The Gospel of Mark, Part IV: A Prelude to the Passion and Resurrection
Roughly half of the narrative of the public life of Jesus is devoted to miracles, selected with obvious care. To begin with are all of single persons, of all sorts: men and women and even children. Altogether they represent healing of the whole person: fever, in Simon’s mother-in-law (1.30-31); leprosy (1.40-45); paralysis (2.1-12); a withered hand (3.1-6); being deaf and dumb (7.31-37); even death itself and also blindness, haemorrhage, and demonic possession. But physical healing is accompanied by what it represents: spiritual healing, as with the paralytic who was lowered down through the roof in front of Jesus as the only way of circumventing the dense crowd packed into the house. Jesus began by saying, “My son, your sins are forgiven” (2.5). We don’t know what the sick man was thinking, but the scribes were scandalized: “It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” The subsequent cure of the paralytic provided the answer to that question.
Mark’s Gospel differs from those of Matthew, Luke and, especially, John in that Mark has little to say about what Jesus actually taught. Matthew has the Sermon on the Mount and many parables; Luke is similarly rich with discourse and parables, two of which—the prodigal son and the good Samaritan—are unique to his Gospel; and John has long discourses that comment on and complement the miracles. But, aside from a few parables, Mark contents himself with a simple, stark proclamation: “The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel” (1.15). Perhaps its simply that the actions of Jesus convey to the rightly disposed mind who he is and what he wants of his followers. Also, towards the end of the Gospel, there are prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, of the end of time and, perhaps, in a veiled way, of the passion and death of Jesus; for the death of Jesus, the “Son of God,” was an event of cosmic significance.
This discourse and the events that followed it may come at the end of the Gospel, but they represent its purpose and goal. As has been often noted, the Gospel is a passion narrative with an extended prologue. The truth of that statement is apparent in Mark, as he describes the public life of Jesus as a whirlwind carrying him forward to his death in Jerusalem. That is why he punctuates the narrative with not one but three predictions of the passion. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is silent throughout his passion until, just before his death, he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (15.34), the opening words of Psalm 21/22, a Psalm that ends on a positive note: “Posterity shall serve him [the Lord]; men shall tell of the Lord to the coming generation, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, that he has wrought it.” (vv. 30-31).
But the seemingly total abandonment of Jesus by the Father fits in with the strange and mysterious character of Mark’s Gospel as a whole. Even we, who hear the Gospel solemnly proclaimed at Mass, are left with no answer to Jesus’s question, for the Resurrection itself leaves the women trembling, astonished and saying nothing to anyone, “for they were afraid” (16.8). Mark intentionally leaves us with questions that can be answered only by the faith that invited and then responded to the miracles Jesus performed and, more profoundly, to the miracle of his continuing presence among us. +
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour[…]Continue reading→
An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→
Pope Saint John Paul II’s First Good Friday Homily
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A Meditation for Good Friday: How To Undo the Effects of Sin?
Cardinal Newman, now Saint John Henry Newman, was a towering figure of nineteenth-century Catholicism who is almost universally admired. I say “almost” because not everyone likes him. I knew a priest once, Arthur Caulkins, who has become disenchanted with Newman. As an undergraduate Arthur had been enamoured of Newman, and this interest continued when he[…]Continue reading→
Pope Benedict’s Last Holy Thursday Homily
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Homily of John Paul II in the Basilica of the Annunciation
A blessed Solemnity of the Annunciation to one and all! Verbum caro factum est! Here is a meditation of the late, great John Paul II, staunchly devoted to Our Lady, from the Jubilee Year, just over a quarter of century ago, to provide food for thought, as we celebrate, and pray. Editor. JUBILEE PILGRIMAGE OF[…]Continue reading→
Homily of Pope Benedict on Saint Joseph
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Fourth Sunday of Lent: Siloam and Spiritual Blindness
Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and true (Eph. 5:8-9). The account of the cure of the blind man at the pool of Siloam, like the account of the conversation[…]Continue reading→