{N}1,{/}1: In verses 1 to 13, Mark gives us in three small tableaux three important insights about Jesus' salvation. Vv. 1-7. John the Baptist announces the coming of the One sent by God: this Jesus about whom the Gospel will speak to us has been announced, prepared by all the great witnesses of the Old Testament. In him and by him God's salvation will be accomplished.
Vv. 9-10. Jesus goes down into the Jordan to open the gates of the true Promised Land (see the Book of Joshua): he is the beloved Son of the Father on whom the Spirit rests. Jesus comes to reveal the mystery of God, the mystery of the love of God - Father, Son and Spirit.
Vv. 11-13. Jesus is at peace with the wild animals as he is with the angels. In him and by him will be accomplished the reconciliation of all creation with its God. Such had to be the Messiah announced by Isaiah (Is 11).

{N}1,{/}14: After this desert experience, Jesus returns to his home province, Galilee, and establishes himself in Capernaum. Jesus lives in{C} the house {/}of Simon, who already appears to be the leader of a group of fishermen, and among them Jesus finds his disciples.
God becomes human, Jesus shares the life of the people of his time, and like the prophets he teaches by what he says and does.
{C}The time has come{/} (v. 15){C}.{/} What does that mean? The time fixed by God has come to an end (Gal 4:4; Eph 1:10), the time of preparation has ended, and the manifestation of God announced by the prophets has already begun.
{C}Change your ways and believe the Good News. {/}God does not expect works on the part of human beings but calls them to faith. Be rid of all that hampers you, of all that prevents you from seeing and believe! Believe that it is he, and he alone who is able to save you!
{C}At once they left their nets and followed him {/}(1:18), which means leaving their family and work they began to live with him. Like the masters of religion in his time, like the rabbis, Jesus instructed his first disciples, teaching them what they were to pass on to others in the Church.
{C}Simon, Andrew, James and John.{/} Jesus already knew them: he had met them where John the Baptist was preaching (Jn 1:35). The first nucleus of disciples is this natural group of lake fishermen of which Peter seemed to be the leader. They were most probably young men, ready to make a commitment at a time and in a culture where people were freer than we are from the constraints of work.
They did not yet know what the Reign of God would mean but they trusted Jesus to guide them. This for them was the beginning of faith.

{N}1,{/}21: Mark has shown us how Jesus began his public life: he became part of a movement of conversion that had shaken everyone at the call of John the Baptist. It was then that Jesus began preaching and met his first disciples.
Mark will now give us a "day" in the life of Jesus. Through his words and actions a power that impresses every witness becomes manifest. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus preaches in the synagogues. {C}The synagogue{/} is the Jewish house of prayer. People gather each Saturday for the chanting of the Psalms and the reading of the Bible. The one in charge preaches and invites others to join. This is where Jesus reveals himself. He is not like the teachers of the Law who repeat, interpret, and give others' opinions. Jesus speaks on his own and he speaks {C}with authority, {/}"In truth, I tell you."

{N}1,{/}23: With the same authority Jesus {C}drives out demons{/}. This act also contains a message: Jesus delivers us from the influence of the Devil, who strives to destroy those created in the likeness of God.
This "Master of this world" (Jn 14:30) is present in all human business and culture to deceive human purposes and converts any progress into new slavery.
In Jesus' time, but much more rarely in the Church's time (our time), there were some persons possessed by the Devil. Jesus freed quite a number of people from this slavery and disease. Physical possession is not the usual way of the devil's activity in humans. The Devil operates (far more dangerously because we do not feel it) in the moral life of people. He blinds and confuses them with regard to the truth, disguised as the {C}angel of light {/}(2 Cor 11:14).
Not that the Devil is the cause of every sin and evil that people do. There is also the selfishness of our "flesh" and the lure of the false promises of "the world" but the Devil, as enemy of God's kingdom, is never at rest. He always nurtures our temptations. With holier persons who are not easy to tempt in a direct way, he goes about deceiving them persuading them to give more importance to their own good purposes than to the advice of others and the teaching of the Church.
The Devil notices at once those who are capable of weakening or destroying his empire. Then he awakens the bad, the mediocre, the foolish and the ill-fated against them. That is why wherever Jesus goes the Devil also appears.

{N}1,{/}29: Peter's simple faith is manifested. Jesus enters the house, bringing with him peace and health. Jesus shows us how to visit the sick. What a natural thing to do when Mass ends - to go see the sick. The care and love of our Christian sisters and brothers attracts God's favors upon them.
{C}As soon as it was sundown.{/} Let us not forget that it is the sabbath, the weekly day of rest. For the Jews days are counted from the time of sunset and night precedes day as shown in Genesis 1:5. Everyone observes the sabbath, just as Jesus does and there is such haste to bring the sick to him that they begin to do so in the evening as soon as the sabbath is over.

{N}1,{/}35: The apostles knew God since childhood through the Bible's teachings; perhaps they had not discovered God within their own lives but prayed to God as to a distant stranger. When they joined Jesus, they immediately understood that there was something extraordinary about him. They were especially taken with his apparent intimacy with God. The most extraordinary thing they noted in his manner and actions was his intimate and faithful union with his Father. 
Living with Jesus, they begin to desire to know the Father more fully, something like Jesus knows him (Lk 11:1; Jn 14:8; 15:15).

{N}1,{/}40:{C} THE MARGINALIZED{/}
Jesus leaves Capernaum to announce the Good News to the most isolated and ignored families in the whole country. There he finds the {C}lepers{/}. At that time leprosy was considered as a contagious disease. Because of this, lepers had to live on the outskirts of the towns, far from the rest of the population. There was also a belief that leprosy was an affliction from God, and the Jewish religion declared lepers unclean.
By Jesus' act, the flesh of the leper becomes clean. As a result of this, from that time on, he would be like others and people would no longer avoid him. Both people and the Law of God would acknowledge his dignity.
The Good News does not remain mere words but it effects a change. From then on, they would no longer be marginalized people.
{C}Don't tell anyone {/}(v. 44). Very often, particularly in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus gives this order to those who have just been cured of an evil (1:25; 1:34; 1:44; 3:12; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26; 8:30). We must note, however, that Jesus does not give this order when he is outside Israel territory; and that the order is not given after the transfiguration.
Jesus imposed this silence during the first part of his public life because most of the people expected a warlike and vengeful Messiah. Jesus did not want any ambiguity about his mission. Only when Jesus had sufficiently distanced himself from this popular image of the Messiah, would he begin to reveal, first to his disciples, the mystery of his person.
For this same reason Mark, who differs from Matthew, rarely uses the expression "son of God." Mark reserves it for the privileged moments of Jesus' revelation to people: his baptism and transfiguration, and at the conclusion of the passion on the lips of the centurion.

{N}2,{/}1: With this miracle on the paralytic cured and forgiven, Jesus gives three answers at the same time: to the sick man, to his friends and to the Pharisees.
{C}When Jesus saw the faith of these people{/} (v. 5){C}. {/}These are the friends of the paralytic, and Jesus rewards their faith.
Apparently the paralytic did nothing more than consent to their advice. At once, Jesus tells him -{C} your sins are forgiven. {/}What a strange thing to say! How can Jesus forgive sins if the man is not conscious of any fault and, at the same time, repentant and awaiting forgiveness? Certainly during his long infirmity, this man had asked himself why God was punishing him (the people of his time believed sickness was a punishment from God). Many texts of the Old Testament emphasize the complex connection between sin and illness. It is often illness that makes us conscious of our state of sinfulness, and for his part Jesus does not want to heal unless there is reconciliation with God.
Jesus acts like God: he looked at the sinner, rectified the complexes of culpability and pardoned before healing.
Later the Pharisees arrive. When Jesus forgave the paralytic, the simple people did not realize how scandalous his words were. They did not have enough religious formation to realize immediately that only God could give absolution. It was the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were scandalized. Their indignation is justified because neither they, nor the others, nor the disciples, yet understand that Jesus is the true Son of God. Jesus silences them: If I restore health in the same way God does, should not I also forgive in the way God does?
Jesus disconcerts those who ask who he is. Better still, he shows that only he can save the whole person, body and soul.
{C}FORGIVENESS OF SINS{/}
Happy this man who was assured of his pardon through the glance and the words of Jesus! God is he who lives and loves and we need to meet him so that forgiveness can be authentic - his eyes meeting our eyes. Because of this, God had to become human - Jesus forgives sins because he is {C}a son of man{/} (Jn 5:27) and from him we receive the pardon both of God and of people within the Christian community.

{N}2,{/}13:{C} PUBLICANS{/}
To enter the family of God, we must change some of our values. This conversion is not as conspicuous as participation in devotional practices but is much more valuable. First, we must liberate ourselves from prejudices by which we classify people. Let us stop dividing people into good or bad; those we can greet and those we cannot; those we can love and help and those we cannot. Let us learn that God does not hate the rich or the uneducated, those on the left or those on the right, for God's merciful plan sees to the salvation of all.
The Gospel speaks about {C}the publicans{/} or {C}the tax collectors{/} (v. 15){C},{/} who served the foreign powers. Jesus' nation was under the domination of the Roman Empire, and the tax collectors were Jews who worked for foreigners.
Patriots considered them traitors. The people knew they filled their pockets; even beggars refused to receive from the publicans. Yet Jesus did not condemn them but chose one of them, Levi, as one of his apostles, of whom the majority were committed patriots.
The {C}teachers of the Law{/} were like catechists or religion teachers. They were well versed in religion and admired Jesus' teachings, but they did not consider as brothers and sisters the publicans and other {C}sinners{/} (that is to say people who did not fulfill the religious precepts). 
Levi is probably the apostle Matthew (Mt 9:9). In this case, like Simon, named Peter by Jesus, Levi would have been given the name of Matthew; in Hebrew {C}Mattai{/} means {C}gift of God{/}.

