God reveals Himself to us in two ways. Like a true artist, He creates the visible world out of nothing. Looking at the beauty of creation, therefore, we can discover also the beauty of the Creator. This is our natural knowledge of God. But God has also made himself known to us in a different way; He chose the people of Israel in order to reveal himself gradually through the prophets of the Old Testament first, and then through Jesus Christ in whom the Old Testament is fulfilled. This is what we find in the Bible.
The Bible, or what we call the Holy Scriptures is the collection of books written by different authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is divided between the Old and the New Testament. In the Bible, therefore, we find two unique characteristics: 1) The books of the Bible are of the divine origin and 2) the Bible has been entrusted by God to the Church as a sacred deposit and a divine gift to humanity. The Bible does not simply speak about God. Quite the opposite. God speaks to us about himself through the Bible. Both Testaments are the Word of God, a word at once living and life-giving.
Apart from the Old Testament, we also have the New Testament which means the new stage of the salvation history, brought about by Jesus Christ. It replaced and completed the Revelation of the Old Testament. The climax of God’s Revelation to mankind is the incarnation of the Son of God.
The first four books of the New Testament, which are called a Gospel (the good news), speak to us in a very direct way about the life and the teachings of Christ. They tell us the story of Jesus Christ, his life, public ministry, and the work of salvation. Even though God is the author of the Gospels, He chose certain people to compose them. We know them by their names: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The evangelists wrote real stories about the events which really happened, and the people who really witnessed the effects of the work of the Saviour. Moreover, they contain doctrinal teaching, which means that they are not simply historic books. They fill the soul of the human person, making his/her life meaningful, while eliminating all sorts of doubt and confusion. The Gospels, which narrate the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became man, allow us to meet the Lord on the very personal and intimate level.
The people in Israel, at the time of Jesus, could see his human body; but faith was needed to meet him who was God. The same happens with the sacred text. The “humanity” of Jesus can be seen with the physical eyes looking at the letters and phrases of the texts. His divinity, however, can be discovered only with the eyes of faith. To find Jesus, the Son of God who constantly speaks to us we are to believe first (cf. Gospel & Acts, the Navarre Bible, Text and Commentaries, 2000).
“Through the eyes of St. Peter” is the first of many parts dedicated to the study of the Gospel of St. Mark. Many scholars says that the Gospel of Mark shows Jesus Christ as St. Peter saw him. It is the shortest Gospel, yet the message is very strong and indeed very meaningful. Before we go to particular texts of the Gospel of Mark, first let me introduce you to St. Mark.
Mary Healy, the author of The Gospel of Mark, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture wrote:
“When Mark wrote his Gospel, to become a follower of Jesus was a radical decision. It could mean incurring disapproval or outright rejection from friends and family. It could entail close fellowship with people one would have previously shunned: the wealthy with slaves, the devout with the formerly decadent, Jewish nationalists with Roman soldiers. For the educated it could mean enduring the ridicule of former colleagues for the absurdity of following a carpenter from a backwater village who had suffered the most ignominious form of capital punishment. And for many, Christian faith would result in imprisonment, torture, and death in the brutality of the Roman arena.
Yet as one reads Mark’s work one is impressed with its overflowing joy. Mark is fairly bursting with the good news of Jesus Christ the Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead. For Mark the life and times of Jesus is no mere edifying story. It is an event that has changed the course of world history – that has, in fact, brought history to its culmination. It is what makes sense of and brings to completion all that God did for his people Israel and foretold in their Scriptures. It is good news that has dramatically changed Mark’s life.
Mark writes in such a way as to invite his readers to embark on the same adventure that he himself and Jesus’ first disciples, have engaged in: the adventure of encountering Jesus, growing in the knowledge of who he truly is, and committing one’s whole life to him. It is nearly impossible to read Mark as a neutral bystander. At every turn he invites his readers to see themselves reflected in the disciples, in the crowds that flock to Jesus for healing, or in the other characters in the story. Like the characters in Mark’s Gospel, readers are challenged to respond to the provocative words and astounding deeds of the carpenter of Nazareth.
«Who then is this?» the disciples ask after Jesus calms the storm on the sea (4:41). It is the question at the heart of Mark’s Gospel. Jesus himself raises this question when he asks his disciples, «But who do you say that I am?» (8:29). Mark has already provided the answer at the beginning of his work: Jesus is the Messiah, the beloved Son of God (1:1, 11). But it is not enough merely to understand the words; the point is to allow their full reality to come to light through a personal encounter with Jesus. Mark’s Gospel is written to enable his readers to do just that.
