Year: 2024

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Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, 
accompanied by his disciples. 
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished. 
They said, “Where did this man get all this? 
What kind of wisdom has been given him? 
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! 
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? 
And are not his sisters here with us?” 
And they took offense at him. 
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.” 
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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The Lord’s return to his hometown is drenched in irony and opposites. 

By now, the Lord has cast an unclean spirit out of a man a synagogue; healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law; cleansed a leper; and stilled the stormy seas of Galilee. 

Word of these things preceded him. So, one might logically imagine that when Jesus returned home, he’d receive a star’s welcome. But he receives the polar opposite. Jesus is not welcomed with open arms and amazement; rather, closed hearts and unbelief.

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Notice a few particular details Mark includes in this Gospel passage.

The villagers in Nazareth – totaling no more than a few hundred – ask the right questions about Jesus, only with the wrong attitude.

“Where did this man get all this? … What kind of wisdom has been given him? … What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary? … Are not his relatives here with us?”

These are the types of questions Mark wants the reader to ask. When done with the right attitude – with a heart disposed to finding the truth – then one would see that, yes, Jesus is human. He is from Nazareth.

But he is also divine, the Son of God, which has allowed him to perform such mighty deeds.

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Mark also describes the circle of rejection tightening around Jesus. As he enters his hometown, even the villagers, his relatives, and his own household question skeptically, “Who is this man?”

Such skepticism creates the greatest obstacle to the Lord’s ministry: unbelief. How ironic it is that such unbelief comes from those who knew him best.

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What are some of my own questions about Jesus? Or about my faith?

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While the practice of asking questions is a healthy thing – it’s a sign we’re actually thinking about our faith, trying to make it ever more relevant in our lives– we must always do so with a heart open to the truth. 

May the Lord be “amazed,” not by our lack of faith; rather, by the abundance of it.

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Image credits: (1) PCUSA Store (2) Pantocrator, St. Catherine’s Monastery (3) Trinity Church, South Bend

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Gospel: Mk. 5: 21-40

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat
to the other side, 
a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea.
One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward.
Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying,
“My daughter is at the point of death.
Please, come lay your hands on her
that she may get well and live.”
He went off with him
and a large crowd followed him.

There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors
and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd
and touched his cloak.
She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.”
Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”
But his disciples said to him,
“You see how the crowd is pressing upon you,
and yet you ask, Who touched me?”
And he looked around to see who had done it.
The woman, realizing what had happened to her,
approached in fear and trembling.
She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

While he was still speaking,
people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said,
“Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” 
Disregarding the message that was reported,
Jesus said to the synagogue official,
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.”
He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official,
he caught sight of a commotion,
people weeping and wailing loudly.
So he went in and said to them,
“Why this commotion and weeping?
The child is not dead but asleep.”
And they ridiculed him.
Then he put them all out.
He took along the child’s father and mother
and those who were with him
and entered the room where the child was.
He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” 
which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.
He gave strict orders that no one should know this
and said that she should be given something to eat.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Mark sandwiches two different stories of healing into this Gospel passage in order to represent all of humanity.

There’s Jairus’ daughter, who’s only twelve years old, and a woman who’s been hemorrhaging for the last twelve years.

The young girl represents every child who’s suffered, along with the pain of their parents. The older woman represents those who are aging, whose minds and bodies have grown weak under the slow pressure of time.

Two stories of suffering with varying degrees of faith.

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In the case of Jairus’ daughter, the crowds report to Jesus that she has died; there is nothing more that Jesus can do.

Meanwhile, the woman who’s been hemorrhaging for the last twelve years desperately touches the tassel of his cloak – and instantly, she’s healed.

This happens while the Lord is surrounded by a countless number of people – the sick, the sinful, and the sorrowful, all bumping into Jesus as he moves closer to Jairus’ home.

But this woman touches him in faith.

She needs neither Christ’s attention nor to touch his body; an anonymous brushing with the tassel of his cloak is enough. Suddenly, twelve years of misery are over.

Her faith made the Lord stop as he felt his healing power go out of him.

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As Christians, we’re in constant contact with Jesus. We listen to his Word, we receive Him in the Eucharist, we say his name in prayer.

But is it half-conscious contact like the crowds who bumped into Jesus on the way to Jairus’ home? Or do we touch him in faith like the woman who hemorrhaged for twelve years?

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“Daughter, your faith has saved you,” Jesus says to her.

May the Lord say the same of us, who for our own reasons reach for the tassel of his cloak.

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Image credits: (1) Driven Deep by Paul Moore, Facebook (2) Duc in Altum, Magdala (3) Pinterest

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Gospel: Mark 5: 1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Thirteen out of the eighteen miracles Jesus performs in Mark’s Gospel are miracles of healing. Four of them are exorcisms.

Jesus begins his healing ministry in the synagogue, casting out an “unclean spirit” from a man, as we heard in yesterday’s Gospel. Immediately afterwards, he travels to Simon Peter’s home, where he heals Simon’s mother-in-law.

Then Jesus enters the surrounding towns and villages where he heals a leper and a man who’s paralyzed.

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Mark narrates this healing ministry of Jesus in an outward fashion; the Lord begins his work in his own house, the synagogue. Then he moves outward into Simon Peter’s home, the “domestic church.” Then into the public square.

Finally, today Jesus moves into “defiled” Gentile territory – a cemetery. Mark says this man experienced a “violent squall” within, likely comparing what happened on the Sea of Galilee to what’s happening inside this man’s soul. He’s tortured.

But by the simple power of his voice, Christ casts this demon out, revealing there’s nowhere evil can hide; Jesus has power over everything and everyone.

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After the man is healed, he seeks to stay with Jesus – much like we do after the Lord reveals himself to us. Think about how you felt during a grace-filled period in prayer; during a retreat; or in the middle of a revealing conversation.  

We like to bask in the consolation.

But the Lord says to the man as he says to us, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

Jesus wants this man to live out his newly found faith in the ordinary circumstance of his life – in his home, with his family, with the villagers he once knew.

That is often where the most effective Gospel work is done – in the ordinary circumstances of life. As Mother Teresa once said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” 

Be an agent of healing and reconciliation. 

What does that mean for me today?

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Image credits: (1) A-Z Quotes (2) Wikipedia (3) Pinterest