Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 23, 2014 - Thursday in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 18:6-9; 19:1-7 and Mark 3:7-12]Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.
A quick look at the map of the area described by the gospel today indicates that people were coming from the length and breadth of the Holy Land to see, hear and especially to touch Jesus! Since we are still at the early stages of his ministry in Mark's story, one is left to wonder how so many people in so large an area could have heard about him! There was no "social media" other than word of mouth! No cell phones. No internet and e-mail! The gospel is not worried about that. The point of the narrative is that Jesus' fame was spreading and this meant consequences! The consequence for today is "crowd management!" A boat had to be on hand so he could put some distance between himself and the crowd! A second and more ominous consequence was that he became an ever-increasing threat to the "powers that be" - from demon to Pharisee to Herodian to Roman!
If word of mouth is the way Jesus was made known and it was able to cover a very large territory in a short time, we are left with our present-day challenge. We have all the social media to help us but are we reluctant to speak up? Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation, THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL, reminds us that ALL the baptized are called to be missionary evangelizers! To use mundane terms, we cannot simply be "consumers," we must be "marketers!" There will definitely be consequences from indifference to hostility to joyful acceptance! Have we "heard" of Jesus? Can we "pass the word" about him? Can we accept the consequences? AMEN