{N}2,{/}18: Many religious leaders sympathized with Jesus. How they would have liked that he rekindle the faith of the nation! Jesus himself did not feel that his primary task was to reorganize worship and bring people to the synagogues. 
{C}The Pharisees were fasting.{/} Fasting, a sign of repentance, supported their prayers that God come and liberate his people. God comes in the person of Jesus: joy and celebration are more appropriate than fasting. The prophets had announced the {C}wedding feast{/} of God with his people when he would come to visit us (Is 62:4-5). Because of this, in presenting himself as the bridegroom, Jesus identifies who he really is.
What is the {C}new wine? {/}(v. 22) It is of course the Gospel, and the enthusiasm because of the Holy Spirit that leads the disciples to every kind of madness to manifest the love of the Father and the freedom that they have acquired. In order to understand this, let us read the{C} Acts of the Apostles{/} and the lives of the saints, who have marked Church history.
{C}Old skins:{/} Gospel does not fit into the molds of religion and likewise does not enter into those persons who hold onto them at all costs. Mark wants us to catch Gospel's novelty. We have just seen Jesus welcoming sinners, now we wonder that he doesn't come like religious groups with prayers and fasting.

{N}2,{/}23: It was normal that passersby, when hungry, would pick fruit or wheat. The Pharisees were scandalized because Jesus' disciples did this on the sabbath, a day when all work was prohibited.
{C}The Sabbath was made for man. {/}No law, no matter how holy it is, should be applied in a way that would oppress a person.
{C}The Son of Man is master even of the sabbath{/} (v. 28). For the Jews, the observance of the sabbath was the pillar of the Law established by God. Who did Jesus think he was?

{N}3,{/}1: {C}HUMAN ADVANCEMENT AND THE SABBATH{/}
Here, what Mark wants to emphasize is not the miracle Jesus performs, but his attitude vis-\u00e0-vis the sabbath. This miracle confirms what he has just said in 2:28.
The Pharisees considered it lawful to work on the sabbath if it was a question of saving someone in danger of death. Jesus is about to enlarge this ruling: for him, not to do good is to do evil, not to cure is to kill.
Some ask if Jesus was interested in the material advancement (well-being) of people or only in their spiritual progress. Actually, it is impossible to separate one from the other.
Jesus, apparently, did not speak of the economy nor the social order, but he did denounce our prejudices which prevent us from giving the world a true and just order.
People, then, have the capacity and the means to better their condition, but they use them poorly because they remain prisoners of principles or institutions that are considered sacred, and in order to preserve them they allow half the world to die.

{N}3,{/}13: {C}THE TWELVE{/}
It was on the mountain that Moses and Elijah met God: it was there that God gave them their mission (Ex 19; 1 K 19). It is on the mountain that Jesus calls those who will be in a special way associated with his own mission: they will be {C}with him{/}, they will proclaim the Word and drive out demons.
Mark tells us here what the Church is: a community assembled by Jesus close to him, where people hear the Word of God and are freed from the slavery of the demon.
On the one hand are the countless afflicted who seek relief, and on the other the group of {C}the Twelve{/} whom Jesus asks to be his co-builders in the kingdom of God.
What do we know of these twelve who would become Jesus' messengers, the foundations of the Church, the teachers of the faith? The nucleus of the group were fishermen and with them a tax collector, Matthew; a teacher of the Law, Bartholomew; and some others of whom we only know that Jesus chose them from among the people.
He came in order to save all, but his work began with the poor. Jesus did not belong more to the poor than to the rich, but like all humans he had to locate himself within a specific environment and social class.
Being a son of an artisan, he grew up among simple, humble people. In addition, Jesus made an important decision when he was eighteen or twenty years old. He chose to remain a manual worker rather than to enter a school for teachers of the Law. These religious schools were open to all.
Jesus could have begun his preaching as a qualified teacher and would certainly have found his helpers among the sincere teachers of the Law, priests or Pharisees. But no, he preferred to educate himself through the worker's life with no other religious instruction than the teachings of the synagogue, with no other book than the book of life. Because of this, when the time came, he found his apostles among the common people, young men who were simple but reliable people. 

{N}3,{/}20: {C}He is in the power of Beelzebul{/} (v. 22){C}.{/} More than the healings, the exorcisms unsettled the Pharisees and the {C}Teachers of the Law.{/} They, the religious authorities, traveled from Jerusalem to see this Jesus for themselves. The Jews of Jesus' time were obsessed with the belief that illness was a form of possession. Jesus does not concern himself with distinguishing between illness and possession. Actually, the Devil is behind all human misery. {C}Beelzebul,{/} the name of an ancient idol, was a Jewish term for the Devil.
{C}No one can break into the house of the Strong one. {/}That Strong one is the Devil and his house is the possessed person. "To plunder the house" is to take away the Devil's power over his victim.
{C}Every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, however numerous{/} and Matthew adds: "And the one who speaks against the Son of Man will be forgiven" (Mt 12:32).
Whereas the Old Testament punished blasphemous words with death in order to save God's honor and avoid his anger towards the community, the God whom Jesus knows is aware of how far human stupidity can go and does not feel offended by so many ridiculous or blasphemous words habitually used in our society: he does not defend himself as do the important people of this world.
Jesus allows himself to be criticized by those who do not understand him. Many Pharisees of good faith did not understand Jesus and were scandalized by him. This was excusable, but it is a different thing to call evil that which is clearly good.
{C}To slander{/} (or: {C}to{/} {C}blaspheme{/}) the Holy Spirit (v. 29) is to attribute to a bad spirit a work that is manifestly good. Those who systematically attribute bad intentions to good work done by others, by the Church, by other parties, sin against the Holy Spirit. The one who recognizes the truth but not God is better off than the one who says he believes in God but does not recognize the truth.
About the exorcisms, Jesus concludes: "The kingdom of God has come." In reality the victory over Satan is daily reinforced. Our prayer, the insistent prayer of Christian communities, the witness of life and courageous action of Christians are effective in repulsing the diabolical presence of money, the exploitation of others, drugs or the frenzy for sex.

{N}3,{/}31: See Mk 3:20.
Jesus lost his relatives but found his true brothers and sisters. When we commit ourselves to God's work, we discover new brothers and sisters and a mother, Mary, of whom the Gospel says, "Happy are you for having believed that God's promises would be fulfilled." Jesus does not say "He is my father," for the Father is one and he is in Heaven.
{C}THE BROTHERS OF JESUS{/}
The Church never doubted that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus was her only son, as he is the only son of the Father (see commentary on Lk 1:26). Why then does it speak of {C}Jesus' brothers and sisters?{/}
First, in Hebrew, any relative is called "brother" or "sister." In the Bible we find more than five hundred examples where the word "brother" signifies a fairly close relationship.
To avoid confusion the Jews used some clearer forms. If the Gospel really meant brothers - sons of Mary - on mentioning them together with her, it should have said, "Your mother and {C}the sons of your mother {/}are here." This was the only acceptable way of expressing it at that time.
Some people say: "If the word 'brother' often denotes distant cousins, it may also mean brothers in the strict sense of the word." Let us look more closely to see who are the "brothers" of Jesus. They are mentioned at the time Jesus visits Nazareth: James and Joset (Matthew says Joseph), Jude and Simon.
Among the women at the foot of the cross, Mark mentions a certain "mother of James the less and of Joset." If it were Mary, mother of Jesus, it would be very strange that precisely at this hour she is spoken of as the mother of James and Joset rather than as mother of the condemned. It would also be strange that she is mentioned only after Mary of Magdala. John says that this Mary, wife of Cleophas, was the "sister," which means probably a close relative, of Mary (Jn 19:25).
We must then admit that James and Joset are the sons of this "other Mary" (Mt 28:1) who was one of the group of women who came from Galilee with Jesus (Lk 23:55). They are at the most first cousins of Jesus, while Simon and Jude were more distant cousins. James and Joset would not be mentioned before Simon and Jude if they were more distant relatives of Jesus.
Also, in the first Christian community, when the Gospels were written, there was a very influential group composed of Jesus' relatives and townmates of Nazareth. These were called "brothers of the Lord" and one of them, James, became bishop of the Jerusalem community. Little is said of this group other than that they were late in believing in Jesus even though he had lived with them for several years (Mk 3:21; Jn 7:3-5). In referring to them, the Gospel gives them the name the Christian community had given them, "brothers of the Lord" or "so and so, brother of Jesus."

