St Mark

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This weekend is Saturday the 24 of April, the feast of St Mark, and Sunday 25 April, beginning the third week of Easter.  

The monks of the Abbey of Keur Moussa sing Psalm 91: ‘It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning, and your truth in the watches of the night.’ As I listen, can I bring myself before the God they speak of, the God present here with me, the source of all life, all love, all truth? 

This week we have seen many people reacting to Jesus, and to the message that God speaks through him. Two Pharisees, Nicodemus and Gamaliel, responded cautiously. At the foot of the cross, John took Mary as his mother. After the resurrection, the apostles reacted with great enthusiasm. A disciple from Cyprus, Joseph Barnabas, became a source of encouragement for his community. And an early Christian Martyr, George, was prepared to give his life for his faith. In today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark, just before he returns to his father, Jesus sends out his followers to spread this good news everywhere. How do you react? Cautiously, enthusiastically, encouragingly, with a desire to give your whole life to God? Notice what goes on in you as you listen to these words.  

And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it. (Mark 16:15-20)

Proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” God’s word isn’t just meant for human beings. It promises that the whole world will flourish if we listen to him. What might that mean, practically, in your own situation?  

The signs that show that you are a follower of Christ probably aren’t the fact that you handle deadly snakes or drink poison unharmed. But what are the signs that mark you out as a disciple? Particularly at the moment in our situation of social distancing and lockdown?  

Even after he has returned to his Father, we’re told, “the Lord worked with them”. Have you sometimes had the experience of the Spirit of Jesus working in and through you?  

As the passage is read again, notice what exactly it is that Jesus tells the disciples to do, and how they respond.  

In the last few moments of prayer, ask God for the gifts that you need to proclaim the good news by your life, or thank him for the gifts that God has already given you.  

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.