GOSPEL OF MARK SERIES.
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The Bible: Gospel of Mark icon. |
During 2019, each week, I will write
a weekly post about the Gospel of Mark, as I review and explore each of
the 16 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. If you are following
this series for the first time, you will find this series under Scripture- New
Testament- Gospel of Mark.
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 14:1 -11
which is called The Anointing at Bethany.
THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY.
The story of the suffering and death of Jesus begins with his anointing.
It is done during a meal at Bethany by an unnamed woman. Bethany was a village close to Jerusalem, at
the top of the Mount of Olives on its eastern side.
The act of the woman at the beginning of the story of the passion of
Jesus parallels the devotion of the women at the end. After watching His death and burial, women
come to anoint the body of Jesus (16:1-8).
The faithfulness of women frames the unfaithfulness of men in the
passion story.
In the woman’s gesture, Jesus is symbolically proclaimed as the anointed
one, or the Messiah of God. With thoughts of His approaching death before Him,
Jesus points to a further depth of meaning in what the woman has done. Neither she nor the others could have
understood the full significance of her action as an anointing for His burial.
Jesus strong affirms that her act will later be remembered wherever the
gospel of His death and resurrection proclaimed by His disciples. (14:9).
The story of the woman’s act of faithfulness is framed between the plot
of the priests and scribes to kill Jesus (14:1-2) and the unfaithfulness of
Judas, one of the twelve (14:10-11).
The lack of understanding in those present, apparently disciples and
friends, is mentioned. Some grumble at
what they consider to be a waste of money. The cost of such a jar of ointment,
at three hundred denarii, was about one year’s wages of an ordinary worker.
Many think the whole passion narrative was the first part of the story
of Jesus to be told or written down in the first Christian communities, so that
the events of chapters 14-16 may have existed as some kind of continuous story
before Mark put it into his Gospel. It is good to remember that the evangelists
were inspired by the Holy Spirit as they wrote too.
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 the
disciples- What do you see and hear and feel. What can I learn from this?
- Imagine being the woman anointing
Jesus being aware of what others around thought of you and the anointing. What
did she feel an why did she stay focused on her task?
·
Imagine being the one of the disciples listening
to Jesus about His teaching. What questions do I want to bring to Jesus?
·
What is reading the Gospel passage with
the eyes and ears of disciple mean to me?
- How does Jesus make clear
His teaching to me in this passage?
·
Consider a situation in your life today
where the teaching of Jesus needs to be applied. Why is it difficult to be
challenged on a long-held view and be open to viewing it differently?
- Consider how much my faith
means to me and what does my faithfulness/unfaithfulness to my church/parish
mean to me and others?
- What are the areas in my
life I need to bring to Jesus in the light of this teaching?
- 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?
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