{N}4,{/}1: See commentary on Matthew 13:1 and Luke 8:9.
Mark will now give us a few parables relating to the Kingdom of God, for it was this proclamation of the beginning of a kingdom of God which was the great highlight of Jesus' message. The Jews of the time occasionally spoke of a reign of God but what they envisaged was the liberty of his people in the land of Israel and the punishment of their oppressors. Jesus instead affirmed that God reigns in our midst: the Kingdom is already here, at our door.
{C}The sower went out to sow.{/} There was impatience to harvest the fruits of such terrible suffering and of so much blood shed under Roman occupation, and for Jesus it was still sowing time! We have here the great paradox of the Gospel, which often causes us to stumble: the Kingdom is there and with it we have all that God can give us in this world. However it remains that all we have is hope (Rom 9:24). After twenty centuries of christianity, the Kingdom resembles a field that has just been sown. Some of the grain {C}bears{/} {C}fruit{/} and multiplies (8). Those who have eyes to see cannot fail to see how many things are born of the Gospel and continue to be born where it is received. The Kingdom is manifest in the life and example of the saints, known and unknown. The fact that Western culture may deny the Gospel does not prevent its being born of its dynamism. The Gospel is behind all that has been undertaken to give the world unity and peace.
All this is born of the Word, but it must mature and take shape in the heart of righteous persons.

{N}4,{/}10: {C}The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been given to you{/}. Jesus reminds the disciples who are there with him, receiving from him the Word of God, that they owe it to God's grace. God himself has chosen them to receive and transmit the proclamation of the Kingdom. Instead of pausing to ponder over such generosity, we might take the phrase in its opposite sense and ask: Has God then wished that others neither see nor understand?
This verse 12 quotes an important text of Isaiah (6:9) which will be recalled in Jn 12:40 and Acts 28:26. To understand, we must remember that the prophet used a grammatical form proper to Hebrew and difficult to translate into English. More or less this is what God says to the prophet: "Harden their heart, speak so that listening they do not hear." It should be understood in this way: "You will only succeed in hardening their heart, you will speak, but in fact they will listen without wanting to understand." In no case does God wish anyone to be mistaken or remain in ignorance.
{C}Everything comes in parables.{/} Those who have not been called to meet Christ, or who once called have refused, live in a world "outside," where they are not without the light of God, but such comes to them in "parables," which means through many intermediaries and human limitations. The Gospel, then, brings light even to one who has not taken the step, but is adapted to its capacity, since such a person lives in a world of half-truths.

{N}4,{/}13: See commentary on Matthew 13:18.{C}
How then will you understand any of the parables? {/}The apostles themselves are incapable of understanding very simple things. Jesus puts us on guard against an over-simplistic vision: on one side the "disciples," on the other those who are not! We have never fully understood the mystery of the Kingdom, still less are we mastering it: the frontier between "disciples"and "outsiders" passes in the midst of us all: Jesus will remind us in the parable of the weeds.
In fact, many Christian communities never grasp the real meaning of the words of Jesus. Some, because they always choose the same Gospel verses to justify their own ideas, and do not really want to listen. Others, because they look for practical advice that they be more generous, more patient etc., and they do not see that Jesus wants to show them a vision of the world and Church much wider than their own.
The parable of the sower leads the other parables. Here Jesus tells us the purpose of his mission: he has come to initiate a new age in the human story: the kingdom of God is now among us.
Sometimes it seems that the Gospel does not have much power to transform life. Maybe this is because we have trampled on many seeds that the wind brought us. It all depends on us.
Jesus speaks of{C} thirty {/}and {C}one hundred{/} fold. The word which is heeded transforms our life and strengthens our attempts to save the world. Who can tell what is possible for a free and liberated person?

{N}4,{/}21: {C}Listen then, if you have ears. {/}Jesus warns us, "You waste your time if you\u0087\u00d4nly listen to me yet do not allow what you hear to bear fruit. The measure that you measure out will be the measure you receive. That is to say, if you begin to act according to what you have learned, you will receive from God new strength and new knowledge. If you do nothing, even your religious beliefs will be of no value to you, not even when you present yourself before God. You read my Gospel, but now challenge yourselves before you follow any further."
{C}Whatever is hidden.{/} The word works {C}secretly{/} within the heart but when we discover the transformation that is at work in our life, we readily proclaim Christ and make known to others the secret that has made us happy (Eph 2:4; Col 3:3; Phil 2:10).

{N}4,{/}26: In every period of time, people become impatient. When will the kingdom of justice be realized? Will violence and corruption soon come to an end? Jesus answers: invisible forces are already at work; the world matures and the Kingdom grows on.
{C}SEEDS{/}
How many seeds are cast to the wind? A new style, a new song, a new device, a radio program. Some seeds have grown and taken root, producing fruits that mobilize people. Let us recognize the humble beginnings of the work of God: goodwilled people meeting together to solve a community problem; a gesture of kindness in a closed, unfriendly environment; a first attempt to smile at life after a great disappointment. The seed grows, and the person who has welcomed the word walks more confidently on the path where God leads.

{N}4,{/}30: See commentary on Matthew 13:31.

{N}4,{/}35: In the last two parables Jesus has shown the irresistible growth of the Kingdom, and to give a visible sign of it, he will {C}pass to the other shore of the lake,{/} that is to say, on the pagan side of Lake Galilee. The two miracles he is about to perform will show that his victory over the demon goes beyond the frontiers of Israel.
In Jewish mentality the sea is a daily reminder of primitive chaos, it is there the marine monsters move around, monsters which only God, for he is the all-powerful, can challenge: Leviathan and Rahab. In commanding the sea: {C}Quiet now! Be still!{/} just as he does with the demons (Mk 1:25) Jesus affirms his divine power over the forces of evil.
Confronted with all the forms of evil that attack them, in the midst of tempests that arise, people, at times, wonder if God "does not sleep." Jesus is there. He is not surprised by the disciples' fear of the tempest, but of their lack of faith; only trust in the victory of Jesus, Son of God, over the forces of evil, will allow them to overcome this fear.
At the very instant when they discover this divine power in Jesus, the apostles are {C}terrified{/}, as was Moses at the burning bush (Ex 3:1), and Isaiah at the time of his vision in the Temple (Is 6:5), as all those to whom God shows himself in a special way: more than a friend, more than a master, Jesus revealed himself to them in the truth of his being. This fear in discovering God so close to them was greater than the fear they had felt during the tempest a few moments earlier.

{N}5,{/}1: Jesus overcame the raging sea and disembarking on the pagan shore of the lake he confronts the demon. The text says three times that the possessed lived among the tombs, and mentions also three times the chains with which people had in vain tried to bind him. For a Jew to repeat something three times is to use the superlative: it is to say that the possessed has partnership with death and with impurity to which it is attached (Num 19:11); but no one, absolutely no one is able to master him. Finally the possessed, like the servants of idols (1 K 18:28) slashed himself with stones till blood flowed. This adversary, however, bows low recognizing the superiority of Jesus, Son of God the Most High, who forces him to reveal his name. Here again the name is a symbol: {C}legion{/} which means that this man is possessed by a regiment of demons. Jesus will free this possessed man: the demon, author of every "impurity" is sent to his own kingdom. Pigs are in fact, in Jewish tradition, a type of impure animal, and the sea into which they cast themselves is the symbol of the empire of evil (see the calmed tempest).
{C}The herds rushed down{/} (v. 13) (see Mt 8:32 and Lk 8:33). The actual text of Mark says, "{C}two thousand{/} pigs rushed." This is an incredible number, for such large herds of pigs were never seen. In Hebrew, the word for {C}herds{/} is only distinguished from the word for {C}2,000{/} by an accent mark. Probably a mistake was made when Mark's Gospel was written in Greek.
{C}Jesus would not let him {/}(v. 19). It is he who chooses those who will be with him (Mk 3:13). That does not mean that the others, all those who met Jesus and recognized him as Son of God, have nothing to do: they will witness in the midst of those they know {C}how he had compassion on them. {/}In this way Jesus reminds us of the diversity of vocations.

{N}5,{/}21: This woman was considered by the Jews as {C}unclean {/}because of her illness (Lev 15:19). She would also make "unclean" anyone who touched her. Because of this, she was prohibited by the Law from mingling with others but dared enter into the crowd, and touch Jesus' cloak.
Faith drove her to break the Law of "purification," and to risk scandal. This woman did not know who Jesus was, but had faith that God would cure her through him.
The religiosity of this woman is akin to what we call today "popular Catholicism." As seen in this woman, popular Catholicism is ill-instructed, yet shows a strong religious sense and trust in God. It is superficial and naive, expecting great results from touching images and religious things - Christ's garment in this case. Like Jesus, we should respect the religious expressions of popular Catholicism while at the same time trying, like him, to help people discover deeper dimensions of their faith.

{N}5,{/}34: {C}FAITH AND MIRACLES{/}
Who is responsible for a miracle? Does it come from the faith of the one who asks or from Christ who works the miracle? If the miracle depends solely on the faith of a person, then what is the difference between the faithful one who asks God for a cure and the one who goes to any faith healer? In the latter, it would be enough to convince oneself; the one actually doing the healing would matter little. 
These people coming to Jesus were, of course, very far from recognizing him as the Son of God, but they were convinced that God would give them some blessing through this prophet and holy man. This faith prepared them to receive healing in both body and spirit. How can God heal those who refuse to hope?
What stands out on this page is the power of Christ: {C}Jesus was conscious that healing power had gone forth from him. {/}
{C}Your faith has saved you.{/} This can also be translated: Your faith has made you well. In fact, both meanings fit (like in 10:52). For this woman risked all and finally saw how much God loved her.

