Memorial of Saint Philip Neri, Priest

Lectionary: 349

The disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.


Introducing the third prediction of Jesus's passion and death, Saint Mark describes the disciples as amazed, and the following crowd, afraid. 
Saint Mark emphasizes the extreme isolation of Jesus. No one understands him and, as he approaches Calvary, no one will stand by him. His family would take him home and lock him away, his disciples abandon him, his coreligionists hand him over to the Roman authorities, and the mob demands his crucifixion. Even the Father who spoke -- apparently to him alone -- when he was baptized is silent as Jesus dies. 

In today's gospel then, his disciples' amazement and the crowd's fear fit the Gospel's motif. They simply don't know what to make of him.

The Lord's isolation is typical of the Hebrew prophet. The prophets Elijah and Elisha were feared and respected and untouchable. The first "writing prophet" Amos was a stranger, a native of Judah, prophesying in Israel. Isaiah, a priest and member of the guild of prophets, was isolated by his extraordinary vision. And Jeremiah, though he was respected, suffered terrible loneliness as he could predict nothing but doom. The word jeremiad still signifies an excessively bad pronouncement. 

The Hebrew prophets, with Jesus among them, remind us of the responsibility every person has before God. No one can hide in the congregation and think God will overlook their sins as He delivers the Church. More importantly, every Christian must accept the demand of the Gospel to preach the word in season and out. 

When I was in secondary school, somewhere between the seventh and ninth grades, I heard that one who participated in the killing of an African-American -- a lynch mob -- might be excused because he was carried along by the emotion of the group. His sin might not be "mortal." I don't suppose anyone would make such a claim today. We are responsible for our choices when we comply with powerful economic and social forces that direct us against our better judgment. "Everybody does it" is no excuse. We are certainly judged by history; we can expect to be judged by God. 

And we should pray for the willingness and courage to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit despite many conflicting demands. 

Not many are called to martyrdom and we can hope to die quietly in our own beds, surrounded by family, friends, and the ministrations of the Church. But we must often invoke the Spirit of the martyrs -- the Spirit of the Prophet Jesus -- as we go about our lives.