The Gospel of Mark makes no bones about the world of the Christ.

December 9, 2023

The Gospel of Mark makes no bones about the world of the Christ. It is a world full of spirit beings: angels who minister to him in the wilderness and unclean spirits infecting human lives whom he silences with a word. Humans who inhabit his world soon divide themselves into two camps: those unfit for sacred worship who receive his authority as divine, and the observant righteous who see him only as a servant of the ruler of demons.

The Lord Christ comes that we may see the world and see it rightly, all things visible and invisible.

He told them, ‘To you is granted the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables.’
- Mk 4:11 (RNJB)

He reveals a secret way of seeing – and living in – this world. That it is a world of flesh and spirit. That, for the repentant heart, it is a kingdom near at hand. And that, for those who know his secret, he becomes both gate and key.

Still, even seeing that clearly, I fear his kingdom eludes me. At best I am one who treads the rocky ground, enduring only for a little while. At worst, I live among the thorns, where the cares of the world choke the word so it yields nothing.

I pray the Psalm holds hidden meaning:

Now I know the Lord saves his anointed,
and answers from his holy heaven
with the mighty victory of his hand.
- Ps 20:7 (RNJB)

Here, the Lord's anointed must be more than just the historic heir to the throne. To the observant Jew, perhaps he is the righteous one or even the entire people of Israel. To the traditional Christian, he is Christ himself. To the Christian mystic, he is the Christ in me.

Thanks to my baptism, I share in the fruit of his Incarnation. His mighty victories are against the enemies of God within my own nature. As he falls, I fall with him that, sharing his nature, I too may rise.