embracing hardships
Why would Jesus silence the devil and the demons? If there is one person who knows who Jesus really is, it is the devil. And if you want people to believe in you, then let your sworn enemies speak good things about you. And that is what the devil precisely did in our gospel today – he said to everyone’s hearing, “I know who you are – you are the holy one of God.” And yet Jesus silenced him. Why?
Scholars have been perplexed by this reaction of Jesus and it is a too common occurrence in the gospel of Mark. Jesus silences the demons every time they say that he is the Holy One of God and every time they say that he is the Son of God. Scholars call this the Messianic Secret. The true identity of Jesus, the real Jesus as the Son of God, as the Holy One of God cannot be revealed in his miracles, it cannot be revealed when he speaks with authority, or when he raises the dead and drives out demons. Rather he shall be revealed and he shall be known as the Son of God when they see him hanging on the cross, in pain, in his agony and in his death. Jesus wants his disciples to acknowledge him as Son of God when he is powerless on the cross. And indeed that’s exactly what happened in the gospel of Mark. When he died on the cross the centurion looking up at him said, Indeed he is the Son of God. No human being ever said that in the gospel of Mark - only the centurion and only after he saw Jesus suffering, dying, and dead on the cross - Indeed he is the Son of God.
TOur master wants us to acknowledge that he is indeed Lord, Son of God not in his miracles, not in his wonderful and marvelous ideas, not in his healing powers but when we gaze at him hanging on the cross suffering for us.
There are just too many healings associated with religion nowadays. There are too many miracles, too many religions advertising a life of ease and convenience in exchange for faith nowadays. But Jesus wants to be known as God, as Son of God, as the Holy One, as Lord and Master not in his power to heal, not in his powerful providence but in his suffering and death.
Is this how we look at Jesus? Is this how we accept his Lordship. Is this how we speak of Jesus as God? Is this how we see and value his suffering and death for our sake?
These questions are important because what we perceive as values of the master we also take as values of the disciple, for the way of the master is also and should be the way of the disciple.
I was installed yesterday as the new rector of St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary replacing the great Msgr. Delgado (by calling him great I also mean he is big and fat and I mean to derogate him because if he did not resign I wouldn’t have been there and I wouldn’t be here either . . . he is the cause of my present misery!). Anyway when lay people approached me after this appointment they would say congratulations with smiles so broad you want to tear these from their faces, but when priests who know what it means to be assigned in the seminary approach me they would sadly say condolence.
On second thought I would accept congratulations for as long as it is not accompanied with a smile that makes you look like Pilate mocking me to my crucifixion. But I would accept the congratulations, for it is in the difficult that we will come to know the real Jesus, it is in the difficult that we can follow him more closely and sincerely.
For most people nowadays good health is a blessing, wealth is a blessing, winning the lottery is a blessing, passing the bar is a blessing. But didn’t John of the cross said once, if you want to grow in holiness choose the most difficult - choose the most inconvenient, carry the heaviest load. We should welcome suffering as a blessing and an opportunity for grace.
We can only come to know the real Jesus, the Jesus who is the Holy One of God when we have come to acknowledge the priority of his suffering and death over and above his miracles. And we can only come to embrace true discipleship when like Jesus, we too have willingly embraced our own pains and anguish, our inconveniences and burdens, our own sicknesses and frailties as the only way to true discipleship.
Scholars have been perplexed by this reaction of Jesus and it is a too common occurrence in the gospel of Mark. Jesus silences the demons every time they say that he is the Holy One of God and every time they say that he is the Son of God. Scholars call this the Messianic Secret. The true identity of Jesus, the real Jesus as the Son of God, as the Holy One of God cannot be revealed in his miracles, it cannot be revealed when he speaks with authority, or when he raises the dead and drives out demons. Rather he shall be revealed and he shall be known as the Son of God when they see him hanging on the cross, in pain, in his agony and in his death. Jesus wants his disciples to acknowledge him as Son of God when he is powerless on the cross. And indeed that’s exactly what happened in the gospel of Mark. When he died on the cross the centurion looking up at him said, Indeed he is the Son of God. No human being ever said that in the gospel of Mark - only the centurion and only after he saw Jesus suffering, dying, and dead on the cross - Indeed he is the Son of God.
TOur master wants us to acknowledge that he is indeed Lord, Son of God not in his miracles, not in his wonderful and marvelous ideas, not in his healing powers but when we gaze at him hanging on the cross suffering for us.
There are just too many healings associated with religion nowadays. There are too many miracles, too many religions advertising a life of ease and convenience in exchange for faith nowadays. But Jesus wants to be known as God, as Son of God, as the Holy One, as Lord and Master not in his power to heal, not in his powerful providence but in his suffering and death.
Is this how we look at Jesus? Is this how we accept his Lordship. Is this how we speak of Jesus as God? Is this how we see and value his suffering and death for our sake?
These questions are important because what we perceive as values of the master we also take as values of the disciple, for the way of the master is also and should be the way of the disciple.
I was installed yesterday as the new rector of St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary replacing the great Msgr. Delgado (by calling him great I also mean he is big and fat and I mean to derogate him because if he did not resign I wouldn’t have been there and I wouldn’t be here either . . . he is the cause of my present misery!). Anyway when lay people approached me after this appointment they would say congratulations with smiles so broad you want to tear these from their faces, but when priests who know what it means to be assigned in the seminary approach me they would sadly say condolence.
On second thought I would accept congratulations for as long as it is not accompanied with a smile that makes you look like Pilate mocking me to my crucifixion. But I would accept the congratulations, for it is in the difficult that we will come to know the real Jesus, it is in the difficult that we can follow him more closely and sincerely.
For most people nowadays good health is a blessing, wealth is a blessing, winning the lottery is a blessing, passing the bar is a blessing. But didn’t John of the cross said once, if you want to grow in holiness choose the most difficult - choose the most inconvenient, carry the heaviest load. We should welcome suffering as a blessing and an opportunity for grace.
We can only come to know the real Jesus, the Jesus who is the Holy One of God when we have come to acknowledge the priority of his suffering and death over and above his miracles. And we can only come to embrace true discipleship when like Jesus, we too have willingly embraced our own pains and anguish, our inconveniences and burdens, our own sicknesses and frailties as the only way to true discipleship.
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