{N}5,{/}38: Here Jesus is confronted with the death of a girl who is called to live. Jairus was {C}an official of the synagogue{/} (v. 22){C}, {/}that is to say, one of those holding responsibility in the local Jewish community.
We too ask God to be healed, but we dare not ask for resurrection of the dead because we consider death as something absolutely irreversible. Jesus wishes to show us that no "law of destiny" or nature can be an obstacle to God's love.
{C}People wailing loudly. {/}During Jesus' time it was customary to hire professional mourners and musicians at a funeral. Today, at funerals, we also have long discourses and ceremonies to mask death, because it shakes and discomforts us and shatters our apparent peace. Jesus does not allow himself to be taken in by our illusions.
{C}The child is not dead, but asleep. {/}Of course she is dead, and that is why the people mock him; but Jesus sends the noisy crowd outside, and takes with him the child's father and mother. They are capable of understanding for they have come to him in a spirit of faith (v. 22). {C}
Get up!{/} (v. 41). From the first hour, the disciples of Jesus have used this vocabulary "sleep," "rise" in speaking of death and resurrection. They believed that Jesus, Son of God, had, with his own resurrection, definitively defeated death (1 Cor 15). Polls reveal that today a great number of Christians no longer believe in the resurrection. One may ask if it is not the result of a religious education that has been based on moral considerations rather than on listening to the Word of God.

{N}6,{/}1: {C}THE WISDOM OF JESUS{/}
The brothers and sisters of Jesus are his relatives and acquaintances of Nazareth: see commentary on Mark 3:31.
{C}How did this come to him? {/}Does this mean that Jesus traveled to other countries in order to get magic powers? See the answer in the commentary on Matthew 2:23.
Because he always lived among them and never did anything extraordinary, they were astonished that, in such a short time, he became famous throughout Galilee. In fact they do not know him: most of the time people mistakenly believe they know their neighbors.
{C}A prophet is despised only in his own country{/} (v. 4){C}.{/} After living with him so long and treating him like anyone else, how could they suddenly show respect and have faith in him?
{C}Who is he but the carpenter?{/} (v. 3). The term the Gospel uses is {C}craftsman.{/} There is no further specification. Yet the first Christians of Palestine asserted that Jesus was a carpenter.
{C}What kind of wisdom has been given to him? {/}Many people say that because Christ was God he knew all things, but divine knowledge is nothing less than God himself. He knows all at once in an instant that never ends - this is eternity. On the other hand, humans think in ideas, and do not embrace all at the same time. That is why, from birth, Jesus had to learn from experience and discover. Yet he had a clear awareness that he was the Son, although at the beginning he did not have the words to think or express this. 
Jesus received his human learning from Mary, Joseph, and his neighbors in Nazareth. He acquired his wisdom from the Bible and the culture of his people. Yet the Father gave him his Spirit to judge as God does and to recognize God in all things. For him (as for us now) what was important was not accumulating data and experiences but to be able to appreciate all that occurred. Jesus, inspired by the Spirit, felt all the realities of life in a different way: this was Wisdom.

{N}6,{/}6: {C}THE MISSION{/}
See commentary on Matthew 10:5; Luke 10:1; Matthew 28:16. Jesus begins a third stage of his ministry by organizing a mission throughout the province. Before, the apostles accompanied Jesus but now he {C}sends them{/} ahead of him.
Jesus is an educator. He not only teaches his followers, he has them share in his mission. His apostles must also proclaim their faith and perform healings as the Master does. By doing this, they put into practice what they have discovered of the kingdom of God. The disciples should be first to believe what they themselves proclaim: God makes himself present. Because of this, they must live day by day, trusting in the Father's Providence, not frightened but always conscious of God's mission and power.
Oil was used at the time as a remedy, but Jesus gives it a new meaning: the healings bring more than just well-being, they are also the sign of spiritual healing, the reconciliation of people with God. 
Jesus' concern to form communities of believers is already present. He sends his disciples out {C}two by two{/} so that the message will not be from one person only, but the expression of a group united in one mission. Jesus tells them to stay under one roof with one family so that this may be a center radiating faith.

{N}6,{/}14: {C}King Herod.{/} This refers to Herod Antipas, son of the other Herod who reigned when Jesus was born.{C}
King Herod respected John{/}, but he was prisoner of his milieu and of his vices. As king of Galilee, his misconduct constituted a public counter-witness.
All through the Bible we see prophets stressing the particular responsibility of those who wield power. If they have to lead the people, they must be, by the rectitude of their life, an example; John the Baptist could not speak of justice without reproaching Herod for his infidelity.
{C}People said that John the Baptist has been raised from the dead{/} (6:14). They considered John a martyr and believed he would rise from the dead to punish Herod. Some associated Jesus with John - Jesus performed miracles that John had not done. Others, less informed, thought Jesus was an apparition of John.

{N}6,{/}30: The apostles are exhausted. At the end of this journey they need to rest and take a deeper look at their experiences. Jesus teaches them and helps them reflect upon what they had seen and done.
{C}Many people coming and going.{/} After the disciples had gone through the villages of Galilee many people wanted to know who had sent them, and the crowd approached Jesus.
{C}He had compassion on them{/} (v. 34){C}.{/} The Old Testament had shown the compassion of God as a Father, but now Jesus reveals this compassion in a different way. No one could fully understand the mercy of God until the Son came to share everything with us, making himself poor among the poor, able to feel with them instead of giving them his words and deeds of mercy from above.
This compassion of Jesus helps us understand that Christian commitment to the poor is not complete as long as the Church is not itself deeply rooted in the lower class of society.
{C}They were like sheep without a shepherd{/} (Num 27:17; Is 40:11; Ezk 34; Zec 11:4-17; 12:8). This refers to people who had not yet found true community, and Jesus had pity on them. The prophet Ezekiel reproached the leaders of Israel for being bad pastors, but today he might reproach us for failing to be pastors and prophets in the midst of our world. Why should we so often wait for priests, religious or a few hand-picked lay people to take the initiative of assembling new communities? Why are we so timid in proposing to "those who are outside" the light of faith that we have gratuitously received and allow them to discover in the group or community this richness?
{C}And he began a long teaching session with them. {/}What did he tell them? All that makes up the Gospel. Penetrating everyone's conscience with a prophetic gaze, Jesus showed each one where the real problem lay. Speaking like the prophets, Jesus never enclosed and isolated the people within their personal problems: their personal progress had to be attained together with the renewal of their environment. 
Jesus saw that {C}they were burdened{/} with difficulties but would lift them up by giving them "signs of hope." In any situation there is something that we can do immediately to uplift ourselves; and even before any attempt of ours, God already gives us signs that he does not abandon us and that we must trust totally in him.

{N}6,{/}35: The Bible says that from the mouth of God comes bread, and the Word that we need (Dt 8:3). By the act of giving bread, Jesus demonstrates that his words are God's words. {C}God gives bread{/} to his people (Ex 16; Ps 72:16; Ps 81:17; Ps  132:15; 147:14).
{C}What comes from the mouth of God {/}(Dt 8:3; Wis 16:26; Mt 4:4).
Seen in the light of the Old Testament, this narration identifies Jesus as the Shepherd foretold by the prophets.
{C}They sat in fresh pastures {/}(Ps 23),{C} and they were all satisfied {/}(Ps 78:29). The crowd seated for a meal is the image of the Reign when Jesus will unite all of humanity in the fraternal banquet of God (Lk 14:15).
{C}Raising his eyes to heaven{/} (v. 41){C}.{/} By using this gesture, rather than a prayer that saints or prophets might have said on this occasion, Jesus expresses his personal relationship with the Father.
Jesus is the bread needed by humanity (Jn 6). God has set on this earth all that humanity needs for food and development, but if we do not know how to listen to the Word, we will not know how to solve the world's most urgent problem, the distribution of the riches of the earth. Faith in God's promises is the only force with which to fight against egoism and unequal privileges, and it will eventually obtain food, peace, and freedom for all.
Because of this, Jesus{C} had compassion for this crowd{/} whose leaders had little concern for them. Without bothering about food, this crowd sat listening to him while he conveyed to them the word of God which liberates people from blindness and emptiness. Then, being the Shepherd and the True Bread of Life, he gave them food and distributed it.

{N}6,{/}45: Jesus {C}obliged them{/} to get into the boat. Why? John's Gospel explains this (Jn 6:15). Because the people, enthused by the miracle, wanted to make him a king and liberator sent by God. Even the apostles were eager for this to happen.

