For someone like myself who professes to be a Christian, I spend a painfully small amount of my “alone” time reading Scripture in order to get to know Jesus better. At the advice of a priest friend who coined my arbitrary and occasional skimming of the Good Book “Bible Roulette,” I am making a more earnest attempt to read the Gospels. These past two nights I read the Gospel of Mark. Since the Gospel readings at daily mass are from Mark I figured he would be a good one to start with. This man Jesus who confronts me in the Gospel of Mark is, in a word, difficult. I would also describe him as an insanely popular man. He set the region of Galilee and probably all of Israel aflame with his very presence. I understand why the men and women in power saw him and his friends as a threat to their rule.
Going back to why he is difficult. First there is his personality. He just shows up in people’s lives and all of a sudden the whole world changes. Simon and Andrew were doing their jobs, and he comes up to them and says follow me. They are expected to drop everything and do just that. He continues this unsettling pattern with all of his soon-to-be followers. Then, in a section of the Gospel conveniently located under the heading of “The Conditions of Discipleship” Jesus states, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” In an apparent attempt to poach any Zen Buddhists in the crowd he adds this Eastern mind-melder, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.” On a certain level I get it. Jesus is offering eternal life, and his disciples are expected to give up (in some cases literally) their lives for this Good News. Yet this personal denial and carrying of a cross is not simply a mental exercise. He expects his disciples to actually go out into an oftentimes hostile world and preach. He even gives signs to distinguish his followers:
Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
All of these things definitely up a Christian’s cool factor by about 100%. Unfortunately I can’t claim to possess any of them. Given my fear of snakes I am totally fine not testing that one out either.
Where does all of this reading and reflection leave me? Despite his uncompromising nature and the dismal prospect of carrying a cross I confess that I do believe him when he says that he is the Messiah. I can’t say that I have done a particularly good job of following him, but since part of his message is the forgiveness of sins I guess that means I am in luck. Onward to another Gospel to try and figure out more clearly why I take him at his word.