Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
(I Samuel 18:6-9.19:1-7; Mark 3:7-12)
Every year from January 18 - 25 Christians of all stripes are
asked to pray for Church unity. The festival of prayer ends with the
celebration of the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Of course, the apostle
to the Gentiles not only championed Church unity but also expressed a
willingness to sacrifice himself so that the majority of his fellow Jews would
join the former pagans in accepting Christ. For various historical
reasons, unity is elusive, but today’s gospel hints at a good reason for
cooperation among all Christians.
Throughout the gospel of Mark, Jesus strives to keep his identity
as God’s Son hidden. In today’s passage he admonishes the unclean
spirits, the only ones who are aware of whom he is, not to make him
known. His reasoning is not hard to fathom. Jesus wants
to demonstrate that God will save His people even more through suffering than
through deeds of power. In 1901 the Protestant scholar William Wrede
published his idea of a “Messianic secret” to describe Jesus’ intention to hide
his identity. Wrede’s explanation has been refuted over the years,
but his thesis has spurred study and reflection by Christians from different
traditions.
Catholicism is indebted to Protestantism for the latter’s
Scriptural scholarship as it owes respect to Orthodoxy for its attention to
liturgy. Other churches and faith communities can similarly look to
Catholicism for ordered unity. All Christians should share their
different gifts so that God’s plan for His Church may be fully
realized. Of course, real unity cannot be achieved without a demand
for truth. But for that reason as well, we must not allow pride and
prejudice to derail the quest.
