Clean and Worthy
The ceremonial washings in our religious practice flow from our belief that God whom we seek to encounter, and approach is All Holy. Therefore, we need to go to Him, clean and worthy.
To Whom Shall We Go
Jesus wouldn’t really care much if dissent and defection were indeed to occur among His disciples. Jesus was inviting them to discern for themselves. What He clearly does is simply give His teachings and challenges, and then to poke us time and again by asking us a question or two.
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The Bread of Life
The gospel stresses that Jesus is the bread of life, “I am the bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” In the Eucharistic celebration, we see Jesus as the Word of God that became flesh and as the incarnation of God’s wisdom
God’s Nourishment
The feeding of the crowd is recorded in all the four Gospels, and all the evangelists agree that Jesus brings forth the superabundant loaves and fish by multiplying the small amount of food available. In the Gospel of John, the little amount of food came from a young boy. This small detail gives a different slant in highlighting the aspect of sharing.
A Taste of Real Life
The disciples had been with the Lord for quite some time. They have been witnesses to Jesus’ ministry. Some of them, His inner circle of friends, Peter, James and John, have been with Him in his quiet moments of prayer.
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Met with Opposition and Unbelief
Two individuals approach Jesus with a wish and an expectation. The first person is Jairus, a synagogue official, who was not inclined to run to Jesus, for the teachings of Jesus had upset the Jewish leaders
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Faith in Jesus
Two individuals approach Jesus with a wish and an expectation. The first person is Jairus, a synagogue official, who was not inclined to run to Jesus, for the teachings of Jesus had upset the Jewish leaders
The Boat
Jesus was on their way to the other side of the lake, when a violent squall came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, threatening the disciples’ survival. The boat was understood to represent the church which had rough sailing. There were many incidents in church history which almost caused the sinking of the church
Patience
The gospel stresses the value of patience. First and foremost, patience to ourselves, for we are the first to suffer
from our shortcomings like being over-sensitive, being a worrier or perfectionist. We may
have to plant the seed of understanding to convince ourselves that very few people
To Do The Will of the Father
We always thought that the last bastion of support that you and I expect would be our family. But it was not the case with Jesus. Can you imagine having your own family turn against you? Your own relatives calling you “mad.”? It would have required a strong inner life on the part of Jesus to be able to withstand such external turmoil. I believe that it is just what Mark wanted us to appreciate about Jesus, “to do the will of the Father.”
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