The Time of Fulfillment

Dear Friend,

This is the time of fulfillment: the Kingdom of God is at hand! Here we are, back to Ordinary Time and of all things, it’s a sung refrain from Lent that jumps to mind as I read this Sunday’s Gospel text from the third chapter of Mark’s Gospel. But it’s true: with Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi now behind us, we’re back to “ordinary time” and, ready or not, our Gospel reading is yanking us there. Confronting charges that he’s consorting with Satan, Jesus gets tough with the scribes and appears to be disowning his family. What to make of it all?

It's probably good to remember that Mark writes his Gospel first, before anyone else, and that he’s writing to a group of Jesus followers who are feeling the first jolt of impact that the story of Jesus Christ is making as it reaches a wider religious, social, and political community. Who’s in charge? Who has authority? The answer is Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, and that answer does not sit well with those currently in charge. In so many words the Gospel is telling them and us that just as Jesus himself met strong opposition from religious authorities and others, his disciples can expect that they will meet it too. 

With Mark communicating the initial force of the coming of Christ, he does indeed present a “time of fulfillment.” He doesn’t give us a picture of the Holy Family, which Luke and Matthew will present in their later editions of the Gospel. On the contrary, Mark presents us with the supreme challenge of widening the circle of those we call family. We must revisit the question of who and what is in charge of our lives both as individuals and as a community. 

Gratefully (gulp!),

Father Dan