THE GOSPEL OF MARK

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this First Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Gospel of Mark.”

As you know,  this year - 2012 -  is the year for the Gospel of Mark for our Sunday Gospels in Ordinary Time. Last year, year A, was Matthew. This year, year B, this year, is Mark. Next year, Year C, will be the year of  Luke.

That’s the Sunday gospels. However, Mark being the shortest of the gospels - only 16 chapters - gets bumped on a few Sundays. This will happen next Sunday, but on the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time,  we’ll start going through the Gospel of Mark for the rest of the year - with a few exceptions.

That’s Sundays. On weekdays in Ordinary Time we have Mark for the first 9 weeks of Ordinary Time readings. This year, that’s till June 9th, then we'll start Matthew, then finish the year with Luke.

LOOKING AT THE GOSPEL OF MARK

Mark is the shortest and the earliest of the gospels - dated to around 64 to 67. A.D.

Last week I noticed in Newman Book Store in Washington D.C. - not too far from Catholic University and the National Shrine - that they had books on Mark on display. Last year there were books on Matthew featured. So we keep on getting new books on the gospels.

This year people will find books on Mark to look at. There will be workshops in parishes on Mark as well. So by the end of this year folks will have a greater grasp of the themes and main emphases found in the Gospel of Mark.

With the changes after Vatican II in the Liturgy, the Catholic Church cannot be attacked as not being Biblical.

I always like to quote the mandate of Vatican II in The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, # 51. “The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word. In this way a more representative portion of the holy scriptures will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years.”

So this year we have Mark on Sundays in Ordinary Time as well as at the first 9 weeks in Ordinary Time of the church year. Lent jumps in with Ash Wednesday. Then there is the Easter season. Then after Easter and Pentecost - on Monday May 28th we get back to Mark - to finish his pre-Passion account messages  on Saturday June 9th (i.e, finishing with Mark 12: 38-44.)

I’ve met people who say, “Mark is my favorite gospel!” but I’ve heard more say it’s Luke or John. And I just read in Time magazine that Tim Tebow draws not only on the famous John 3:16 text that has been seen on signs at many football games, but also on the Gospel of Matthew - especially that we be salt and light to the world. [1]

ONE QUICK TAKE

For a sermon thought for today, let me offer a strange idea or a different take. I’ll be quick.

By serendipity or by chance, today’s first reading from 1st Samuel has the story of Hannah going to the temple shrine at Shiloh to pray to God to get pregnant. Her prayer is very specific. She wants to have a son. She does what many people do. She bargains with God. She makes promises to God. Her prayer is very clear. It’s a vow prayer:

                 "LORD of hosts,
                 If you look with pity on the misery 
                 of your handmaid,
                 if you remember me 
                 and do not forget me,
                 if you give your handmaid a male child,
                 I will give him to the LORD 
                 for as long as he lives;
                 neither wine nor liquor shall he drink,
                 and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of The Baptism of the Lord, so we didn’t get the reading from First Samuel that is right before today’s text. It tells us that Hannah went to this shrine every year - with her prayer and she was not having luck with pregnancy. However, her husband’s other wife, Penniah,  had several children and rubbed it in that Hannah didn’t have kids. Perhaps, Penniah's motive for irking Hannah was, as the text indicates, that Elkanah,  the husband of the two wives, liked Hannah more.

Well, today’s story has Eli, the priest, watching Hannah pray. Her lips are moving without making any sounds. He thinks she’s drunk. She isn’t and she tells Eli that she isn’t. She says she’s praying for a child. Well, he says, “Go in peace and may God grant your request.”

That’s the way these stories are told. And she has a son: Samuel.

Well, here’s a twist - triggered by this story that Eli thought Hanna was drunk. There is a book by John C. Mellon entitled, “Mark As Recovery Story.” He writes the whole book as if Mark has alcoholism in mind in his gospel. Sure enough he sees today’s gospel story of the man yelling in the synagogue as someone who could be an alcoholic. Interesting. [2]

I read John Mellon's book and don’t agree that Mark has this in mind. However, ever since I read that book, whenever I read the Gospel of Mark, it challenges me to see that as a possibility in the different stories and incidents in his gospel.

So that's why I push reading a book on a specific gospel. It triggers nuances, wonderings, questions, possibilities, that we didn't see before.

TWO  CONCLUSIONS

1) Check the library or on line for books on Mark.

2) This year, read and pray with the Gospel of Mark on your own. Also, during this year here in church, listen to the Gospel of Mark when it’s used on Sundays - and when it’s used this first part of ordinary time with your issues in mind - whether it’s alcohol or what have you. Amen.

+++++++++++++++

NOTES

Painting on top: St. Mark by James Tissot (1836-1902) by James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum, NYC. NY

[1] Jon Meacham, "Faith on the Field", "Tebow's Testimony",  Time magazine, January 16, 2012, pp. 40-42

[2] John C. Mellon, Mark as Recovery Story, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1995