{N}7,{/}1: {C}THE TRADITION AND TRADITIONS{/}
No group, not even the Church, can sustain itself without traditions and customs. Yet even when they are good traditions, they are still made by humans. For example, the way the mass is celebrated, celebrations, novenas etc. All that past popes, bishops, and Christian communities have done can be changed by another pope, bishop or christian community, and because these can be changed, we understand that they are not essential.
What does not change is God's teaching. Where can it be found? In the Bible and in Jesus' teachings. Yet there is a way of understanding Jesus as the apostles did. This is called the Tradition of the Apostles, and the Church, founded by the apostles, guards this tradition, that is, their spirit. Let us not confuse the traditions of Catholics with the Tradition of the Church.
We often make little effort to enter into the spirit and Tradition of the Church, however, clinging instead to antiquated and mediocre traditions. Why are so many Christians today scandalized when the Church frees itself from these antiquated rites? Jesus gives us the reason: they cling to these rites because they are incapable of believing. External religion replaces the authentic faith they do not possess. They hang onto these things because these are all they have, and if they lose that, God no longer has any meaning for them.

{N}7,{/}14: {C}CLEAN AND UNCLEAN{/}
An important practice of Judaism was to keep oneself clean: one could not participate in worship without being in a state of ritual purity. This word "purity" did not have the same meaning we give it today. The clean person was one who was not contaminated even inadvertently by things prohibited by Law. For example, pork and rabbit were considered unclean; they could not be eaten. A menstruating woman or a person with hemorrhoids were considered unclean for a certain number of days: no one could even touch them. A leper was considered unclean until cured. If a bug fell in oil, the oil was considered unclean, and would have to be thrown away. 
If contaminated even by no fault of his own, the person had to purify himself, usually with water, sometimes paying for sacrifices.
At one time, these laws were useful in encouraging a hygienic lifestyle. They also protected the faith of the Jews who lived among people who did not know God. How could they guard their faith in the one God if they were to live with other nations, befriend them, and even imitate their ways? With so many religious practices to observe, the Jews had to live apart from those who did not share their faith and lifestyle.
Jesus removes off from these rites their sacred value: nothing is unclean in all God's creation; touching the sick, a corpse or a bloodstained object does not offend God. God is not bothered if we eat this or that. Sin is always something {C}which comes from the heart{/} and not something we do unintentionally.
It is true that the Bible teaches these concepts of purity and impurity, but these laws were written many centuries ago and not everything the Bible says is valid for all times. Through the teachings of the Bible God educated his nation, but the laws he gave them from the beginning, when they were barbaric and uneducated, are no longer necessary for a community which has a solid religious foundation. 
It is quite legitimate for Christians to adopt a vegetarian way of life, that Christian communities consider abstinence from alcohol and tobacco as a witness to help addicts. But let us not say that this is part of our faith nor let us judge those who do not agree with us. That would otherwise undermine the transcendence of Christian salvation which goes beyond any question of "eating and drinking" (Rom 14:17).

{N}7,{/}24: {C}THE PAGANS{/}
The authorities come into conflict with Jesus. He must depart and wander along the border of Galilee, where he is less watched and can easily flee. This incident occurs near Tyre, a province occupied by the Syrians and Phoenicians.
The Jews were never able to understand their election by God as his chosen people without looking down on other nations. Being bearers of the true faith obliged them to avoid contamination with other religions, but actually this increased their inability to understand all that was foreign.
For them the world was divided in two: there were "the people" (Jewish) and "the nations": all the others. Apparently God ignored these others, unless it was to let them feel the weight of his justice. Their minds were totally closed to the question we ask ourselves today: how does God deal with and save all those who have not heard his word? So it was that the {C}Phoenicians{/} (v. 26), (also called {C}Greeks{/} because they spoke Greek rather than Hebrew) lived near but were very distant from the Jews.
Although Jesus came to save all, his Father desired that he not go beyond his own country. Nevertheless, on certain occasions he encountered pagans, and more than once admired their simplicity and faith.
The Gospel has not kept all that Jesus said and did, but we see nothing there that could be a call to "change one's religion" nor a threat for those who take a road other than that of Christianity. Jesus leaves them on the path along which the Father leads them and invites them to thank the one and only God and shows them how near the Father is to them through his Son.
 The Jews usually looked down on pagans with marked contempt: they were {C}the sons{/}, the pagans were {C}the dogs.{/} Jesus answered the afflicted woman repeating this well-known scornful saying. He said this to test the woman's faith: would she insist when it appeared that even God would reject her?

{N}7,{/}31: {C}They asked Jesus to lay hands upon him{/} (v. 32){C}.{/} This was a way of invoking divine power but Jesus did not have to ask. By his gesture he showed that he had within himself, within his human person, all the health and welfare that we need, and he communicated this to the sick one.
{C}Jesus groaned{/} (see 8:12). Why? Because the man before him is an impressive symbol of those who have eyes and ears but neither see nor hear. The people bring him the deaf-mute, and ask him to heal him, but they themselves remain deaf.
{C}Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone{/} (v. 36). How far Jesus is from the organizers of a "Miracle Crusade"! An unexpected miracle may help us discover the loving presence of God, but as soon as we begin to wait for them, we turn away from the Gospel. The Devil knows this and so tempted Jesus in the desert (Mt 4:6): See the warnings of Deuteronomy to people anxious to see miracles (Dt 13). Faith leans on the word of God, not on miracles (Jn 4:48).

{N}8,{/}1: This second account of the multiplication of loaves is not a repetition of the first account. It is obvious that oral transmission of these two events lead to shape them according to the same pattern, but they have different meaning.
The first time, between Tiberias and Capernaum (that is, right at the center of Jesus' work in Galilee) the people, more numerous and more urgent, approach Jesus to make him their liberator (Jn 6). Jesus refuses, but later that afternoon he multiplies the loaves - a clear sign that he is the Messiah foretold by the prophets. The next day Jesus, in his turn, demands that they take him for what he is, and this produces the rejection (Jn 6:60).
Later Jesus journeys to the boundaries of Galilee, where much of the population are pagan. They also want to hear Jesus. There, on the other side of the shore, the eastern part, Jesus offers them bread as a farewell meal after they followed him for two days through the desert land. 
The two accounts of the multiplication of loaves differ in several points like the number of loaves and the number of participants. The{C} baskets{/} for example, mentioned in Mark 6:43 refer to the stiff osier basket of the Jews, and in 8:8 to the {C}wicker basket{/} or the Greek's folding bag.
The number 12 records the Twelve tribes of israel and the twelve apostles, while the number 7 records the "seven pagan nations" which occupied Canaan and the seven deacons of the early Church.
These differences underline the will of Mark to take into account the real situation of the Church at the time he wrote: having been born in Jewish milieu, it was developing among Greek nations. This is why, for the first multiplication the evangelists say, "Jesus pronounced a blessing", and in the second, "Jesus gave thanks". Because the first was the word used for Eucharist among Jewish Christian communities, and the latter was used in Greek speaking churches.
Some feel that one same event has been recorded with those differences in Jewish and Greek speaking communities before the gospels present them as two different events. But the sequence which contains both of them is very ancient (see the commentary of Mt 14:13) and does not come from later times in which the contract with the original events would have been lost. This duality is stressed in Matthew 16:5 and still more in Mark 8:9.
The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (or the two multiplications of loaves) holds an important place in the synoptic gospels because it points out jesus as the Messiah: see commentary on Matthew 15:29; Luke 9:12; John 6.

{N}8,{/}11: See commentary on Matthew 16:1.
{C}THE PHARISEES{/}
The Pharisees do not see the fruits of Jesus' preaching nor do they see the people who are comforted and begin a better way of life. They do not see those who discover hope and faith or how God saves the poor.
Throughout the Gospel, Jesus confronts the Pharisees. They were a respected and powerful association, the most conspicuous within the Jewish society. Nevertheless they oppose Jesus steadfastly. If Jesus came in our present time, would he not likewise offend some of the most powerful religious associations?
The Pharisees were religious in a way that has always existed and still exists. Imagine a serious person who becomes aware that God's service is the most important thing. This person enjoys a good social status or a fine education; so he decides to work for God, especially by leading others, sinners, less capable or less instructed.
All this is right and many Pharisees were excellent believers. The gospel when speaking about them, however, points out a way of thinking which was deeply rooted in their institution (and is always to be cared of in the Church) which is the reason why they could not recognize Jesus and rather opposed him. Such a Pharisee  willingly serves God, but God, in turn, must acknowledge his services and reward him. The Pharisee wants to be without debt to God and carefully keeps himself from falling into sin, because he dislikes being in need of God's pardon.
This is where things begin to go awry. For no one can meet God, not even the righteous and well-instructed, unless they discover their own misery and weakness. We all need to experience God's mercy and begin loving him wholeheartedly, meekly, feeling at one with the poorest and with sinners.
This Pharisee is aware of having the same weaknesses as the other people, in spite of being very observant, but he has no means of being freed because he is not humble enough to ask for God's help. Thus there is no other way for him apart from hiding his faults behind a flawless exterior conduct and so he becomes a hypocrite.

{N}8,{/}14: Jesus tells his apostles to beware of the Pharisee's spirit (of becoming like the Pharisees) but they do not listen, being more concerned about the food.
Jesus says: {C}Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees{/}, meaning their {C}teaching{/} (Mt 16:12). Jesus fears that his disciples, because of being common people, would let themselves be impressed by the knowledge and fame of the Pharisees, and he warns them that these people build religion on the wrong basis.
Jesus agreed with the Pharisees on the general way of understanding the Bible, but not the spirit of many among them. As "master" he chose a way opposed to theirs. Instead of a teaching that comes from above he became part of a natural group of quite simple people and formed them through action. He made them reflect on what they saw, on what they did, and above all on what God was doing among them as they worked with him.

