Tags
Icon of St Mark
When asked why he spoke in parables, Jesus responded:
“To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that
‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them.’
Those who had ears would, Jesus said, hear him. We have ears, yet so often we do not hear, we have eyes and yet see not; we listen, but we do not understand. Like so many, we look for miracles, we want signs. But signs have been given – if we would but see them. If we read the whole of Mark 4 one of the things that strikes us is the way Jesus speaks about the kingdom of God: it is like the growth of a seed, the radiating light of a candle, and it requires more faith than the disciples showed in the face of the storm. Faith works from within us, from the seed of Grace planted there, and when joined to the vine, it will bear good fruit.
God does not work in us by announcing from the highest Heaven that He is God and we should worship and believe; of course He could do that, and when we expect miracles, we act as though we expect Him to. But Jesus shows a very different way of working – through love, through faith, and through service. Change begins in our hearts when Grace touches us; that seed of faith, so tiny, begins to grow. Jesus works in us and through us. We see this throughout the Gospel of Mark, when the Apostles themselves so often fail to understand and see what their leader is saying and what it means. If men who walked with Jesus every day found it hard to understand at first sight, then we should not feel so bad if it takes us some time and effort; God will help us. If you stop and think about it, how could it not be so? How can the finite grasp the infinite, or the creature the Creator – as Paul put it, we see as through a glass, darkly and know only in part.
Those early Christians who were expecting an imminent second coming, or who thought it would arrive before the death of the last Apostle, misunderstood in the way the Apostles had. God is already here, working through his people in this broken and messy world. It is not the other people, it is not the priest or the worship leader, or the Pope, or the Archbishop, to whom we should look to see how God works, we should look within ourself. That is where the kingdom begins its work in the world, and if we are rescued from our sins, then we shall want to be about His work – according to the gifts he has given to us. As the storms rise and the winds blow, let us not be like the Apostles, and let us not be fearful. Do we have the faith for that? That is the question Mark’s Gospel poses to us all. Let each look to his or her heart to see how we shall answer it.
All Along the Watchtower 
Thank you C, another thought provoking post.
One of the things which strikes me today when people comment about how they ‘used to believe in God’ or ‘cannot believe in a God that allows such dreadful things to happen in the world’ is their misplaced understanding of God and his relationship to us. Too many seem to regard our Creator as some kind of magician or puppet who somehow magically controls what happens in the world and at times seemingly sits on his hands whilst chaos and terror reign supreme, wherever it is in the world. This kind of teenager-like thinking has pervaded so many minds that sadly people do not seem to understand that responsibility for one’s actions begins with self and secondly a relationship with God is just that…. a relationship and like all fruitful human interactions it requires input and effort on an on-going basis, rather than the cry for help only in times of extremis. This can only be achieved by WANTING to know God and to be encircled in His loving wisdom and many are simply not interested because the message he gives us and the things he asks of us I think are too much like hard work for a society which values ‘my rights’, ‘myself’ and ‘individualism’. This is a generalisation of course, but I sense most see Jesus as irrelevant and out-of-step with the self-sufficient culture we now have. This is tough to get around and many are simply not interested in what they call ‘organised religion’. Tricky!
Then there is the slot-machine or vending machine approach to prayer and faith which some adopt and because this is based on ‘self’ again and not one of truly wanting to know Jesus and receive his love and grace. We live in a world of instant gratification and things happening at the press of a button, so perhaps we are too easily persuaded to regard Jesus in this way – ask for something and expect the outcome NOW. Perhaps the super-speedy world we live in has polluted our thinking and distorted our approach to Jesus, robbing us of the necessary patience and fortitude to work on ourselves, whilst we wait for him to guide us where he would like us to go. His time is not ours after all. I’m sure Gabriel doesn’t keep an A4 page-to-a day diary for him with all his appointments, meetings and reviews for the coming year!
One final thought I had was that perhaps Christ’s Second Coming will only ever happen when most people in the world are aligned with Him…goodness knows when that will be, but I’m sure Jesus does!
What does everyone else think?
LikeLike
Hi orthodoxgirl, thanks for the good questions. I am not as deep a thinker as some here on this blog, so my comment will be short. Yesterday and today, after reading Chalcdon’s posts of the Gospel of Mark, I keep thinking of the words Jesus spoke to Simon Peter in John’s Gospel, and I paraphrase, “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” Do we love God, truly, with all our hearts and souls and minds? I know, in my fraility and sinfulness, that I do not. I let many distractions get in the way (including this blasted computer I am sitting in front of right now). But all I can do is repeat the words that I hear, again and again, “Do you love? Do you love me? Do you love me?” Lord, help me in my unbelief!
The reason I mention this is that I can almost unequivocally state that all of my friends from my youth have turned their backs on God. Why? Well, I don;t know, but I do think the individualism that you mention is certainly part of it, the worship of individual rights seems to yield an obscuring of objective norms of right and wrong. What is good for me may not be good for you, but hey, live and let live, that’s my motto and who are you to tell me otherwise?
I don’t have an answer other than the words Jesus spoke to Peter. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?
As for the second coming of Christ, I tend to not believe the end is imminent. With all the troubles in the world, it seems to me that anticipating the end of the world is an easy way out. So maybe you are right, maybe the end will only come when most people are aligned with Jesus Christ. What will bring about such a remarkable miracle of diving intervention I haven’t a clue, but all we can say is “Come Lord Jesus, come!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
To your last question I would think that Christ will come when the last soul to populate His Bride is born. As to how many souls will believe at that time is only a guess but it seems from scripture that it is doubtful that many will be believers.
LikeLike
Thank you for appreciating it.
