Daily Readings Reflection for 1/12/10

Reflection on Today’s Daily Readings by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Today’s Readings


Scripture: Lectionary # 306. Jan. 12, 2010 (MMX in Roman Numerals). I
Samuel 1:9-20. I Sam.2:1.4-5.6-7.8. Mark 1:21-28.

Mark's Gospel is so fresh with the air of the fields and hills of green
Galilee with a touch of the water from the nearby lake that we are led into
the early days of Jesus which were so familiar to him and to his mother
Mary who formed him to be the young vigorous preacher that he now is. He
is a man come to full stature. He now leaves her and the home he was so
accustomed to and from where he learned to be the excellent story teller he
now is. He leaves to begin the work of God as God's chosen one, the
Messiah and the Redeemer. His humble origins and the simplicity of the
thirty years with Joseph and Mary have made him ready for this moment. He
no longer fits the pattern of a royal or military messiah but rather is a
prophetic proclaimer of the kingdom of God who is a Servant of the Lord
according to the princely prophet Isaiah. God's promises will be
fullfilled in quiet and surprising ways. Something new is happening and
Jesus creates it.

Jesus begins teaching with authority in a gathering place called the
synagogue. It is in the little village of Capernaum not far from the lake
and his own town of Nazareth. His authoritative teaching comes directly
from his innermost self and from an undivided heart. God has favored his
only begotten Son as we have learned just after he was baptized by John who
is no longer on the scene. While in the synagogue, probably after reading
the Haftorah or the selection from the prophet, an individual possessed
with an evil spirt shouts out--breaking the messianic secret-- "I know who
you are. Why do you come to destroy us?" Jesus simply tells it "Be Quiet."
And the secret is restored. He has silenced the demon and expells it
thereby confirming that he does teach with God's authority and his own
inner strength.

Mark will continue his messianic secret theme for the first half of his
Gospel. It is about the suffering dimension of the messianic reality found
in Jesus of Nazareth. Even his closest followers will struggle with this
secret but gradually will learn through the incessant questions that Jesus
will douse upon them in their travels together. Isn't that the role of a
mentor? Only the demons will continue to know or suspect is the better
word that he is the messiah.

In our having been baptized with Jesus in his light and cleansed of the
memory and sting of the first fall, we no longer need to keep this secret
of Jesus. We are called to witness to who he really is and to speak about
him clearly and boldly. Amen.