{N}8,{/}22: When a person, blind from birth, regains his sight, it takes time for him to gradually focus on objects and to understand what his new eyes see. Jesus again laid his hands on this blind man's eyes.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. Jesus does not let us see everything at once, but conversion is realized bit by bit.
{C}Do not return to the village.{/} If so, all the people would go looking for Jesus to see him and touch him and clamor for a miracle. Jesus came instead for an authentic encounter with people.

{N}8,{/}27: {C}CHRIST - THE SON OF MAN{/}
Here the Gospel already foretells the tragic end. For the first time, the apostles take account of who their Master is.
{C}You are the Messiah.{/} Christ is a Greek word which means the Messiah in Hebrew. They both mean: {C}the anointed{/} or {C}consecrated{/} {C}one.{/} This term designated the long-awaited Savior. The apostles discover that Jesus is the Messiah, the Liberator, but he teaches them {C}that the Son of Man (the Human One) has to suffer many things.{/}
Why does Jesus call himself the Son of Man? For two reasons: first, because one page in the Bible speaks of the Son of Man who gloriously comes from God to judge all people and to rule all the nations (Dn 7:13). Second, because Jesus is the perfect Human and bears the destiny of humanity.
Jesus{C} had to suffer{/} (v. 31){C},{/} because this is the fate of sinners. He had to suffer and be rejected by the authorities, because this is the destiny of those who proclaim the truth. He had to freely go to his death because self-sacrifice is the only means for the salvation of the world.

{N}8,{/}34: It is necessary to lose oneself:
- to lose oneself like Abraham, who in his old age went to strange lands;
- to lose oneself like Moses, who agreed to be the leader of an irresponsible people;
- to lose oneself like Mary, who entered a path wherein no one could understand or help her;
- to rid oneself of this temporary existence so as to be reborn of God, like Ignatius the martyr. Condemned to be eaten by lions, he said, "I am the wheat of God; may I be ground by the teeth of wild animals to be converted into the pure bread of Christ. My passions are crucified in me; there is no carnal fire that can burn me; a fountain has sprouted in me that murmurs and speaks from within: come to the Father."
{C}Take up your cross{/} (v. 34){C}.{/} Jesus tells us that to follow him is to follow the same path that took him to the cross. To reach maturity it is necessary to renounce our life; in other words, we must risk ourselves for something noble instead of being concerned about our own future; we must find a life- style that will help us excel in the way of love; and we must accept that our life may be a failure according to others' way of thinking (Lk 17:33; Jn 12:23-25).
Taking up our cross by accepting freely the sacrifices that the Father sends each day, we receive from that moment something even more marvelous than what was sacrificed: inner freedom and more profound happiness (Mk 10:30).
Think of what Jesus says: {C}from me, for me, {/}and not: from God, for God. For God has come in the person of Jesus to knock on our door and to propose to us very specific commitments.
{C}If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words{/} (v. 38){C}.{/} The believer who follows the words of Christ without fear of what may be asked of her is attacked without mercy by many who call themselves Christians. For we live in the midst of an {C}adulterous people{/}, in other words, people who without verbally denying God, in fact, serve other gods (Mt 6:24; Jn 8:42).

{N}9,{/}1: The transfiguration of Jesus is the midpoint of Mark's Gospel.
This manifestation is in fact one of the most important in the New Testament. In the liturgy of oriental Churches, the feast of the Transfiguration holds a place of supreme importance.
Though not the summit, it is in fact the summary of all revelation. Moses and Elijah, the spokesmen of the Law and the Prophets (in a word, of all the Old Testament) present the Christ of the Gospel to the apostles Peter, James and John, those who will be responsible for the preaching of the Gospel. 
As Moses and Elijah were led by God to the Holy Mountain, to witness his glory (Ex 33:18; 1 K 19:9), so the apostles are led apart by Jesus; they too climb the mountain and there Jesus manifests his glory to them.
Jesus had just announced his passion and his death: the day had come when the Father confirmed his end which was very near (1 K 9:31) and gave him a foretaste of his resurrection. Moses and Elijah were the witnesses, they who, in a certain way, escaped the corruption of death (Dt 34:6; 2 K 2:11).
{C}A cloud formed covering them in a shadow.{/} The cloud mentioned here is that which, in several episodes of the Bible, both indicates and hides the mysterious presence of God (Ex 19 and 1 K 8:10).
{C}Listen to him!{/} (v. 7). The apostles have been accompanying Jesus for more than a year, with misunderstanding increasing between him and
the religious authorities of the people of God. For them a question could arise: Is not Jesus mistaken? Are not the certitudes of God's people on the side of the priests and scribes?
The Father himself intervenes, just as he had done in the past for John the Baptist: {C}Listen to him!{/} "Listen to him for he is the Word made flesh" (Jn 1:14; Heb 1:1). He is the Prophet, and all the others speak only for him (Dt 18:17).
When Jesus worked miracles for the sick, and over the forces of nature, he showed that the present order of the world is not permanent. Now the curtains are partially opened: would that the apostles understood that the Son of Man, as Jesus calls himself, is close to his resurrection. In a little while his fellow citizens will hang him on a cross. In a little while, too, the Father will give him the Glory that awaits him. The shining cloud, the dazzling white clothes are external signs that indicate something of the mystery of Jesus: the day he rises from among the dead, his human nature will be transformed and extended by divine Energies, so that he may fill everything in everyone.

{N}9,{/}11: On going down the mountain, the apostles feel uneasy, "Why did Moses and Elijah speak of the imminent death of Jesus?" They cling to their illusions, finding support in the Bible which said that Elijah had to return to earth to prepare the way before the Messiah would come, so that he should not encounter any opposition (Mal 3:1 and 4:23).
Jesus asserts again what he had said many times: he has to be rejected. Not all that is written in the Bible is to be understood literally. Elijah was not to return personally from heaven, but rather John the Baptist had already come as the new Elijah (Lk 1:16).

{N}9,{/}14: {C}All things are possible for one who believes{/} (v. 23){C}. {/}Jesus has gone back to the crowd and again he meets with human unbelief. The prayer of the child's father would be a model for all Christian prayer. If we turn to God in prayer, it is because we have faith; and yet in doing this we discover the poverty and the fragility of our faith.
{C}Why could not we drive out the spirit?{/} (v. 28). The apostles wonder: did Jesus not give them power over the demons? They are not aware of their lack of faith and easily forget how far they are from their Master. To them are directed the sharp words of Jesus: {C}You, faithless people!{/} How many people think they are great believers when, in fact their faith has still not moved anything!
{C}Only prayer can drive out this kind.{/} Various people mentioned in the Gospels as being possessed may have been mentally sick and could be cured by magnetic force, by the laying on of hands (Mk 6:5). Not this lad. Sometimes we find ourselves like Jesus close to the power of Evil, and prayer is needed to overcome it.
In the Gospel of Mark we find only four references to prayer and these in only a few words. It is because prayer was not a novelty for the Jews.
What is prayer? It is to direct our spirit to God. There are thousands of ways of praying, of keeping our spirit oriented toward God, striving towards him and listening to him: praying the Psalms and other prayers of the Church, meditating on the rosary, singing, Bible reading, etc. The purpose of all these prayers is that the Lord may give us the spirit of prayer, that we may be able to communicate with God in the depth of our spirit, even while working and minding our tasks.
Jesus shows us in these pages the way to expel the demon, because the evil spirit multiplies obstacles to discourage us, as soon as he knows we have decided to follow Christ (Mt 12:43; 13:19).

{N}9,{/}30: Time is running out for Jesus. He now dedicates himself chiefly to preparing the group of apostles who will have the tremendous responsibility of continuing his work. They did not understand about his death and resurrection: these things cannot be understood until they have happened. They prefer not to question or know; leaving Jesus very isolated.

{N}9,{/}33:{C} SERVANTS{/}
The apostles return to Capernaum, the center of their missionary expeditions, and most probably stay {C}in the house{/} of Simon Peter.
They have preached the kingdom of God, performing miraculous cures, and have expelled demons. They still lack the most important quality of all: to be humble.
We also follow Christ, make sacrifices for him, and look like good Christians, and God performs through us some miracles great or small... Can we compare ourselves with our neighbor? Do we have the right to impose ourselves on others when they prefer the services of another person? Should we consider ourselves superior to those who do not reach our level?
The last sentence of Jesus is as important as the first: {C}Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name... {/}The dignity of the human person stems from this identification with Christ.

{N}9,{/}35:{C} THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON{/}
God does not wait for us to be baptized before he recognizes his Son in us. He created us "in Christ." This means that he created each of us so that we bear the likeness of his Son: see what Paul says in Ephesians. 
Of course, it is something much greater when God calls us to believe and chooses us to share in the mission and life of his Church.
The Church has always taught the surpassing dignity of the human person and, in the end, convinced the world. More than anyone else, the martyrs taught us the superior value of the human person over any interest or collective bonds. It is impossible to separate this dignity of the human person from our relationship with the Father. Those who do not share in this belief cannot easily explain their commitment to human rights.
The greatest gift of God to humans is not that we can think and love, but that we can say to God: "You are my Father," and that God looks at us thinking, "You are my son/daughter."

