The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.” (Mark 1:1-2)
As we enter into this new liturgical year, we hear again today from the Gospel of Mark. As I mentioned in last week’s article, we will be hearing almost all of Mark’s Gospel over the course of this year since it is year B in the liturgical calendar. As we begin to hear from this, the first canonical Gospel to be written, I would like to reflect a little more on it and on gospels in general.
It is so easy to read the gospels as short biographies about Jesus Christ. And, we can, in fact, derive some biographical information about Jesus from them. If we examine them side by side, however, we begin to see some troubling contradictions. The most striking contradiction is found in the three synoptic gospel’s presentation of our Lord’s Ascension into heaven – a very important event, to be sure! In Mark’s Gospel, it is not clear where the risen Lord ascended into heaven but it appears that it was in Jerusalem (cf. Mk 16:14ff). In the Gospel of Matthew, on the other hand, it seems that Jesus ascended in Galilee, some 70 miles north of Jerusalem (cf. Mt 26:16ff). Luke’s Gospel specifies that Jesus ascended to heaven from Bethany, less than two miles from Jerusalem (cf. Lk 24:50ff). In all three of the synoptic Gospels, he appears to ascend only once shortly after his Resurrection. The Gospel of John has a very different account of our Lord’s Ascension, however. In this Gospel, the risen Lord seems to ascend immediately after his Resurrection but then returns and appears to several people over the course of several days (cf. Jn 20:17ff). Of all the biographical events in Jesus’ life, one would think that the authors would get this one right. Of course, this geographical contradiction, along with many others found throughout the four gospels, lead us to consider that the gospels are not biographies. Rather, they are a unique literary form produced by the early Christian community, written by believers for believers to recall the joyous revelation of God’s intention to save all those who believe in Jesus Christ, and to call believers to live out a faith based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And, as I mentioned last week, each gospel is written at a particular time, a particular place under particular circumstances and to a particular audience for a particular purpose. All of these factors lead the inspired authors to present the actions and teachings of Jesus in slightly different ways. The Gospel of Mark is generally thought to be written between 65AD (when the Roman Emperor Nero began his persecution in Rome) and 70AD (when Jerusalem was destroyed), probably in Syria. Many of the Christians in Rome had fled to Syria and were passing on their faith to the next generation who had not personally encountered the eye witnesses of Jesus’ great deeds and revolutionary teachings and, most important, his Resurrection. This next generation was struggling with their faith in Jesus and so to encourage them, the Gospel of Mark was written as the story of Jesus as well as the story of the response to the call of Jesus. We hear of Jesus teaching the disciples privately (cf. Mk 4:34; 7:17; 9:28), giving them the “mystery of the kingdom” (cf. Mk 4:10-12), rescuing them when they are threatened by a storm and making them privileged witnesses to his power (cf. Mk 4:35-41; 5:37-40). To all of this, the disciples in Mark respond sometimes well and sometimes not so well. For example, when Jesus calls, they follow “immediately” and they are summoned to be with him and to do the things that he does: teach, heal and cast out demons (cf. Mk 1:16-20; 3:13-19). But, the disciples also demonstrate a growing estrangement from Jesus. Early on in the Gospel, they misunderstand his miracles and teaching (cf. Mk 4:40; 7:18; 8:16-21). Then, every time that Jesus states that it is God’s will that he suffer and die, they misunderstand and instead, bicker over rank and prestige (cf. Mk 8:31-33; 9:31-34; 10:32-45). Finally, during the Marcan Passion Narrative, despite the privilege of sharing the Passover meal with him, one disciple betrays him (cf. Mk 14:18), all the disciples flee when he is arrested (cf. Mk 14:50) and Peter denies ever knowing him (cf. Mk 14:66-72).
This double-sided portrait of the first disciples of Jesus was intended to encourage the later Christians as they struggled with their faith in the face of the fierce Roman persecution that began in 64AD. For us today, it remains an encouragement whenever we find ourselves weak in our faith. As we listen to the Gospel of Mark throughout the year, let us remember that the passages speak to us today with the same meaning as they did when they were first written because they were written by the first believers for all believers to recall the joyous revelation of God’s intention to save all those who believe in Jesus Christ, and to call us to live out a faith based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, the Son of God! During this Advent Season, we await his return in glory as we prepare to celebrate his coming in time at Christmas. How privileged we are for the opportunity to grow, every year, ever stronger in our faith.