Lectionary 314-316. Jan.20-22
40:7-8.8-9.10,17. Mark 3:7-12:
We are again reminded that Jesus is now glorified as our highpriest and is
at the right hand of God. His sacrificial death on earth is a once and for
all sacrifice that is effective and needs never be repeated in this
historical manner. What takes place at the Eucharist is a sacrament that
brings Jesus to us as glorified and no longer suffering. The elements are
spiritual realities of the Presence of Christ that goes beyond the
historical memories of him. St. John comes closest to explaining this
reality in John 6: 53-69.
The glorified and resurrected Christ is our highpriest who is our unique
mediator before God. This is a central and key idea to the Epistle to the
Hebrews. The author continues with his typological interpretation and
presents to us the basic truths of the Christian life and our union with
Jesus our highpriest. He has already passed through death and is forever
victorious over the devil and sin. This is where we have the source of
forgiveness, our salvation, and our hope for eternal life.
Mark's reading presents the earthly history of Jesus in its universal
dimension. We hear of all of the lands that surround Galilee are sending
their peoples to Jesus to hear him, to be cured, to be exorcised. All the
lands near the land of Jesus are mentioned and thus demonstrate that Jesus
is the Savior of all peoples. He will continue to other places, villages,
and cities. Only the demons seem to realize he is beyond their power and
that he must be a "Son of God." But he continues to silence them for they
were getting close to know who he really is.
We need both the portrait of Hebrews and Mark for our own growth in the
Christ life. One young man on asked what he liked about the Lord's Prayer
was that God's will was to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Both
realities are where Jesus is as human and divine. As mediator between God
and ourselves and as Son of God and Son of Man. Our own lives are to be
modeled on his as we not only look to our own salvation through him but
also in our mission to witness to him to others about the Good News Mark
brings to us. This calling is a great gift to us that helps us realize our
own dignity and the great potential we have as creative agents of God's
redeeming love through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Scripture: Lectionary 315. January 21. Hebrews 8:6-13. Psalm
85:8.10.11-123.13-14. Mark 3:13-19:
Several times in these early chapters of Mark we learn of Jesus separating
himself from the crowds and going off to a lonely place to pray. In our
reading we learn that he does this by leaving the crowd and getting into a
boat to be at a distance from them. He then climbs a mountain followed by
his special community of disciples who now wil be named. They will be known
as the Twevle Apostles. He has made his decision about whom he will choose
to name as apostles. They will be his friends, his followers, and his
apostles. The latter means that his mission will be theirs: to preach,
teach, heal, and exorcise. They will be sent on mission as the word
apostle means "one who is sent in the name of another."
Mark gives us the earliest list of the apostles and it is broken into three
sets of four apostles. The first four will always be Peter, James and John,
and Andrew. The following sets will have some mixing of placement down to
the last who is always the one who betrayed him, Judas Iscariot. Each of
the Synoptics will list the twelve; John does not and has a different
approach to naming the apostles. Jesus in the Fourth Gospel is the Apostle
par excellence sent from the Father as the Word made flesh.
These apostles will actually carry out the mission of Jesus once he is
risen from the dead. Just as Jesus began his ministry once John the
Baptist was imprisoned and had died, so they too will carry on in imitation
of Jesus and what he has called them to be as apostles. We are in the same
boat (another incident of the apostles with Jesus!). Today we are the
voice, the hands,and the presence of Jesus as his apostles who witness to
him. We are their successors "called by name" as the original twelve
were--only through our Baptismal consecration as a holy people, a sacred
people, set apart for the Lord. We are to live out the Paschal Mysteries
of Our Lord, that is, his sufferings, death, and resurrection in the way we
witness to people. Or as St. Francis says, "Preach the Gospel and sometimes
use words!" This is quite a dignity for us to be his apostles. Amen.
Scripture: Lectionary 316. January 22, 2011, Saturday. Hebrews
9:2-3,11-14. Psalm 47:2-3,6-7.8-9. Mark 3:20-21.
How would you react if several members of your family came to see you and
tell you, "You are out of your mind! You are to come with us so that you do
not harm yourself." Now according to the literal way of interpreting the
passage of today, the relatives of Jesus are saying this and trying to take
him away from his active ministry. Is his mother among them? From the
final section of chapter three there is a strong possiblity she is. Of
course, Jesus is not going to leave the people to go back home to be with
them. The expression in Greek allows for the above interpretation but
several exegetes see in the grammatical construction that the expression
can be referring to the crowds which seem to getting out of control or out
of their minds in their pursuit of Jesus to take him away. Mark is
developing the opposition and hostility toward Jesus that will be expresse
in the verses that follow that even associate Jesus with the work of the
devil, the one who puts people out of their minds. One has to depend on
the experts for unravelling such a passage to get the meaning that Mark has
for the readers of his time. Our rereading the passage in the light of the
whole of chapter three will help us to agree with either the first
interpretation or the second favored by a great exegete from England, Henry
Wansbrough, O.S.B.
Could this be Mark's theological theme of "thinking the thoughts of God"
rather than that of human persons? It certainly is an incident in his life
that involves people or his relatives confronting him about his activities
and his preaching as an itinerant charismatic. Mark may be telling us the
present readers to think the thougts of God and not judge by human
standards. Mark will show again and again how not only relatives fall into
their own theological thinking but also his disciples who are slow to learn
what it means to be a follower of Jesus even to the Cross. The story will
develop in Mark and by keeping in mind his point of view we will be able to
make some practical application of the passage to ourselves. Mark is
interested in forming the disicples of Jesus into thinking God's thoughts
and not their own.
A good spiritual director tries to help his visitors to do what is
suggested by Mark. Are we open to seeking out God's way by being directed
by a skilled spiritual director? Or do we freak out when anyone infringes
on our control system that is so inbuilt in most of us? Jesus relatives
were not buying into his ministry. They were not thinking along with him
nor following his way. They were only interested in seeing things their
way. Am I willing to seek advice about my spiritual life? Or do I cling to
my need to control everything that comes my way or under my
responsibilities? Sometimes we need to go back to Mark's introduction to
Jesus who is telling us to reform, to change, to convert our way of doing
and thinking. This is what metanoia is all about. And a lot of this is
accepting Mark's Gospel as the first Way of the Cross Gospel. Amen.
posted by Fr. Bert SM at 3:45 PM
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