GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES
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| THE BIBLE: GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES ICON. |
Click here to read the
first post in the series. I have written this series in different years (2012,
2015, 2018) with some irregularity, but am determined to complete this series
this year since I am more than half way through this Gospel.
My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of
Mark. I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the
liturgical season. In today's post we explore chapter 9:42--50 which is called
5 sayings of Jesus on scandal.
5 SAYINGS OF JESUS ON SCANDAL
This is the first of the passages (9:42-10.31) which Mark has arranged
together, containing episodes that something about the ‘way’ ‘for disciples as
a way for little ones (9:35). After the first passion prophesy and the new
teaching about the way as a way of the cross (8:34-35), there were also added
appropriate teaching and stories (8:36-9:29).
The five sayings of Jesus, which Mark places in this passage, are linked
by the theme of scandal towards little ones. Little ones symbolise the true
followers of Jesu made little in the eyes of the world and vulnerable towards
others around them by the dept of their faith in God and their wholehearted
commitment to the way of Jesus.
Scandal here is understood d not in its modern sense of sharing gossip
of harming another’s good name, but in the biblical sense of putting obstacles
and hindrances to true faith in another or in oneself. Anyone who harms the faith of another deserts
the worst of penalties (9:42).
The teaching of Jesus puts dramatically before His disciples, in images
that would certainly shock them, their central need to humble themselves as
little ones before God and God’s plan for the world. It would be better to lose a hand, a foot or
an eye than to lose their faith in God.
Gehenna, originally, it seems a rubbish- dump continually burning
outside Jerusalem, became a Jewish symbol of hell as a place of personal
destruction and separation from God the life- giver and saviour.
The saying that everyone will be salted by fire (9:49) could mean that
the faith of a true disciple is tested by suffering. The next verse is clearer. Salt without taste is useless. Faith that does not touch one’s life is
equally useless. The words of Jesus
point to a close connection between faith in God and harmony in our live
together.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on
this passage as follows:
- Name
the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this
passage of scripture?
- Imagine
that you are one of the disciples- What do you see and hear and feel. What
can I learn from this?
- Imagine
being Jesus telling the disciples and knowing that they did not
understand- what would you have felt?
- What
is reading the Gospel passage with the eyes and ears of disciple mean to
me?
- How
does Jesus show Himself as the ‘’the way’’ to me?
- Consider
how much my faith gives a special ‘taste’ to my day to day living as a
Christian, that is, one who follows
Jesus as the Christ?
- What
are the areas in my life I need to bring to Jesus? What questions do I
want to ask Him?
- Am I
willing to look into myself with honesty and ask how much do I grasp what
it means to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this
teaching?
- Is
my faith in the divine power of Christ, whom we follow, large enough to
make us ready to follow the teachings of Jesus?
- In
the light of this passage, how will you respond to Jesus as a true
disciple?
- If a
fellow parishioner had read this passage, what might he/she say about this
passage?
- Think
of a time I may have harmed the faith of others by what I did or failed to
do?
- In
the light of this Gospel passage what positive change will you adopt in
your life and in your spiritual life. How will you implement these
changes?
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