MARK'S GOSPEL
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January 19, 2024We are now in Year B of the Church’s liturgical calendar. On most Sundays of this year, the Gospel will be taken from St. Mark. We keep in mind that first century Mediterranean societies were predominantly oral/aural cultures, that is, people communicated by speaking and listening rather than by reading and writing. This means that most people at that time would have heard Mark’s Gospel recited from memory.
As we will see, Mark is a very sophisticated storyteller. He wrote his Gospel sometime between 65 and 75 AD. Mark does not have an infancy narrative, so we first meet Jesus as an adult. The prelude consists of the proclamation of John the Baptist; Jesus is baptized by John in the river Jordan; and finally, Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, and there he is tested by Satan. We then have an account of Jesus’ ministry in the Galilee region. Mark then gives us a day-by-day account of this last week in the life of Jesus. In fact, over one third of Mark’s Gospel is devoted to what Jesus does and says during this last week: 241 out of 664 verses, roughly 36% of the Gospel.
The first words that Jesus speaks in Mark’s Gospel are: “The kingdom of God has drawn near.” The kingdom of God is a phrase found fourteen times in Mark’s Gospel. Kingdom translates the Greek word basileia, which does mean kingdom, but it can also be translated as rule, reign, sovereignty, or dominion. Mark doesn’t use the word to refer to geographical co-ordinates that can be located on a map. This is why words like rule, reign, sovereignty or dominion might be a more appropriate translation.
In Mark’s gospel, the rule of God is not like Roman rule. For him, the rule of God represents: a renewal of the whole creation; a regime change. A new social order for the weakest and most vulnerable. Mutual service rather than domination. Self-giving for others, even to enduring persecution and execution rather than resorting to violence. The first command that Jesus gives in Mark’s gospel is: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” The word “repent” is a translation of the Greek word metanoeite. Etymologically, the word means “to go beyond the mind you have.” It means a new way of thinking or seeing; a new way of looking at life. It is a transformation of consciousness. It is a change of heart. It involves embracing a different set of values and attitudes, leading to a complete change in conduct.
As Pope Francis points out, “The structural and organizational reforms are secondary, they come afterwards. The first reform must be the attitude.” Bishop Robert Barron says this: “Christianity is, above all, a way of seeing. Everything else in Christian life flows from and circles around the transformation of vision.”
