Piety
Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters
in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before
God to expiate the sins of the people. Because
he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who
are being tested. Hebrews 2:17-18
On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the
house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped
her up. Then the fever left her and she
waited on them. Mark 1:29-
Study
Let’s get to work!
Coming out of the Christmas
season, you probably had a recent chance to re-read or re-hear the familiar
words of Clement C. Moore’s immortal poem, “A Visit from St. Nick.” The poem is a short, ideal Golden Book length
of 54 child-friendly, bedtime-ready lines.
After a 46-line build-up, the visitor finally goes about his
business. “He spoke not a word, but went
straight to his work.”
Ironically, we
are 85 percent finished with the poem at this point. Maybe St. Nick has not spoken a word, but the
narrator has spent more than 460 of the poem’s 540 words by the time the
visitor gets to work. Nick’s immediate mission
accomplished, he departs to perform his acts of charity in the next house and
the next and the next.
There is no overblown
buildup in Mark’s Gospel. There is no
long genealogy that you find in Matthew.
No opening poetry delivered like John.
An already adult Jesus is baptized, driven to the desert and begins his
public ministry by the fourteenth verse.
Moore’s narrator – just aroused -- is still gazing out his window at the
light reflecting off the snow. “The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow/Gave
a lustre of midday to objects below…”
Every opportunity Jesus
meets is a chance for Mark to fill the narrative with purpose. Curing the demoniac, Simon Peter’s
mother-in-law and other healings. Then,
it is on to the whole of Galilee.
The prophet writing in
Hebrews predicts this work-a-holic messiah.
Jesus knows our troubles and he knows he has a small window of
opportunity to get things right. He does
not have an eternity. “For
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.”
(Hebrews 4:15)
Because Jesus is one of us,
he knows the very medicine that must be administered. “Every high priest is taken from among men
and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for
sins. He is able to
deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset
by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings
for himself as well as for the people.” (Hebrews 5:1-3)
Action
How is that resolution
coming? Have you made it yet? Have you begun working on it yet? Or are you someone who prefers to mark the
New Year after the Super Bowl ends so all the parties for college and
professional football games don’t interfere with your planned diet? Does your exercise program wait until spring –
so the crocuses are pushing through as you are getting off the couch?
This ordinary time, let the
frenetic pace of Mark’s gospel be your inspiration to start. Let’s get to work!
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