Scripture Reflection for tomorrow

Scripture for May 15,2008 (sixth week in ordinary time, a Thursday). James
2:1-9. Psalm 34:2-7. Mark 8:27-33. Lectionary # 338:

What is the Messianic Secret that Mark seems to have within his
Gospel, especially in the first half of it? How does this relate to who
Jesus is for the Markan community? Does it have meaning for us today? It
seems that we are asking questions of a Gospel that has more questions than
the other three together! So we are on the right track in understanding
how Mark wants us to become faithful disciples of Jesus. His Messianic
Secret is an exegetical question that the scholars have probed; the other
Gospels do not have it so Mark, like Luke, Matthew, and John has his own
theological approach to the question who is Jesus for you? Peter is the
one who answers the question today by stating outright "You are the
Messiah." But that is supposed to be a secret, so Peter is reprimanded for
his refusal to accept what Jesus says after Peter's confession of who Jesus
is for him. Mark gives two primary or foundational titles to Jesus that
the other evangelists follow but not with the same frequency and
theological meaning that Mark gives to these two guiding Christological
titles, namely, the Son of Man and the Son of God.The Son of Man is
described especially in chapters 1-8, the Son of God, in chapters 9-16.
We as readers of Mark have to enter into his rhetorical theology
which gives us many questions through the mouth of Jesus. Who is Jesus
for us today? We have a good approach to the answers to Mark's questioning
Jesus by always reading the passages within their context and within the
framework of the whole Gospel of Mark. We know that text without a context
is only our pretext for thinking our way not Mark's! In the twenty-first
century with all the advance in techological knowledge and the explosion of
all fields of knowledge, many readers of the Bible and of the Gospels are
pure fundamentalists and that doesn't fit in with the signs of the times.
We are challenged to answer Mark's probing and testing of our faith by
going deeper than fundamentalism---the food for children in the area of
faith growth, but for adults who are to grow in their baptismal commitment,
a deeper love for the Scriptures is needed. We need to know the individual
Christologies of the Gospels for to be ignorant of what the Scriptures are
saying is to be ignorant of Christ (Messiah). The secret is given by Jesus
himself but he enjoins Peter and the rest of his followers, including us,
to realize that he is the Messiah not in the expected sense of a liberator
from the oppression of foreign armies but as a suffering servant who is
concerned about our redemption. The secret is given several times within
three chapters and today we hear it for the first time in Mark :"Then he
began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and
be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, and be killed,
and after three days rise again. He said this quite openly." (Mark 8:31).
Peter does not want this known. He rejects the secret to the kingdom and
thus becomes an adversary of Jesus who will eventually deny him three
times. Jesus gives the answer to who he is three times to offset those who
refuse to accept the Gospel of the Cross, that of Mark. The Messianic
Secret is the Paschal Mystery of Jesus which we have lived through during
Lent and Easter. It is good for us to read the whole Gospel of Mark in
order to understand the Paschal Mystery which starts with Peter's first
faith affirmation of who Jesus is for him. Now we need to ask ourselves
this question each day and realize that through our faith and our baptism
we have the answer and the call to follow Jesus more closely. Perhaps, the
fact that the lion has been chosen as the symbol for St. Mark's Gospel is a
daunting challenge for us for to accept. Its message is a lion's job!
Amen.