Sampling A Section of the Gospel of Mark - Page 2© alberto esmeralda
Page 2
Jun 30, 2001
2. Read the passages slowly. Take note of the words and phrases that strike you. Write them down on your journal. Do not make an effort to find “hidden meanings” in the text; simply enjoy the text. 3. Your first contact with the text has allowed you to scan the terrain, as it were, of Mark 1:1-45. Let us now look closer at the passages.
3.1. With this Gospel, Mark is inviting you to take a look at his community’s faith, and allow this faith to help you grow in your own. Ultimately, all reading of Scriptures is ordained to such growth. Now, the content of the faith of the Marcan community, is not a message but a person: Jesus Christ. It is the aim of Mark’s gospel to help you, the reader, to encounter this Person and challenge you to make a decision that can make a difference in your life. Are you for or against Jesus, He whom the Marcan community proclaims as “the Christ, the Son of God (Mk. 1:1)?” Remember that the decision -- whatever it may be -- can only be personal, i.e. dependent upon you, the reader, alone. Not even a baptismal certificate bearing your name, or the fact that you think you have the desire to be a “close disciple of Christ” can exempt you from making such a decision. 3.2. The Prologue to the Gospel gives us an initial inkling of who this Jesus is. He has been announced by the prophets of old (Malachi and Isaiah[1]) and again by a prophet of the last days (John the Baptist) as the one who will bring the blessings of a new era in the history of God’s people. In fact, it is through Jesus that the Spirit of God -- the blessing of the end-time --will descend upon mankind (cf. V. 8). Added to this is the testimony of the voice from heaven which, in effect, identifies Jesus not only as the one awaited by the people of Israel (the Davidic ruler, cf. Ps. 2:7) that would usher in God’s reign, but also as one who is so intimately related to God as to be called His “Son” and who gives pleasure to Him. In other words, Mark is telling us that this man Jesus is the One who alone can fulfill our longings and can lead us to God. 3.3. The second part of our reading (1:16-45) deepens the initial statement about Jesus but reporting to us his words, deeds and the reactions of those who come in contact with him.
Go To Page:
1
2
3
The copyright of the article Sampling A Section of the Gospel of Mark - Page 2 in Scriptural Studies is owned by . Permission to republish Sampling A Section of the Gospel of Mark - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
