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We are coming to the end of the liturgical year during which we have been seeing the years of Christ’s public ministry through the eyes of St Mark. As we approach the conclusion of the year it is appropriate that we consider Christ’s words about the Last Days.
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Today we are given for our consideration the story of the Widow’s Mite. This text comes at the last stage of Jesus’ ministry. He has arrived in Jerusalem where he knows he is to face his death on the Cross and in the few days available to him he teaches the people in the precincts of the Temple.
The scribe in today’s Gospel gets an unusually good press. Jesus compliments him, something quite rare in the Gospels. The scribe asks which is the first of all the commandments and Jesus recites the famous opening words of the Shema, the prayer recited by pious Jews each day.
In today’s Gospel we are given the story of Blind Bartimaeus for our consideration. This is the last incident to occur on Jesus’ journey up to Jerusalem for the Passover where he is to meet his fate on the Cross of Calvary. But despite the fact that Jesus knows that this is the most important journey of his life and that he is shortly to face his own death he still is able to find the time to heal Bartimaeus. This shows us where Jesus’ priorities truly lie.
Sometimes the Lectionary gives us readings that are a bit too short. Today’s Gospel is an example of this tendency. In the actual Gospel, this passage about James and John asking for privileged places in the Kingdom is immediately preceded by a passage in which Jesus predicts his passion and death for the third time. It is unfortunate that it is omitted from the Gospel set before us today.
The story of the Rich Young Man appears more or less identically in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. The question the young man poses is an interesting one. He says, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He thinks that we can get to heaven by doing things. If this were true it would only be a question of finding out what things we must do and then once these have been completed we will be let into heaven.
In today’s Gospel we are presented with Jesus’ teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. To many people today this teaching might seem overly strict or out of harmony with the modern reality of frequent marriage breakdown.
The Gospel text today is pretty gruesome with its talk of chopping your hand or foot off or tearing out your eye. I do not think that Jesus intends us to take these words literally. According to the scholars they are an example of what is called Biblical hyperbole. In other words, an exaggeration to make a point.
There are two parts to our Gospel reading this Sunday. The first part is another prediction by Jesus of his passion and death. The disciples do not understand what he is saying and so simply ignore him. This leads to the second half of the Gospel reading in which we find the disciples squabbling among themselves as to which of them is the greatest. Jesus stops them and gives them the example of little children for them to emulate.
There are high points and low points in everyone’s life. We are all aware of this and if we take a look at ourselves we will surely be able to recall extremely difficult times as well as those intense moments of exhilaration. In the case of Peter, we see here in this Gospel extract a high point when he declares his faith in Jesus as the Messiah and then immediately afterwards a very low point when Jesus says to him, ‘Get behind me Satan!’
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Father Alex McAllister SDSParish Priest of
St Thomas à Becket Wandsworth Archives
January 2019
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