Dcn Susan Erickson

Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.  Acts 12:24

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist.  The verse from Acts, above, mentions a Mark who is traditionally thought to be the same person as the Evangelist.  The 4th-century church historian Eusebius preserves some fragments written by Papias, an early 2d-century Church Father, who identified Mark as an assistant of the apostle Peter.  According to Papias, Mark “wrote down carefully, but not in order, all that he remembered of the Lord’s sayings and doings” — that is, as related by Peter.  Many centuries later, however, we cannot be entirely certain that Papias’ account is accurate.

Biblical scholars long held the view that Mark’s Gospel consists of Jesus’ sayings and deeds arranged in no particular order, just as Papias described.  Now, though, scholars recognize that in writing his Gospel, Mark — whoever he was — actually had an organizing theme.  For Mark, probably the earliest of the Gospel writers, Jesus was not simply a miracle worker or a particularly good person.  Rather, he was the Messiah spoken of by the prophets, but a Messiah whose kingdom would be marked by service to others, suffering and death on the cross.  Throughout Mark, Jesus’ disciples simply don’t “get” this message or grasp who Jesus really is.  Mark, though, clearly indicates to his readers that Jesus is the son of God.

As New Testament scholar David de Silva points out:  “Discipleship itself depends on a right understanding of Jesus’ messiahship.  Mark’s presentation of the disciples’ failures … leads the readers or hearers to reconsider their own discipleship … .”

I find a correspondence between Mark’s challenge to would-be disciples and the advice we read in Sirach in today’s Daily Office.  “My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing.  Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not be impetuous in the time of calamity.”  (Sir 2:1-2). 

We seem beset by so many current calamities, near and far, global and personal.  Serving the Lord inevitably means we will be tested.  I pray that we can hold fast to the Gospel of Mark, to the other Gospels, the Apostles, the Church Fathers and the host of those who have remained steadfast in their service of the Lord who suffered, died, who was resurrected and who still calls us into His kingdom.

Dcn Susan Erickson