Readings:
Hebrews 9:15,24-28
Mark 3:22-30
Reflection:
Today’s readings bring home to us the decisiveness, the once-for-all character, of Jesus’ life and death. The reading from Hebrews 9 emphasises that ‘he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself’. Christ has defeated the power of sin by his self-sacrifice: he is in God’s presence, making possible an eternal inheritance for us, and his second coming will be in glory. In the Gospel reading from Mark 9 we are also reminded of the decisiveness of Jesus’ mission: he answers his critics by pointing out that Satan would not cast out devils. In his works of healing, freeing human beings of the power of disease and crippling disability, Jesus is undermining the kingdom of Satan and ushering in the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of our full and joyous humanity, which Christ, the incarnate Son of God, shares with us. Full of the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus brings salvation in word and deed. Psalm 97 rejoices in the wonderful works of the Lord, now being enacted in Jesus: ‘All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout to the Lord all the earth, ring out your joy.’ The Gospel acclamation proclaims yet again, ‘Our Saviour Jesus Christ has done away with death and brought us life through his gospel.’
Robert Gascoigne is a parishioner at St Brigid’s, Marrickville. He is a theologian who taught for many years at the Australian Catholic University.