Mark's Jesus

11-29-2020Weekly Reflection

Mark’s Gospel is the shortest and tersest of all four. The discourses of Jesus tend to be terser as well. Mark’s portrayal of Jesus has none of the poetry of the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the Plain as in Matthew or Luke, nor the extensive, reflective “I Am” discourses as in John. Mark’s Jesus “cuts to the chase,” we would say today. This is reflected quite well in today’s passage.

It is no accident that the dialogue of Jesus at this point in the Gospel according to Mark—the concluding words about the end of the world— immediately before his passion, is riddled with exclamation points and an overall sense of urgency.

We would do well to re-tool our own way of living this Advent, for we live in a world urgently in need of hearing the message of Jesus proclaimed. It’s time for us to “wake up!” and get out into the world to do it.