Saturday, January 21st, 2006
Jesus Begins His Work
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and told the good news that comes from God. He said, “The time has come! God’s kingdom will soon be here. Turn back to God and believe the good news!”
Jesus Chooses Four Fishermen
As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen and were casting their nets into the lake. Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him. Jesus walked on and soon saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat, mending their nets. At once Jesus asked them to come with him. They left their father in the boat with the hired workers and went with him.
Mark 1:14-20 Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society
It’s fascinating to read the beginning of the good news according to Mark. What does this account tell us about the gospel that Jesus talked about? How does it compare with the news we tell about Jesus? Who’s telling the story?
Last question first. Tradition has it that Mark’s gospel was written by John Mark in Rome while working with the apostle Peter. That would certainly explain the way this story starts - with the recruitment of four travelling disciples: Peter and his workmates. And what’s the good news about? The kingdom of God - the announcement of a time in which people would be living together the mandate given by God. Jesus was calling people to join up with the new way of living.
So what’s going on here as Jesus recruits his co-workers? He’s clearly expecting them to leave their jobs and join in his itinerant lifestyle. That was the reality wasn’t it. Jesus didn’t have the luxury of staying in one place and commuting to other places. To move around the country he had to make his home the place where he’d just arrived. Problem is that when we read this now we can unconsciously take on the same expectations. The highest calling is for people who follow Jesus by leaving home and going anywhere in the world. The itinerant missionaries. The people who make themselves for pastoral ministry wherever the Church might call them. The people who pack up and go.
What about the people who are called to make the kingdom of God a reality where they live now? People who are called to bring in people, in their neighbourhood and not someone else’s?
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Monday, November 21st, 2005
When the Son of Man Appears
In those days, right after that time of suffering,
“The sun will become dark,
and the moon will no longer shine.
The stars will fall, and the powers in the sky will be shaken.”
Then the Son of Man will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory. He will send his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the earth.
A Lesson from a Fig Tree
Learn a lesson from a fig tree. When its branches sprout and start putting out leaves, you know summer is near. So when you see all these things happening, you will know that the time has almost come. You can be sure that some of the people of this generation will still be alive when all this happens. The sky and the earth will not last forever, but my words will.
No One Knows the Day or Time
No one knows the day or the time. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn’t know. Only the Father knows. So watch out and be ready! You don’t know when the time will come. It is like what happens when a man goes away for a while and places his servants in charge of everything. He tells each of them what to do, and he orders the guard to keep alert. So be alert! You don’t know when the master of the house will come back. It could be in the evening or at midnight or before dawn or in the morning. But if he comes suddenly, don’t let him find you asleep. I tell everyone just what I have told you. Be alert!
Mark 13:24-37
A few thoughts:
What amazes me is the amount of speculation about the ‘End Times’ that is published and bought, despite these words of Jesus.
I realise that these authors are responding to the parable of the fig tree. “Read the signs”, Jesus says. Maybe it’s good that somewhere in the people of God someone is checking to see if we’re getting signs that the end is nigh.
However it seems to me that Jesus says time and time again that all will be surprised by the end of the age. Jesus appears to be talking about cosmic shaking here - not just tidal waves, global warming and earthquakes.
And what about Jesus’ assertion that people of ‘this generation’ will still be alive when it all happens? Maybe it just goes to show how true his words were, that even he didn’t know the life expectancy of the earth. I’ve seen some authors interpret ‘this generation’ as the generation that is associated with the return of Israel or the tribulation. I don’t think so.
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Sunday, September 4th, 2005
The Preaching of John the Baptist
This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It began just as God had said in the book written by Isaiah the prophet,
“I am sending my messenger to get the way ready for you.
In the desert someone is shouting,
‘Get the road ready for the Lord! Make a straight path for him.’ “
So John the Baptist showed up in the desert and told everyone, “Turn back to God and be baptized! Then your sins will be forgiven.”
From all Judea and Jerusalem crowds of people went to John. They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River. John wore clothes made of camel’s hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.
John also told the people, “Someone more powerful is going to come. And I am not good enough even to stoop down and untie his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”
Mark 1:1-8 (Contemporary English Version)
It’s back to the beginning again in the liturgical year. And in some ways John the Baptiser takes the people back to a radical beginning - back to the roots. As he calls people to turn back to God he’s summarising the whole prophetic tradition. He’s calling for a change of life that will go beyond intellectual assent to belief. This radical change must involve a change in the infrastructure of people’s lives, individually and socially.
The baptism in the muddy Jordan river would have symbolised something different to each person. For some it would have been a symbol of cleansing. For others a turning point. And for others an experience connected with a whole new way of seeing life.
John goes on to promise that Jesus will bring not just a radical challenge, but also the means to take on that challenge. The Spirit of God will give people the capacity to follow through with a new lifestyle.
This is the opening of Mark’s gospel. There is a tradition that Peter schooled up Mark while they were working together in Rome. It would make sense that Peter’s first experiences of the good news were through John the Baptiser. That’s my own experience - being baptised as a young child and growing up getting to know the person whose name I’d been baptised. I grew up with an expectation that my life would be lived radically somehow. That’s a good start for a connection with Jesus.
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