Gospel Reflection For The 3rd day of February in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Mark 6:30-34
30 And the apostles coming together unto Jesus, related to him all things that they had done and taught.
31 And he said to them: Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little. For there were many coming and going: and they had not so much as time to eat. 32 And going up into a ship, they went into a desert place apart. 33 And they saw them going away, and many knew: and they ran flocking thither on foot from all the cities, and were there before them. 34 And Jesus going out saw a great multitude: and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
At this point in our Lord’s earthly ministry, it would seem that He was a great success. He was so well known and His words and miracles were having such immense that crowds were following Him everywhere, even beyond where they could bring food and water for their journey. He had appointed his Apostles to represent Him and Disciples to spread His message even further. What could go wrong? Very soon, we will find out.
Those who followed Jesus, even His own Apostles, were limited by their idea of what the Messiah would be. Most expected an earthly king. All expected Him to uphold their interpretation of Mosaic Law to the letter. If their religious officials were almost tyrannical in enforcing even the most minute detail of even exaggerated interpretations of the Torah, surely the Christ would come to judge the world with power and fury. Instead, He was meek and gentle and constantly defied the Law and the religious authorities. I am sure that as confused as they were, those who followed Him must have been very excited. Not only did they believe He could be the promised Messiah but He was offering a more lenient interpretation of the Law, emphasizing compassion and forgiveness. Not only that, He was showing through His miraculous action that He truly could expunge the penalty of sin which was sickness and death. The people must have been ecstatic!
But, soon He would explain the Eucharist in starkly absolute terms that left no doubt that He meant those who believe in Him must eat His real flesh and drink His real blood. Like with most else He said and was, those who followed Him could not understand. They could not see the spiritual reality beneath the physical appearance, or the divinity of God who established all creation through His Word. God cannot lie. If He says it, it is. Faith is believing in those things that we cannot see or understand, simply because God said it. Soon, nearly all of His followers would fall away and one of His Apostles would betray Him. It appeared that He had failed. Actually, it appeared that the ministry of Jesus Christ was the most spectacular and horrible failure one can imagine. But, they couldn’t imagine what would come next. Once again, the true meaning was beyond their understanding. They lost faith before they could see how the story ends. We must be careful not to do the same when things happen that we do not understand. Hold fast to the words of Jesus and the teachings of the Church, knowing that if God said it or the Church He guaranteed against all error teaches it, it must be true.
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.