Sixth Friday in Ordinary Time

Friday, February 21, 2025

Sixth week of the Year

Mark 8:34 to 9:1. Year I: Genesis11:1-9; Psalm 33:10-15

 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022125.cfm

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This is a turning point in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus asks, as Herod did, who people think he is, and gets the same answer: John, Elijah, one of the prophets (6:14). But Peter, speaking for his disciples, identifies him as the Messiah. And Jesus accepts that, although he overturns completely their understanding of what it means. He reveals that he is going to win by losing He will be delivered into the hands of his enemies and killed. He will not overcome human power by greater human power made invincible by God. He will not impose peace by war, stamp out violence by greater violence, teach respect for human life by killing those who kill, or use fear to convert those who do not believe in love. In short, he is going to save the world by enduring evil with love, accepting whatever suffering the sins of the world happen to drop on his shoulders and loving back.

And anyone who follows him must do the same.

Peter is quick to tell him how crazy that is: “People want a savior who is going to save them from suffering, not tell them to endure it with love!” Then Jesus, “turning and looking at his disciples,” rebuked Peter more fiercely than he did anyone in the Gospels. ““Get behind me, you devil!” He wanted them all to know that Peter’s attitude — undoubtedly common to them all — struck at the very heart of God’s plan for redeeming the world. To see the “mystery of the cross” as bad news is to reject, render impotent and pervert the Good News at its core.

Since Mark’s first chapter Jesus has been striving to keep people from thinking his role as Messiah is to take pain and suffering out of the world. He frequently did, and still does, of course, by working miracles of healing, just out of compassion. But healing bodies will not heal the world. Reducing poverty will not reduce selfishness and greed. Destroying enemies will not obliterate hate. There is no true wholeness, happiness or peace offered by Jesus Christ that does not require a decision on the level of the heart to renounce everything in this world, including life itself, in order to “love back,” no matter what one is made to suffer by others.

And this, take it or leave it, is the Good News! Mark has tried to prepare us for it by delaying the revelation of Christ’s identity. But sooner or later we have to accept or reject him as the Messiah he really is.

And now the story changes. The rest of Mark’s Gospel will offer repeated challenges and instructions on the “ultimatum of the cross.”

Initiative: Get deep and pray. Ask help to accept God’s way of saving the world.

Sixth Thursday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Sixth week of the Year

Mark 8:27-33; Genesis 9:1-13; Psalm 102:16-29 (Lectionary 338)

 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022025.cfm

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This is a turning point in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus asks, as Herod did, who people think he is, and gets the same answer: John, Elijah, one of the prophets (6:14). But Peter, speaking for his disciples, identifies him as the Messiah. And Jesus accepts that, although he overturns completely their understanding of what it means. He reveals that he is going to win by losing He will be delivered into the hands of his enemies and killed. He will not overcome human power by greater human power made invincible by God. He will not impose peace by war, stamp out violence by greater violence, teach respect for human life by killing those who kill, or use fear to convert those who do not believe in love. In short, he is going to save the world by enduring evil with love, accepting whatever suffering the sins of the world happen to drop on his shoulders and loving back.

And anyone who follows him must do the same.

Peter is quick to tell him how crazy that is: “People want a savior who is going to save them from suffering, not tell them to endure it with love!” Then Jesus, “turning and looking at his disciples,” rebuked Peter more fiercely than he did anyone in the Gospels. ““Get behind me, you devil!” He wanted them all to know that Peter’s attitude — undoubtedly common to them all — struck at the very heart of God’s plan for redeeming the world. To see the “mystery of the cross” as bad news is to reject, render impotent and pervert the Good News at its core.

Since Mark’s first chapter Jesus has been striving to keep people from thinking his role as Messiah is to take pain and suffering out of the world. He frequently did, and still does, of course, by working miracles of healing, just out of compassion. But healing bodies will not heal the world. Reducing poverty will not reduce selfishness and greed. Destroying enemies will not obliterate hate. There is no true wholeness, happiness or peace offered by Jesus Christ that does not require a decision on the level of the heart to renounce everything in this world, including life itself, in order to “love back,” no matter what one is made to suffer by others.

And this, take it or leave it, is the Good News! Mark has tried to prepare us for it by delaying the revelation of Christ’s identity. But sooner or later we have to accept or reject him as the Messiah he really is.

And now the story changes. The rest of Mark’s Gospel will offer repeated challenges and instructions on the “ultimatum of the cross.”

Initiative: Get deep and pray. Ask help to accept God’s way of saving the world.

Sixth Wednesday in Ordinary Time

Wednesday, February 19. 2025

Sixth week of the Year

Mark 8:22-26; Genesis 8:6-22; Psalm 116:12-19 (Lectionary 337)

 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021925.cfm

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Jesus has just opened the ears of a deaf man — with a “sigh,” like the sigh the gave when, even after he multiplied the loaves, the Pharisees still asked for a “sign” (7:34, 8:12). Next Mark shows us Jesus giving sight to a blind man. As in the case of the deaf man, a simple word is not enough. Both times Jesus uses preliminary touches and his saliva (7:33, 8:23). Conversion is a gradual process.

God created the universe by a simple word. He said, “Let it be!” and it was (Genesis 1:1-21). But he did not redeem the world that way. The world was messed up by billions of physical, human actions. God chose to come into the world as a human being and start healing it by physical, human actions. This requires us to identify causes and apply remedies that specifically address them. To heal the blind man he touched his eyes. For the deaf man with a speech impediment, he touched his ears and his tongue. On both he used saliva.

Jesus saves by making the life-giving water of his word interior to us (see John 4:14: “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life”). Water does not give life so long as it remains in the clouds. Nor does God’s word. We have to bring it down to earth. Let it soak in. Bring it into contact with specific problems. Apply it to concrete decisions. Jesus shows this by literally applying the water of his mouth to bodily parts in need of healing. A preview of the sacraments!

Even the sacraments don’t heal by magic. They always have their essential effect if the minister has the right intention and the receiver is properly disposed. No special degree of sanctity is required. But the benefit of the sacraments themselves can be minimal or maximal, depending on how well the humans involved do their part.

And they achieve their full effect gradually, like Jesus’ healing of the blind man. At first he said, “I can see people, but they look like trees walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and “he saw everything clearly.”

It is the same with sacraments. All require follow-up. We have to keep  “remembering” them, thinking about them, growing into them. Baptism is not just a single event; like marriage, it is ongoing. Every sacrament is a launching pad that gives an impetus we must refresh, a direction to maintain, a goal to keep in mind.

Initiative: Think. What do the “sacraments of initiation” initiate? What do the other four initiate? What follow-up does each require?