{N}9,{/}38: {C}SEPARATE CHURCHES{/}
While Jesus prepares his apostles, whom he wants to leave in charge of his Church, others preach the Gospel and expel demons. In the same way nowadays, outside the Catholic Church, the Church of the apostles, others of diverse Christian denominations do apostolic work.
This evangelization outside the Church, at times against the Church, offers a challenge. If others evangelize, it is perhaps because the Church does not reach a great number of people: God wants others to do what we do not. The proliferation of separate churches is for the Catholic Church a call to reform.
For the Church finds itself paralyzed for want of a true spirit of poverty and because of its massive structures which no longer allow simple people to find there the fresh life-giving air of the Gospel.
In addition, a missionary sense is often completely absent: too many Catholics are not ready to leave their own practices and little groups, with the end result that the Church is seemingly absent in a great number of places, especially in the urban masses and among immigrants.
With that how can we condemn those who by their missionary action allow a great number of people to meet Jesus Christ in fervent and welcoming communities, even if everything there is not authentic?
In saying this we do not forget the many riches of Christian tradition which have often been lost by those who left the Church, especially the certitude that everything human must be redeemed and saved, and the joyful and humble way of believing and doing the will of the Father of which Mary is the finest symbol. 
Several things seem to us out of place in these churches: the miracle used as an instrument of propaganda, the pressures on the sick, the threatening with punishments from God... Many enclose themselves in their cults, far from the "world," making ecumenism impossible, that is the dialogue and common seeking with other Christians.
There is, however, no room for envy or hatred: who can harm us if we do the work of God?

{N}9,{/}42: See commentary on Matthew 18:6.
{C}To be{/} {C}thrown into Gehenna,{/} says Jesus (v. 45). This word was used to designate hell.
{C}To enter life... to enter the kingdom{/}; this is one and the same thing. The kingdom of God is not a place where God will put us; it is a life that invades us; it is a person's meeting with self, the total realization of a person's potential; the perfect union with God through which the sons and daughters are transformed into the likeness of the Father.
{C}Have salt in yourselves{/} (v. 50). This concludes the speech after the discussion with the apostles (9:34). Of course we should make ourselves servants of others (9:35). That does not mean that we should be oppressed persons. The salt signifies the creativity and the talents of each one. Let us be persons fully alive, even if it includes disagreements, but always concerned about maintaining loving relations and mutual respect.

{N}10,{/}1: {C}MATRIMONY{/}
See notes on Matthew 19:6.
{C}Is it right for a husband...?{/} (v. 2) Matthew is surely more exact when he adds "for no matter what motive," for everyone agreed that a wife could be sent away, but reasons justifying a divorce were discussed. Mark goes straight to the point: marriage is an irreversible commitment.
Jesus takes his stand; it is one of those clashes when he shocks everyone, including his disciples - going against general practice sanctioned by the Bible.
Jesus invokes another law of God, {C}in the beginning{/}. In the beginning: that is in the narrative of the Earthly Paradise. We must not forget that in ancient culture {C}the beginning{/} was a golden age where God established ideal institutions. It is clear then that if the authors of the Old Testament authorized divorce it was because the laws of society, even those of God's people, reflect the level of the moral conscience of an era.
Jesus compares the ideal and the practice. This ideal, however, is not something that one admires without taking it seriously. Where Genesis says: {C}the two shall become one body{/}, Jesus adds: {C}they are no longer two but one body{/}. Over and above any discussion, the unity of the couple is "the" reality in the eyes of God.
Doubtless it would be the wrong way to look on marriage and human love as the human and social features of the first fundamental fact: sexuality. What is first in God's plan for the universe is the couple of the Son of God made man and humanity which he saves. It is the supreme example of complementarity and the alliance of tenderness and fidelity. It is there we have the model couple. All the biological past that prepared the sexes, all the human evolution that brought about the couple only come later: they are reflections of God's eternal project in creation and in history.
The words of Jesus cannot be jeopardized. They have been spoken in a practice of marriage universally accepted; they have the same value today in the widely spread practice of "non-marriage." Throughout the Bible love and fidelity are linked, and when the Gospel speaks of losing oneself as a condition of finding oneself, it applies as well for the couple.
What if one of the two betrays the other? Here we are in the domain of human decisions where each one must solve his or her own case and solve it according to the consciousness they already have of their christian vocation. Others must not condemn them, but Jesus takes all authority away from those who pretend to ease the conscience of divorcees as if they had not failed in some way in their christian vocation.

{N}10,{/}13: Jesus, despite having no children of his own, opens to everyone the richness of his heart. He marvels at the mystery of life that begins full of hope, and discovers the likeness of the Father in every unknown child. How could Jesus, who asks us to have hope, forget that the children are also our hope?
{C}Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child.{/} We must be like children in order to enter the kingdom of God. We must forget our wisdom and self-sufficiency, and the bitterness of past experience in order to receive God's gifts and words in wonder and simplicity.

{N}10,{/}17: He who comes to Jesus is a young man, according to Matthew (19:16). Luke calls him an important man (18:18).
With deliberation Jesus asks him:{C} Why do you call me good?{/} Do you not see that you are thirsty for God and that you will find him if you live with me? See commentary on Matthew 19:16.
This man asks Jesus the way that leads to {C}eternal life;{/} but Jesus does not have any new commandment to teach. In the Old Testament everything had already been said about what a person should do to win eternal life: by observing the commandments of justice and compassion. Now Jesus proposes to him a new way and a new experience of liberty, through becoming his follower and imitator.
{C}Sell all you have{/} (v. 21){C}. {/}Happiness does not consist in leaving all one has, but in being free of it all in order to submit oneself to Christ.

{N}10,{/}23: Jesus does not say that the rich person will not be saved, but that he will not {C}enter the kingdom of God,{/} which consists in sharing from then on the uncertainties, happiness and liberty of Christ. 
In the Old Testament, wealth was never condemned provided that it was shared. Moreover, it was considered as a sign that a person knew how to direct his life well and that God had blessed him. As long as a person does not know how to be free of urgent material problems and to master in some way the goods of this world, something is lacking in his human existence.
To those who already enjoy "being" and "having," however, Jesus proposes that they leave all and follow him as a condition for entering the Kingdom: this means experiencing already in this life the presence of God the Father.
Who are {C}the rich ones?{/} Those who have money or those who do not take the risk of sharing what they have? Here Jesus is not condemning some evil ones; he does not distinguish between good and bad rich. Jesus speaks of {C}the rich{/} in the common sense of this word {C}(those who have riches){/} and asserts that their situation prevents them from experiencing the kingdom of God from inside. In speaking thus, Jesus discredits those who would want to bless the rich provided they are "spiritually poor."
{C}It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle{/} (v. 25). People have imagined all kinds of other interpretations: the camel may only mean a filament of camel hair; or the eye of the needle might signify a fairly low door of Jerusalem (which in fact never existed...). the main purpose being to correct the categorical words of Jesus. They would like to make him say: it is difficult, very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, but not impossible. Let us leave aside all these interpretations: the apostles clearly understood the comparison, Jesus said: "Yes, it is impossible."
Immediately Jesus addresses both the rich and those who judge them; he reminds us of the infinite distance that separates the sinner from the holiness of God, but also of the infinite love of the Father that does the impossible for us. The question, "Who can be saved?" gives Jesus the opportunity to affirm once more that no one is saved by his own merits. God saves people, the rich included, by taking away the benefits and false security provided by their riches. We who await an answer from him, whether we are rich or not, are surely judging others or evaluating our life in terms of merits or demerits. Jesus reminds us that our salvation is the work of God and of him alone.

{N}10,{/}28: {C}Whoever has left house... {/}These words of Jesus that we find again in Mt 19:29 and Lk 18:29 have been given here a notable addition: {C}with persecution{/}. Once the Gospel had been preached the Church began to suffer persecution: From the Year 34, then again in 41 and 62 in Jerusalem, in 64 in Rome with the great persecution ordered by the emperor Nero. During these persecutions Christians experienced the bonds that united them, often stronger than family relationships. Hunted, obliged to hide, they found hundreds of brothers and sisters ready with houses to give them refuge. Jesus does not only speak of reward in the next life. Already in this world, in the midst of persecution, those who sacrifice themselves for the Kingdom will find friendship, joy and human fulfillment far greater than anything they could have hoped for.

{N}10,{/}35: Jesus feels full of courage and confidence, as he himself walks ahead of them to Jerusalem, where his punishment awaits him. Prompted by James' and John's request, he tries to convince his followers that success in his Kingdom does not consist in prestige and power, but in following the way of Jesus, their leader.
{C}LEADERS - TO SERVE {/}
What makes a leader? How should a leader be? How do leaders act, the head of a team, of a family? The heads of state smile at crowds and embrace a child who renders them homage, but who serves and who is to be served? Jesus has come to serve and his service to humanity will be his voluntary death: "He made himself obedient, took the condition of a slave and died on the cross" (Phil 2:8).
To {C}drink the cup{/} and to {C}be baptized {/}(v. 38) are figurative ways of describing the suffering and death of Jesus.
In relation to this topic, we cite a short poem of Lao-Tzu, an ancient wise Chinese: 
"What have the river and sea done
to be kings of the hundred valleys?
They put themselves below them
and that is why they reign in the hundred valleys.
If the saint wants to be at the top of his people,
first he has to learn how to talk with humility.
If he wants to lead his people,
he should be last.
That is how the saint is at the top of his people
and he doesn't make them suffer.
Willingly they place him at the top
and do not get tired of him.
Since he doesn't compete with anybody,
nobody can compete with him."

