Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
Readings for Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
Biographical Information about Saint Mark
First Published: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Mark - my words
Reflection:
Today we have a little break in our on-going stories from the Acts of the Apostles as we celebrate the Feast of St. Mark. As a tribute to him we hear the very end of this shortest of the canonical Gospels. As you will see, if you follow the link to the biographical information (above), Mark was thought to be the Mark mentioned in the reading from 1st Peter we also hear today. He was also thought to be the young man who ran away when Jesus was arrested. As such he was very familiar with the Jesus story.
Although he was not as eloquent as Matthew or Luke nor as theologically well grounded as John, his gospel gives us view of the disciples that seems unvarnished and lets us identify with a group of followers who were not perfect and did not understand. His portrait is very believable and balances well against Johns Gospel in which Jesus himself (in the eyes of the author) has much more foreknowledge than he does according to St. Mark. Mark uniquely shows us Jesus Christ True God and True Man most clearly. Today we see him in the same appearance I quoted in this place yesterday from Matthew, Jesus farewell to the Apostles as he ascends to the Father.
While we are not given the formula of; Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. as we are in Matthew, we can still see the importance placed on that conversion and the indelible change it manifests in each of us.
The reading from St. Peter gives us another glimpse into the life of the early Christian community and reminds us that, as a people who share a common faith and purpose, we are to accept that mantle with humility. It is a lesson we as a community learned again 4 decades ago when, with the advent of the Vatican II changes, we dropped the "Triumphant Church" attitude of;" If you're not Catholic you're going to hell." It is a corporate learning experience many of our protestant brethren are still struggling to learn.
We are asked to be open, inviting and inclusive. This supports the great paradox of Christ's teaching that we must be part of the world (in order to affect change) but be separate from it to insure we retain the ideals that define us as Christian. Today I go out into the world once more and pray that my Christian identity is obvious to all I meet. Pax
Readings for Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist
Biographical Information about Saint Mark
First Published: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Mark - my words
Reflection:
Today we have a little break in our on-going stories from the Acts of the Apostles as we celebrate the Feast of St. Mark. As a tribute to him we hear the very end of this shortest of the canonical Gospels. As you will see, if you follow the link to the biographical information (above), Mark was thought to be the Mark mentioned in the reading from 1st Peter we also hear today. He was also thought to be the young man who ran away when Jesus was arrested. As such he was very familiar with the Jesus story.
Although he was not as eloquent as Matthew or Luke nor as theologically well grounded as John, his gospel gives us view of the disciples that seems unvarnished and lets us identify with a group of followers who were not perfect and did not understand. His portrait is very believable and balances well against Johns Gospel in which Jesus himself (in the eyes of the author) has much more foreknowledge than he does according to St. Mark. Mark uniquely shows us Jesus Christ True God and True Man most clearly. Today we see him in the same appearance I quoted in this place yesterday from Matthew, Jesus farewell to the Apostles as he ascends to the Father.
While we are not given the formula of; Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. as we are in Matthew, we can still see the importance placed on that conversion and the indelible change it manifests in each of us.
The reading from St. Peter gives us another glimpse into the life of the early Christian community and reminds us that, as a people who share a common faith and purpose, we are to accept that mantle with humility. It is a lesson we as a community learned again 4 decades ago when, with the advent of the Vatican II changes, we dropped the "Triumphant Church" attitude of;" If you're not Catholic you're going to hell." It is a corporate learning experience many of our protestant brethren are still struggling to learn.
We are asked to be open, inviting and inclusive. This supports the great paradox of Christ's teaching that we must be part of the world (in order to affect change) but be separate from it to insure we retain the ideals that define us as Christian. Today I go out into the world once more and pray that my Christian identity is obvious to all I meet. Pax
posted by Deacon Jim | 3:15 AM
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