I suspect part of the problem is to do with the way some people think about salvation – a ‘one off’ thing which once you’ve done it is done, requires nothing more from you. That leads nowhere, inspires no thoughts about a relationship except when you want something from it – a sort of bad marriage syndrome. The notion that having been justified by faith in Christ, we might actually want to do something to reciprocate the love God shows us seems lacking in the quick-fix, one-stop shop encouraged by such attitudes. And yes, it does indeed encourage an instant gratification scenario to develop instead of a loving relationship.
In terms of the second coming, only the Father knows, and we have to leave it with him – and work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
LikeLike
Yes C, I agree about the issue of ‘salvation’. I do have a problem with this too as with some it seems to smack of self-righteousness and a shallow relationship with God. I have met a few ‘born again Christians’ who appear to adopt this way of thinking and see our need to go to Mass etc as unnecessary and ritualistic. In their eyes, the only important things are being baptised and then following the OT to the letter – pity, they are missing so much! I used to go to a ‘house group’ years ago which was primarily organised, run by and attended by such Christians and I did struggle with their approach and their thinking. Interestingly though, when the tough times came into some of their lives, they crumbled under the strain and abandoned their faith and began turning on each other! It was quite a revealing time for me and reinforced in my heart and soul the need to be in close communion with Jesus every day and the importance of receiving His blessed gift to us of His presence in the Holy Eucharist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is odd and perplexing how dismissive we are to that we do not understand, cannot hold in our hand, cannot analyze, cannot fathom with our intellect. Miracles are discounted constantly, yet everything we see and touch and experience and imagine is a deeper mystery than any miracle that is performed in the gospels. We make up words to describe the indescribable and form concepts (whatever that means) about that which cannot be conceived: life, living cells, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, charges, atomic forces etc. are only shorthand for “it beats me.” How do all these elements that comprise a universe assemble into a living thing, eating other atoms and breathing certain atoms, thinking and conceiving things about itself and a creator that hides in plain view; having left His fingerprints on everything in the universe. The child is the father of man and the child who keeps asking why soon finds out that there is a point where we cannot answer; but we must assume or trust, on faith, that it is rational and logical and makes sense in one way or another and we build upon our assumptions and conceptualizations. Aye, and love and the other emotions . . . where do they come from and what do we know of them (in response to Zeke)? Why is it that this is a force amongst all other forces that we seek for ourselves and God seeks to give us and have returned to Him and to all of His creation? The soul . . . the rational mind . . . desires, the will to do something etc. are all unexplainable unless one is in awe of the impossible that we witness constantly. God is indeed Love and is the Creator of all and Wills this creation into being and holds it together with these things that have no moving parts and is Simplicity Itself; immortal without boundary or limits. He is the divine mystery of life and His inner workings are revealed best when we surrender to Divine Providence and desire to know and love that which is above any other desire and love we could possibly have or know. In short, science and theology and philosophy are only good at exercising that which God made us in the image of . . . perhaps that we might ponder His creation, wonder at the orderliness of this God and to imagine what there might be without Him . . . the void and nothingness of indescribable darkness. Little miracles are only temporary reminders of the Miracle of all Miracles, God and His Goodness and unsurpassed Beauty and Grace that would create that which would reflect those qualities and look to Him for our ultimate End. There is no other place to go . . . and if we somehow ignore what is in front of us for a pipe dream that would make the created man or beast an end, in and of itself, we are indeed blind and foolish . . . for we do not find ourselves capable of understanding even the simplest things of God’s Creation.
LikeLike
Wow! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello SF. Save this particular post for your book. It is that good. Yippie! Go team! God bless. Ginnyfree.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How do the little song go? He has no hands but out hands, etc. Not that the obvious error is true, but the sentiment is accurate. Corporal works of mercy show others the way He works. DO them. Yeah. God bless. Ginnyfree.
LikeLike
All, please excuse Servus, he’s a little upset because he can’t get his lawn mower started. “…for we do not find ourselves capable of understanding even the simplest things of God’s Creation.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t suppose you are on your way over on your riding lawn mower to help me out?
LikeLike
Hahaha! You two are hilarious!
LikeLiked by 2 people
New spark plugs and a oil filter change. Then warn the moles and mices in the grass and find the dog’ bones and let ‘er rip!
LikeLike
I wonder if I could trade my hound dog, Fred, for a goat?
LikeLike
Actually an exorcism of my lawnmower might be the best solution.
LikeLike
Look SF, as long as you can run faster than it, you’ll be fine. God bless. Ginnyfree.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think my running days are waning: I might be able to beat the infamous tortoise though.
LikeLike
Great comment SF. I think your comments and thoughts on the majesty and incomprehension (from our simple human point of view) of God are apposite particularly following that incredible programme yesterday evening on Sharks. How incredible, how wonderful are these amazing creatures….beautifully made and adapted for their watery environment and with such intelligence. The beauty of the marine world was once again making me ponder and marvel at God’s incredible creation. My tiny mind cannot possibly fathom the loving Creator who brought all this into being – I just accept and rejoice that He did. I get that same wonder when I look at my beautiful animals at home. Intelligent, loving, trusting and wonderfully made. Jesus was given to us as the Divine in our human form so that we could accept him and relate to him, albeit many did not (and perhaps we still do not) understand his message. Great intelligence often carries great wisdom and it is this which he demonstrates over and over, notwithstanding the outpouring of his unconditional love. I agree with Grandpa Z….it is so easy to not respond or not hear Jesus’ question. I find it a challenge every day to say Yes, Lord I love you and then follow his commandments…particularly the ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ one! However, I am aware that with God’s grace and his loving patience, I am improving on some levels and I hope am a better person to be around for the sake of others. Keep praying for my feeble soul dear friends of AATWT as I will for you. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen!
LikeLike