Faith

‘Soiler’-alert – Wednesday, 3rd week in ordinary time – Mark 4: 1-20

We often hear that Jesus spoke in parables, so what then is a parable? When translated from the Greek, a parable (parabolê) is an analogy or a comparison but which has only one intended message. This compound word comes from “para” which means “to come along side or compare” and “ballo” which literally means “to throw” or “see” with. However the Hebrew word for parable is msl, pronounced as mâshâl and has a much wider range of meaning, including sayings, stories and even riddles.

This is the first of a series of parables in Mark’s Gospel. Interestingly he even positions it as the key parable when he says, “do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? (Mark 4:13). There is something in this parable that Mark wants us to sit up and take notice.

Mark’s Gospel is about the Kingdom of God, and in chapter four Mark specifically begins to expose what exactly this kingdom is like. In all of these parables that are strung together in chapter four what emerges is the all-important question, in whom does the kingdom best take root? Who is the good soil?

Mark’s setting for the parable is the Sea of Galilee, the crowds are pressing upon Him to hear His words and so he takes refuge in a boat. The parable clearly has unchangeable components, namely the sower, the soil and the seed.  The sower is most certainly God, the soil is the world and the seed is us. What changes is where the seed fell.

 But the question one is bound to ask is, what fault is it of the seed that had no choice where it fell? The Gospel writer is not concerned about this issue, remember that this is a parable and he has one message to convey; in whom does the kingdom best take root?

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Faith

Where there is no will there is no way- Tuesday, 3rd week in ordinary time- Mark 3: 31- 35

The passage of this morning must be seen in the larger context of the rejection of Jesus in Galilee 3:7-6:6. This rejection comes from a number of quarters; the Jewish leaders, the disciples of John the Baptist, the people and even His own family. Yet peppered in all this is also the fact that the rejection of Jesus was not universal for many followed Him making it at times essential to find refuge in a boat or in His house

The rejection from the family of Jesus in His own hometown of Nazareth was written by the sacred writer to give hope to the Gentile followers of Christ who lived around 65 AD and who were unfamiliar with Jewish customs and traditions.  The Gospel of Mark which was written shortly before A.D. 70 in Rome was written at a time of impending persecution, when destruction loomed over Jerusalem. The book aimed to equip such Christians to stand faithful in the face of persecution (Mark13:9-13), while carrying on with the proclamation of the Gospel that was preached by Jesus in Galilee (Mark13:10; 14-19).  

The early Christians, like Jesus and His disciples, may have lost mothers, fathers ,  sisters, brothers, houses and fields for the sake of the Good News (10:28-30) and may have felt themselves under threat from powers and principalities as He was.  So for those people, then and through the ages, there is comfort in the turn from restraint and threat to freedom, courage, and hope, even in the face of the ones who would kill Jesus.

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Art/ Heritage

A CALL TO FREEDOM: The Vocation of the Apostles by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1481 – 82)

 Born as Ghirlandaio (Italian for garland maker), he was apprenticed to a goldsmith but alas, he soon discovered that it was not his calling. Nature had something more charming in store. She lured him by her perfect wit to seek his marvellous and judicious taste in painting. He went on to become one of the most excellent masters of his age; his student, the Master of Masters.

We are navigating the life and art of a self taught and inspirational 15th century Florentine painter namely Domenico Ghirlandaio. And who worthier could resonate his brilliance than his renowned pupil Michelangelo.

Ghirlandaio had his every sense to detail. His scheme of composition was grand; his canvas, decorous; his drawing, precise and his colour, creative. According to Vasari so perceptive was his perspective that he could draw the ancient Roman monuments entirely by eye, which when later measured would prove to have mathematically accurate proportions and linear perspective.

His skill of story-telling was sensational as well. Ghirlandaio often employed the technique to depict a religious narrative within a contemporary setting. This also included several powerful portraits. It provided him great popularity and wealthy patrons.

One such colossal commission was the call from Rome. In the 1480’s, Pope Sixtus IV invited the who’s who of the art world to decorate the newly built Sistine Chapel. Ghirlandaio too received an important task of painting the calling of Peter and Andrew to their Apostleship.

The painting traverses in time to the Gospel of Mark Chapter 1: verses 14 to 20. The narrative enfolds at the background. We are located by the Sea of Galilee. Hemmed by hills, it is often subject to storms. Home to over 40 aquatic species, fishes from this lake were exported all through the Roman Empire. But there was something special about its fishermen, or at least about four of them.

Perhaps it was a day like any other day: the same sea, the same boat and the same net. But breezing across were winds of change. As Peter and his brother Andrew sat casting their nets, there walked Jesus pronouncing His prominent words, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men’. Their response was quick and immediate. They left their nets and followed Him.

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Faith

 Inside out- Saturday, 2nd week in ordinary time – Mark 3:20-21

“Then He went home and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. And when His family heard it, they went out to restrain Him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”

That’s it! That’s the Gospel for today and it’s both stark and shocking. Jesus has come home and the expression does not indicate that this is His adopted home in Capernaum but rather “oikon” which translates as He came “to a house,” namely, His family house in Nazareth.

He has gone to His relatives’ who for some reason are thoroughly embarrassed by His actions. The words and deeds of Jesus have made Him a name to be sought after, making it difficult for Him to sit down to meal in His own house. But the relatives of Jesus are embarrassed, for His detractors had already begun maligning His name and their fear was that they would be party to this shame.

We know from the verses that follow, that the scribes who had come from Jerusalem had already begun a hate campaign claiming that He was possessed by Beelzebul, a name derived from a Philistine god. The ‘son of this little village’ had not only thrust this village and His family into the spotlight of the spiritual world, but had also overshadowed them with a cloud of controversy. All this was too much for His relatives who decided to “restrain him.”

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Faith

Followers or Disciples? Friday, 2nd week in ordinary time- Mark 3:13-19

The reading of today focuses on the appointment of the twelve. Of these twelve, four of them already find mention in Mark 1:16-20 namely Simon, Andrew, James and John. Now from the numerous people who follow Jesus He calls those “whom he desired and they came to Him”. These are called to “be with Him, preach and have the authority to cast out demons.  This appointment is significant as much as it is symbolic for the number twelve also alludes to the tribes of Israel.

There is a clear preferential option that Jesus makes in his choosing of the twelve. From the thousands of ‘followers’ He chooses ‘disciples’, men that He desired to be with Him. There is a clear distinction between being a follower and a disciple of Jesus. Our beloved father of the nation. Gandhiji, was most certainly a follower of the teachings of Jesus but he was most certainly not a disciple. A disciple is single minded in his or her desire for the master.

When Jesus called the twelve to be His disciples He clearly outlined their pastoral ministry. Primarily He wanted them to ‘be with Him’. Their first duty as disciples was to BE and then DO. Most disciples think that their calling is to do things for the Lord. You can’t do unless you are with the Lord discerning His will. The great spiritual battle of being over doing is made clear by the choice that Jesus lays for his disciples.  The other two pastoral ministries were preaching and casting out demons. Jesus was pointed in His teaching as to what he expected from the twelve and by extension to us; our being must supersede our doing.

The passage also goes on to name the twelve with an association or in some cases a change of name. The Bible has several persons whose names were changed. Abram was called Abraham, Jacob was renamed Israel, Saul became Paul etc. A change in name often symbolizes a new station in life or a new role one has to play or a new beginning. Simon is called the rock symbolizing his role as the foundation of the Church.

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