RBWords

      When my sister would tell a story about our family she had a way of responding to any corrections by her younger brothers with the words, "Let me tell it MY way!"

     Throughout the three synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke - the reader is confronted with something that, to this day, leaves scripture scholars as well as ordinary believers scratching their heads.  It is what scholars have called "the Messianic Secret."  The term itself is from the early 20th century but it describes what we see often in the gospels - a tension between secrecy and publicity!  Jesus is shown frequently telling people not to tell others about his ministry, especially his miracles.  This admonition extends to "evil spirits," who would certainly be able to recognize his true identity.  In today's gospel passage, publicity is a problem of crowd management, not of secrecy.  Those who chose not to believe saw the same miracles, etc. as those who did believe.

     One approach that I find helpful is to remember that the aim of the evangelist is to tell the story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.  Each evangelist has his own agenda in telling the story.  In the Gospel According to Mark, this "agenda" means that one will only recognize Jesus for who he is, i.e. Son of God, when one knows the whole story and not by seeing one or more miracles.  Jesus' identity is not "proven" by his wonderful healings.  There were others in his time who made the same claims.   But Jesus' claim is established by his resurrection from the dead.  To understand the big picture in the Gospel According to Mark,, one begins with the resurrection and works back!  This may not be the way we would ordinarily tell a story, but Mark is telling it HIS way.  AMEN