group loves
the Bible, but also questions it. He sometimes makes it difficult for me
even though I have studied the Bible academically for many decades. His
name is Jim and he looks at you and says, "I have questions!" I thought of
him as I read Mark 6:1-6 in which the audience who is listening to Jesus in
the synagogue offers a volley of five questions about the wisdom of Jesus
and his origins. I like the passage though some exegetes consider the two
passages in which Mary is mentioned in Mark to be anti-Marian.(see Mark
3:31-35, and Mark 6:1-6). I do not think they are anti-marian and have
given a lot of thought and ink to this pericope of Mark. I am amazed at
the way Mark has put together the very first Gospel in such colorful,
running, and dynamic anecdotes from the life of Jesus and this one for
today is quite attractive to me, a Marian scholar and a biblical student of
the Bible. The audience is amazed at Jesus' knowledge and the way he
explains the Scrolls of the inspired texts read in the synagogue. But
where did he get all this? He was not trained as a teacher of the law
even though some call him"rabbi." I thought also of another amazing
volley of questions in Mark's Gospel but this time it is Jesus who is the
question machine! Just take a quick look at chapter eight and count the
questions in 8:13-21 and you will see that this is the Gospel of questions
more than that of Matthew, Luke or John. Jesus is trying to pummel his
disciples into being more aware of what his challenging message and works
are all about. We who are teachers love to ask questions of our students
and good students do the same and ask questions of us. We learn much from
this and often the answers are hidden within the questions themselves.
For example, in today's passage we learn for the first time that Jesus
knows the trade of a carpenter (Joseph is never mentioned in this Gospel as
his father). We learn for the very first time the name of his mother,
"Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" I thank Mark for being the
first inspired person to give us the holy name of Mary, Jesus' first and
very best disciple.Mary is woman of risks and courage, a mother to the Son
of God, and a great model for my own discipleship. I was very pleased
after my meditation on the passage to find that at the end of the prayers
with my brothers this morning, the following prayer was said, "Mary, we
embrace our vowed life in your name. All that we have, all that we are, we
dedicate to continuing your mission of bringing Jesus into our world. Holy
Mother, stay with us this day and teach us to "DO WHATEVER JESUS TELLS US."
(John 2:5). Amen.