Reflections

It seems society can never get away from the problems posed by status and rank. It was no different in the time of Jesus. This time,(Mark 10.35-45), the apostles James and John are requesting favoured treatment from Jesus. With an eye to the future, they were aiming at being part of Christ’s inner circle, sitting beside him at his right and left hand in glory. After calming the indignation of the other apostles, Jesus clearly points out a new standard of greatness and status. He is saying that success in his kingdom is not measured by worldly standards. There is no place in his community for ambitious power hungry people who are motivated solely by self-interest. Jesus wants his followers to think in terms of service rather than of authority. In any community he wants those who have authority to be seen at the service of those under their guidance. Christ lived what he preached. His whole life from working as a carpenter to dying on the cross set the example of such service. In so doing he was calling on his followers to share in spreading his gospel by giving themselves completely to his way of life.

In an age when many of us find it difficult to make ends meet, society pounds us with a set of values based on the need for material security. It judges our success by the size of our possessions, bank accounts and the exclusiveness of the area in which we live. But the wisdom that comes from God measures differently and sees power and riches as nothing. Spiritual values run deeper than worldly standards. There is more to life than what is immediately perceptible. Wealth mixes with worship of God just about as well as oil and water, and we cannot buy our way into heaven.

Jesus was being asked by the Pharisees, (Mark 10.2-16), where he stood concerning marriage and divorce. He left them in no doubt about his position emphasising that marriage is a state of life created by God himself. It is a lifelong union between one man and one woman kept together by a pledge of love and loyalty made in the presence of God. It is a union that cannot be undone, so when a couple marry there is no power on earth, short of death, that can free them to remarry. 'What God has joined together man must not separate.'

(Mark 9.38-43, 45, 47-48): The apostles witnessed an outsider casting out demons in the name of Jesus. They were resentful and jealous and felt threatened because the outsider was doing their work and was not part of their group. He had no right to be using the name of the saviour. John made a complaint in the hope of having this unlicensed preacher silenced. But Jesus refused to stop the man from doing good work in His name. Jesus made it clear that all good comes from God the Father and that doing charitable work was not the exclusive right of His followers. His spirit is at work beyond the confines of established religion.

The disciples are an interesting bunch of people. When Jesus is telling them of His coming passion and death (Mark 9:30-37), they are not even listening. They are immersed in a quarrel over who is the greatest among them. Somehow we would really expect better from His followers. When asked by Jesus what were they arguing about, they were anything but proud of their discussion. They were in fact clearly embarrassed and remained silent. Jesus uses this occasion to point out to them what constitutes true greatness in God’s eyes. He says that true greatness does not come from having power and influence over people but consists in humble service. He tells His ambitious disciples that everyone is important and that greatness comes from being available to all people.

The age old problem of why people suffer has puzzled us down the centuries and has never been satisfactorily resolved. Nobody wants to suffer. We prefer to avoid the hard things in life. All of us are very much people of this world in the way we crave pleasure and comfort. Peter spoke for everyone when he objected to what Christ said about suffering, rejection and death for it ran contrary to his expectations as it does to ours (Mark 8:27-35).

Have you ever spent time in the company of people who are deaf and dumb? Even if you haven’t, have you realised how precious are the gifts of speech and hearing? Unlike us, they are cut off completely from the world of sound and have no experience of the conversation of friends, laughter, and the joy of listening to music. While our sympathy and pity are with the man in today’s gospel (Mark 7:31-37), nevertheless we regard him as one of the lucky ones to have met Jesus who cured him. Jesus gave him a break in life and made him like the rest of us. Interestingly we take for granted our ability to hear and speak but both gifts are meant for a purpose greater than human communication. They are also our means of listening to God and speaking his word. This is something we should never forget. Whatever we hear and what we say determine to a great extent what we do and they make us the persons we are.

The majority of Pharisees who clashed with Jesus over what constituted true worship with God, believe it or not, were the best of people. They devoted their lives completely to guiding souls to God. It would be easy to simply dismiss them as a group of pious hypocrites. We should assume their sincerity in being shocked by the way Jesus departed from Jewish tradition. To make matters worse he told them they had missed the whole point of religion, which was to worship God with a sincere heart. Because they have made external observance the supreme test of goodness, their religion had sunk to the level of mere lip service. Their worship was as worthless as an empty shell, nothing more than a pack of pious practises.

Jesus' declaration that He was the living bread come down from heaven and the source of eternal life proved too much for some of His followers. They could not believe in such claim and started to drift away. This was unacceptable language and they were no longer prepared to walk with Him. Neither surprised nor disappointed at their reaction, Jesus did not take back anything He said nor try to make His teaching more acceptable. It was the parting of ways. He turned to his disciples and said: "Will you also walk away?” This was a moment of crisis. What Jesus was demanding of them was not understanding, but faith in Him. There was no way they could avoid making a choice of being for or against Jesus. Peter said for everyone: “Lord where else shall we go? You have the message of eternal life and we believe."

There are times when the monotony of daily living and the grind of dull routine sap all our energy. It results usually in a weakening of our conviction that the Lord is present and at work in our lives. We may even go so far as to doubt the possibility of a hereafter. At such moments we are crying out for the kind of reassurance and comfort that this feast day brings, for in contrast to such despair, Mary’s Assumption helps lift our minds and hearts above the gloom of the situation we are in. It reminds us of our final homecoming by assuring us that there is another dimension to our existence and death has not the final say.