Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR B EIGHTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - 2.3.03 Hos 2,16-17.21-22; 2 Cor 3,1-6; Mk 2,18-22 Never eat the flesh of God’s people Outcasts in the Church. Every society creates its outcasts; outcasts are produced even in Church communities, and even today, when the danger of an imminent war calls us to be attentive to the Holy Spirit, we must address the need for justice everywhere, at every level, in every religion. Some years ago in France, a Church-hymn made people frown, as it’s Chorus had words that seemed harsh, offensive, condemnatory. The words were: ‘quand tu manges ce pain, ne mange pas le peuple de Dieu (When you eat this bread, do not eat the people of God)’. In today’s Gospel, Mark raises the question of fasting, but not as an issue that simply happened during Jesus’ ministry. He places it at the centre of his typical concentric structure, made up of 5 concentric stories, to impact on us the importance of this issue. The concentric stories are: Cure of a Paralytic - Call of Levi, tax-extortionist for the enemy - A Question of Fasting - Eating forbidden food - Cure of a Withered Hand in a Synagogue. Each story condemns a category of outcasts: the 1st and 5th, imply that the victims have committed a sin to contract the disease. The 2nd and 4th, condemn the victims as unclean. And today’s story -sitting at the centre- has a topic that divides every community. As we examine this carefully planned scheme, we ask: what was going wrong with Mark’s own community, if they needed such strong teaching about condemnatory attitudes? The answer is: we are all hopelessly condemnatory; we all know that person who is full of zeal against people who do not conform to Rituals & Customs’; we all need a warning: as we partake of the Eucharist, let’s not eat God’s people. The Bridegroom is here. The lesson of today’s Gospel is powerful. At the time of Jesus and of Mark, there were good & staunch people, who tried to dissuade Jesus’ disciples: ‘look where this teaching is leading you: do you really wish to mix with despised sinners & extortioners? They are worse than pagan people. By mixing with them you collaborate with the despised enemies of your country, and you cut yourself off from God’s people... How can you go against the written teaching of the Torah, the Holy God-given Rule?...’ To this line of seduction Jesus gave his teaching, and Mark passes it on to the would-be Pharisees who were active in and out of his Church-Community. And he passes it on to us. To us also, Mark says: ‘Yes, there are outcasts in society and in the Church. It’s not for us to judge & condemn. They are sick people in need of a doctor who would restore them to health. We Christians are called to give an example that will attract them to Christ, the Physician par excellence. And as for ‘Age-old Rituals and Customs’, the staunch Judeo-Christians (just as their staunch Teachers, the Pharisees), were free to fast as they pleased; but they had no right to demand that everybody practice fasting every Monday & Thursday, simply because they Jewish custom told them. Neither Jesus nor Mark were telling Christians to reject the Jewish cultural & religious heritage. In life, we must be ready to go without food or comfort; even to sacrifice life itself. However, we now live in the age of the New Covenant, when we must live to the full the life of Christ’s presence. The Church is the Bride of Christ: she’s left her father’s house (=the Jewish Synagogue) & has come to live with her Bridegroom-Christ accepting fully his new life-style... Does this resonate against our endless discussions about pre and post Vatican Council, pre and post modernist age? What is Mark saying to us -both traditionalists & progressives, dreamers & shakers-, as we condemn or reject each other? ______________________________________ |