Who is Mark?
[…] According to ancient tradition, Mark was a disciple of Simon Peter who wrote his Gospel based on Peter’s preaching in Rome. […] Some indications of Mark’s close association with Peter appear in the New Testament. In the First Letter of Peter, Peter sends greetings from «Mark, my son» who is with him in «Babylon», a code name for Rome (1 Pet 5:13). Peter’s early preaching as recorded in Acts (Acts 10:36-43) has some close similarities to the structure of Mark. And reading Mark’s Gospel one gets the impression of discovering Jesus, day to day, through Peter’s eyes. […] Numerous vivid details unique to Mark – the cushion in the boat (4:38), the nicknaming of James and John (3:17), the wretched condition of the demon-possessed man (5:3-5) – seem to reflect an eyewitness report.
For Whom Did Mark Write?
Several details corroborate the tradition that Marks first readers were Roman Christians. Under the Emperor Nero (AD 64-68) the church in Rome suffered brutal persecution. After blaming Christians for the fire that destroyed Rome in 64, Nero punished his scapegoats by crucifying them, setting them on fire, and feeding them to wild beasts. Some, under torture or threats, abandoned the faith or even betrayed other believers.
Mark seems to be writing for Christians in crisis. He is the only Evangelist to mention that Jesus was with wild beasts (1:13), a predicament that would have special meaning to the Roman Christians. To the list of rewards promised to Jesus’ disciples, Mark adds «with persecutions» (10:30). Only Mark records the saying that «everyone will be «salted with fire» (9:49). He emphasizes Jesus’ warnings that the disciples will suffer betrayal by relatives and persecution at the hands of authorities (13:9- 13).
Mark also portrays the fears, flaws, and failures of Jesus’ first disciples known to his audience as the eminent leaders of the Church with relentless honesty. The sons of Zebedee were reprimanded for seeking earthly prominence, yet Jesus promises that they will share in his destiny (10:39-40); Peter caved in under pressure (14:29-31), yet Marks audience knows of his forgiveness and restoration, his courageous leadership, and perhaps his heroic martyrdom. The Evangelist thereby encourages his readers, showing that God’s purposes are not foiled by human failure or opposition. The weaknesses of Jesus’ followers and the violent hostility of his enemies only play into God’s hands.
Reading the Gospel of Mark Today
The Gospel of Mark and the three other canonical Gospels are unlike any other kind of literature. They are brief narratives recounting the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. In that sense they are roughly analogous to ancient biographies. But they are unique in that they are written from a standpoint of living faith in Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and exalted as Lord over all. For the Gospel writers, because Jesus is alive, all that he said and did in his earthly life is not merely a past event but a present source of grace and power to those who believe in him. They write so as to invite their readers to access that grace and power through faith.
One of the early readers of the Gospel was St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch (ca. AD 35-110). On his way to martyrdom at Rome, Ignatius wrote, «I flee to the gospel as to the flesh of Jesus Christ». What he meant is that the Gospels do not merely tell him about Jesus but bring him into living contact with Jesus. They are in a sense his Real Presence. This is the way the Church has understood the Gospels from ancient times, and it is why the events in Jesus’ earthly life are traditionally called «mysteries». As we read or hear the account of these events, especially in the liturgy, we are led into «the invisible mystery of his divine sonship and redemptive mission» (Catechism, 515). That is, the Gospel events become a pattern and effective cause of Jesus’ action within the members of his Church now. […]
The setting in which Mark wrote his Gospel is not unlike the situation of Christians today. Those striving to be faithful to Jesus may sometimes feel like a frightened boatful of disciples on the storm-tossed sea of a society that is often hostile to the gospel. As in Mark’s day, to be a committed Christian can often mean suffering condescension or hostility from friends or colleagues and exclusion from positions of influence in the world of culture, education, or politics. In many parts of the world, being a Christian put one at risk of persecution, discrimination, torture, or death. Yet the popes at the beginning of the third millennium have prophetically announced a new evangelization – a new mobilization of the Church to bring the good news once again to the ends of the earth – both to revitalize the lukewarm and to introduce Jesus to those who have never met him before” (p. 17-26).
With the help of St. Mark, we want to come to know the Lord Jesus. We want to know personally the one who did not run away but gave his life for our salvation. We will try to discover or re-discover who Jesus is, and what he did and does to us every day of our lives.
Leo
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