Sunday, September 20, 2015

Two Things about Mark's Gospel Today

Two things struck me this weekend when I read Mark's Gospel.  

The first, was that when Jesus tells his apostles that He will be killed and then rise from the dead, the apostles were "afraid to question Him".

One word popped in my head.  Ask.  I wonder what would have been different had the apostles just asked Jesus what He meant.  Would they have greater clarity?  Would any events transpired any differently?  Would anything have changed in our Gospel stories?  We'll never know.  But there is a great lesson there for all of us.  Ask.  Our society today is just as afraid to ask questions about our faith.  And as a result, we either remain ignorant, or worse, spread misinformation.  

The second thing that I realized (or, more accurately, learned after reading it) relates to Jesus showing the apostles a child after hearing that they argued over which of them was greatest.  Unlike today, where we honor children, children were very low on the totem pole back in Jesus' time.  They were basically servants.  Rather, it was the elderly were at the top.  But Jesus, as always, flips society on its head.  To counter the apostles selfish arguing about who is greatest, Jesus showed them the "least important".  Serving these children meant total humility.  It meant the opposite of what they were just arguing about.

Actually, there was a third thing that came to mind at the end of today's Gospel.  And that was the burning truth that things are exactly the same today.   Jesus is with us, reminding us of the crucifixion and resurrection, and, more often than not, we are talking to each other about the wrong things!

God Bless you.

2 comments:

Victor S E Moubarak said...

Wonderful post, Michael.

I'm concerned about what you say re: "Ask". In today's society, sadly, not only people do not ask so that they might learn about our Faith; they also mock. This happens often over here on TV or radio when Christianity is mocked. Only yesterday on TV an influencial person said "I don't believe in God and all this, of course, but ..." and then went on to make his point in conversation. That preface "I don't believe ..." has already coloured the tone of the conversation, and no doubt influenced many at home watching on their TV.

God bless you, Michael.

Michael said...

Victor, I'm afraid you are right. The same thing happens here in the US and it is a shame.

Colleen, Pope Francis truly is! I love how he leads by example.

God Bless you both, and thank you for stopping by.