To gaze on the Cross reveals the true meaning of being a Christian

Mk 1:21-28

Throughout the Gospel of Mark, from which our reading is taken from this Sunday, Jesus’ true identity is withheld from the people. Even his closest disciples, the twelve, can't fathom fully who Jesus is. It won't be until Jesus’ death on the cross that for the first time a person in Mark - the Roman centurion - will say, 'truly this man is the Son of God'.

In this Sunday's Gospel we have a good example of  Jesus hiding his identity, when he rebukes the evil spirit for calling him the Holy One of God.

But why does Mark in his Gospel particularly emphasise this point of Jesus’ secrecy?

Mark's life of Jesus is written from the Cross, directed to the early Christian community in Rome, who were looking down from their own crosses wondering at the reasons and the point of their sufferings. This interesting literary style of Mark, allows the reader of this Gospel to look back with Jesus at his public ministry and the reasons for his present sufferings.

What Mark's particular emphasis in fact reveals is that the disciples could not fully know Jesus, as Jesus had not mounted his cross. Jesus can't let his identity be fully known, as it wasn't possible without the cross. But, in his death, Jesus could finally reveal himself as Saviour of the world, the Son of God - the sacrifice worthy of acceptance by the Father for our sins.

Mark's Gospel was an attempt to give the community in Rome strength and courage as they were looking back at their lives and wondering was their choice to become Christian worth it? Did it in fact mean anything?

He is calling on them not to fail like the disciples, and run away from following Christ; he wants them instead to persevere in the knowledge that their sufferings have meaning, which was made possible through the cross of Jesus  i.e. that their suffering is redemptive.

We too, when called to do the Christian thing, may ask ourselves: is it worth it? Does it mean anything? Especially when the Christian choice is the tougher one. It is then that we too must look up at the cross, as Mark is calling on us to do, and like the Centurion reflect on the Son of God and what he has gained for us through his suffering. This will reveal to us the worth, indeed the true meaning, of being a Christian.

Fr. Maurice Colgan OP