Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
(1 Peter 5:5b-14; Mark 16:15-20)
The Gospel according to Mark represents a literary
landmark. It is not only seems to be the
first of the four canonical gospels to be written, but the first gospel of any
kind. Never before had the world
witnessed a pronouncement of “good news” (what “gospel” literally means) based
on one man’s work, death, and glorious aftermath. We might say that the originality and sheer
wonder of Jesus’ story required a new form of literature. As Jesus says in the same gospel, “new wine...new
wineskins.”
We may enjoy reading Mark’s Gospel because it exhibits an
earthiness about Jesus that is true of his Palestinian roots. Only in Mark of the four gospels is Jesus
called a carpenter. Only Mark mentions
Jesus living among wild beasts in the desert during his long pre-ministry retreat. Only in this gospel does Jesus use both
fingers and spittle at the same time to cure the deaf mute. And only Mark quotes Jesus healing in
Aramaic, his native tongue, when he tells the dead girl to arise, “Talita koum.” Jesus is a man of his times in Mark but also
one that transcends those times because of his divine mission.
For almost the entire gospel Mark treats the disciples as dim-witted
and cowardly. After Jesus feeds the five
thousand and walks on water, Mark says that the disciples still do not
understand. Likewise, they abandon Jesus
like thieves in the night when he is arrested in Gethsemane . The disciples must await the grace of the
resurrection in order to understand who Jesus is and to carry out his mission. In today’s gospel passage we see them going
forth charged by that grace which accompanies Jesus’ commands. And that is where we are today – renewed and
mandated to show God’s love to the world.
