St John Bosco
Readings:
Hebrews 10:32-39
Mark 4:26-34
Reflection
Mark’s Gospel today follows a few stories of illegal cures, the stirring of concern for Jesus from his family, criticism from the righteous lawyers and Jesus’ selection of 12 special followers, to whom he gives private tutoring.
In Mark’s Gospel, this quiet initiation and inauguration of Jesus’ kingdom is not celebrated with pomp and circumstance, not loaded down with the promise of making an occupied nation great again or with threats of retaliation upon evil-doers.
Jesus is not surrounded by a bevy of the richest and most powerful men in the world but chooses an unremarkable group of men without social standing—even despised. He quietly challenges the oppressive religious rules, defending the right of the disciples to pick and eat corn on the Sabbath, even healing the illnesses of strangers on the Sabbath.
Mark writes of a quiet revolution, as Jesus tells the story of trees that are homes for the birds of the air. Jesus speaks to us of the tiny seed sown into indifferent soil, buried in the darkness of the tomb, unaware and unsure that the shoot will even follow. But it does—then the ear, then the full grain, and soon the crop is ready for harvest.
That darkness of the tomb is revealed to be the “darkness of the womb,” a place of nourishment, uncertainty, and waiting. Someday, we will break forth and grow into an abundant harvest of life and a promised resurrection.
How I long to be tutored by Jesus in the mysteries of the Universal Christ!
Giltus Mathias CP, is a Passionist, currently the parish priest of St.Brigid’s, Marrickville.