Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 24, 2019 - Thursday in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 7:25—8:6 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. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, "You are the Son of God." He warned them sternly not to make him known. [Mark]
JANUARY 24 ST. FRANCIS DE SALES
One of the challenges of reading the gospels deeply is to determine how much of what is recounted is Jesus' agenda and how much is the evangelist's agenda, bearing in mind that each gospel may have had more than one hand in it, just as any document subject to editing might have! Today's gospel passage is an example.
If Jesus wanted to avoid the wrong understanding of him as just a healer and exorcist, why did he keep on doing it? And if he wanted to avoid publicity, why keep attracting crowds? The "get-away boat" is not to escape but to deal with crowd management! Last, but not least, why tell the unclean spirits "not to make him known?"
Scripture scholars debate these things, but I would offer this broad perspective. It may be true that Jesus wanted people to know him for who he truly was, not just a healer/exorcist, and that the numbers of people simply needed to be dealt with. But it is also true that the evangelist is telling the story and has a broader theological agenda, namely, that Jesus would not be truly known until his death on the cross and resurrection.
Historically, people have offered interpretations of Jesus as simply a teacher and healer while ignoring the cross and resurrection. Others have discounted anything miraculous and focused on the cross and resurrection. The Gospel According to Mark gives the big picture of Jesus' ministry but insists the key to understanding the picture is the cross and resurrection. The unclean spirits would short-circuit this agenda in Mark's story. We are left, however, with the question of how we would write the story and what we might emphasize. The answer to that question would tell us a lot about what we think of Jesus. AMEN