No one likes being told what to do. We dislike it so much that we have come to idolize rebellion as a moral good. We long for a world without authority, criticism or the pressure necessary to change how we live. When a teacher rightly judges our child, we shelter the student and malign the…
Category: Mark
Blind Trust
In all aspects of life, human beings would rather exercise control than risk placing trust. We treat relationships like business deals, as though marriage, family, community, and friendship are all quid pro quo, and we establish rules and policies to control these relationships. When we follow these rules and others do not, we act offended….
Wisdom Bears Repeating
Whether by instinct or experience, our minds construct a subjective model of the world around us in order to ensure our survival. In terms of risk mitigation, this system is efficient and effective. For example, if a loud noise in the dark resembles your idea of an approaching bus, even if it turns out to…
True Wisdom is Painful
Let me share a few quotes with you: “Nothing is more fallacious than wealth. It is a hostile comrade, a domestic enemy.”“Our money belongs to God, no matter how we have gathered it.”“The love of money leaves everything corrupted and in ruin.” “The love of money is a dreadful thing; It disables both eyes and…
God is the Possessor
In popular culture, when someone says, “don’t judge” or “who are you to judge,” what they mean is, “how dare you criticize me?” This common adulteration undermines the commandment’s original purpose, namely, to invalidate and supplant human opinion (whether critical or complimentary) with a written text: “But to me,” St. Paul writes, “it is a…
Suffer the Kingdom
The disciples in Mark’s gospel struggle to understand the Bible because they refuse to surrender their ideas to it. They approach Jesus with preconceived notions—of God, his Kingdom and his Messiah—that breakdown whenever Jesus speaks or takes action. The same is true of us. We approach Mark’s gospel with our ideas of its meaning and…
What Does the Law Say?
Much of what passes for religious debate is driven by a desire to be pure or to be right. A lawyer approaches Jesus to make sure he knows how to follow the Law, so that he can be right. A rich man approaches Jesus seeking the best of both worlds—he wants to be right and…
Context, Context, Context!
What is going on when Jesus talks to his disciples about cutting off a hand or a foot or, worse, of plucking out an eye? Too often, readers stumble over these words, ignoring, dismissing, glossing over, or worst of all, inventing an interpretation. In fact, the meaning of the Lord’s warning–that it is better to…
Selective Hearing
“Don’t waste your time with explanations: people only hear what they want to hear.” Insofar as Paulo Coelho’s quote reflects the truth of human behavior, it also reflects the behavior of the disciples in the Gospel of Mark. Time and again, Jesus explains to his closest followers that he must fail: he must be judged,…
Jesus, Give Us a Word!
If you want to understand someone, you need only examine their motivations. What does a person want? Why do the crowds in Mark approach Jesus? Most often, they approach because they want to save their own neck; they want something for themselves. Rarely do they approach to gather supplies in order to help others. In…