{N}10,{/}46: God is the one who moves us to ask something of him. The blind man understands that if he lets this opportunity go by, there will not be another chance, which is why he shouts all the more while the rest try to silence him.
{C}Son of David!{/} was a way of designating the Messiah.

{N}11,{/}1: See notes on Matthew 21:1.
{C}THE SAVIOR{/}
From Jericho to Jerusalem, Jesus "goes up" with the people who will celebrate the Feast. Many are from Galilee, the province of Jesus, and, on seeing him among the pilgrims, think he is about to proclaim himself as the Messiah.
Until then Jesus refused to be proclaimed, because many people expected from their Messiah a liberation very different from that which Jesus brought them. At this moment when he is finishing his mission, the time has come for Jesus to define himself publicly. He is the Anointed of God and there will be no other after him.
Jesus was sent by God to all people, but above all he came as Savior of the Jewish people. He came precisely when this people needed to be saved, because things were not working out well for them. The prophets had announced a conciliatory king who would visit the people on a donkey as peaceful people did, not on a horse as the generals of that time did. That was why Jesus wanted to enter Jerusalem this way. Jerusalem was a big city. Though the enthusiasm of the Galileans shook the city, it did not conquer it.
The Jews did not expect their Savior to be so meek. Throughout their history, God had saved them from oppression, hunger, and the irresponsibility of their famous leaders. This time he came in person, to show them the real path to salvation through pardon and non-violence, but they did not recognize him. The people of Galilee, who spontaneously mounted a triumphant entrance for Jesus and hoped for a political announcement from him, would later deny him.

{N}11,{/}12: See notes on Matthew 21:18. 

{N}11,{/}15:{C} THE TEMPLE{/}
The Temple of Jerusalem was, for the Jews, the only Temple of the only God. In each town they assembled in the synagogue to read the Bible and sing psalms, but only in the Temple did the priests sacrifice animals and celebrate true worship. A regular-sized building was at the center of the temple. Only the priests in charge of offering incense entered this building, while the multitude crowded together in the courtyards. In these courtyards stood vendors and exchange brokers who supplied animals and birds for the offerings.
While John stresses the prophetic character of the action of Jesus: "Destroy this Temple and in three days I will rebuild it" (Jn 2:19), Mark makes more of the purification of the Temple. In fact these sellers installed in the yards of the Temple, as well as many people who walked around, were scarcely interested in the prayer and cult of Israel. The priests were used to this and the High Priest Caiaphas made money by allowing vendors to stand in the very courtyards dedicated to prayer.
Jesus was not a priest or a Temple guard but this Temple was the house of his Father. That was why he made a whip from ropes and cast them all out.
{C}My house will be called a House of Prayer for all the nations{/} (v. 17){C}.{/} The courtyards where the vendors stood were precisely those intended for the foreigners. "Purify the temple" for Jesus is to give it back its true identity and also to allow the pagans to find in these courts a privileged place for meeting God.
See also John 2:14.

{N}11,{/}20:{C} THE POWER OF FAITH{/}
{C}If you have no doubt in your heart but believe.{/} See the same in James 1:6. Jesus refers in a more precise way to "the faith that performs miracles" (see 1 Cor 13:2). Jesus does not say that this faith will be given to everybody and at every moment. It is a charism or gift of God that he gives to whomever he wishes (1 Cor 12:9). It is an interior certainty that God wants to perform a miracle, so that one dares act and command in his name.
At the same time, this promise of Jesus applies to all our prayer. Of course we should not think that God will always work the miracles we ask of him. When a sick person tries to convince himself that he will be cured, it is possible that consequently he does get better more quickly, but this mental exercise or hope does not necessarily mean faith. If I convince myself that God will make me the winner of a lottery, he is under no obligation to think that my becoming richer will make me a better person.
Actually he who humbly loves God understands in the midst of his trials that God wants to lift him up. That is why he asks with faith, knowing that God wants to listen to him.
It is hard for us to ask big things, because if God refuses to give them to us, how will we still believe in him? Surely it is very fine to ask of God only "his grace," his inner strength, but many do so not because of their esteem for the interior life but because they fear they will see nothing coming as an answer to their prayer. Who dares to ask for rain or drought as Elijah did and as the poor still do, those whose prayers God hears?
{C}Whatever you ask in prayer {/}(v. 24){C}.{/} Jesus invites us to ask with faith and perseverance, until God assures us that our prayer has been heard or else helps us understand that what we asked for was not good for us, nor was it the will of God.

{N}11,{/}27: {C}THE OPPORTUNIST PRIESTS{/}
Jesus did not ask any authorization to teach in the Temple, or to drive out the vendors. He acted freely as prophets do. Since the priests were the ones in charge of maintaining the true faith, it was normal for them to check whether Jesus was a real prophet or not. But were they really concerned about truth? Were they ready to recognize that Jesus had come from God? Apparently they only thought to defend what was acceptable to them and, before even listening to Jesus, held him to be subversive.
That is why Jesus asked them about John the Baptist. Because John the Baptist's preaching had been the most important happening in the previous two years, the priests should have taken a stand with regard to John. They had not done so nor were they ready for that. How could they make demands of Jesus if they spoke out only when it suited them?
Jesus' attitude obliges religious leaders of all times to see if they deserve to have others respect their declarations and condemnations.

{N}12,{/}1: {C}THE CHOSEN ONES OF GOD{/}
In this comparison, {C}the vine{/} represents the kingdom of God. The Jews were God's people and they came to consider that their own interests were those of God. He had to help them against others. They had confidence that they would be saved and were not concerned about the fate of others who did not recognize God.
God entrusted his kingdom to them; in other words, he guided them throughout the long span of their history, so that they would be an example to others. They were to communicate their experience to others so that all would develop justice, a spirit of responsibility, a sense of community; these were {C}the fruits{/} God wanted to harvest.
God sent prophets to remind them of their debt: they were scarcely heard. Finally, the only-Son of God become human appears and the same thing will happen. He will be{C} cast out of the vineyard,{/} in other words, rejected by his own people. Which is why the kingdom of God will be {C}given to others,{/} to those believers converted from other nation s and gathered in the Church of Christ.
Here ends the parable. It could equally be applied to the Church today if it becomes a religion of one social class, or similar to the other religions, or if we do not find in the Church more obedience to God, more commitment to values that will save the world. What would happen to Christian groups and their leaders if they began to feel they were the owners of the Kingdom and its promises?

{N}12,{/}13: {C}POLITICS AND RELIGION  - CAESAR{/}
The trap is as follows: they ask about the tax that the Jews are obliged to pay to Caesar, emperor of Rome, for the Jews have been colonized by the Romans and are under their rule.
The Pharisees and partisans of Herod, who are political enemies, join together. The Pharisees oppose Roman domination; the partisans of Herod, on the other hand, accept it. If Jesus says they are to pay, the Pharisees will discredit him before the people. If he says no, the partisans of Herod will have him arrested by the Romans.
Jesus does not condemn Roman imperialism, nor does he justify it. Is it because the problems of justice and peace are not "spiritual things" and do not concern him?
These problems, of course, are important and biblical history reveals that God wants liberty for every person and for nations the possibility to develop culture and national life: that is enough to justify the political commitment of Christians.
But Jesus also knows that people's true liberation goes beyond partisan quarrels and rivalries. In his time the Jewish people were torn apart and divided into irreconcilable factions; these were to be one of the causes of the national disaster during the great revolt of A.D. 66-71. Jesus will invite his adversaries to give political life its true place and not to confuse faith and religious fanaticism. 
For the Pharisees, to pay taxes to Caesar, a foreign ruler and pagan, was like denying God, the true Lord of Israel. They identified the Jewish National Party with the cause of God. This carried grave consequences, since they thought that to serve God they must crush those of the opposition party. Since faith asks of us total obedience, people who confuse political militancy with faith begin to justify, little by little, everything their party does, even its lies and crimes.
The Caesar of Rome was not God, although he pretended to be. He had imposed his authority on them and the use of Roman coins, but could not demand the obedience of conscience that was due only to God. Neither was he "the enemy of God," as the Pharisees thought, and to serve the kingdom of God it was not necessary to refuse him taxes and civil obedience.
{C}What is Caesar's {/}can be underestood: "what belongs to Caesar." Rather it means: "the kind of things which fall under his rule." With his answer "to Caesar what belongs to him, to God..." Jesus separates religion and politics in cultures - Jewish and Roman alike - where politics always looked for religious justification. From now on, religion should not be manipulated for political purposes, nor should religion confuse its political opponents with the enemies of the Kingdom.

{N}12,{/}18: Mark's intention has been to put side by side the confrontations of Jesus with the two most important parties of the Jewish people: the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Sadducees - the chief priests - are the managers of God's people. They do not believe in the spiritual nor in the resurrection. According to them these are disastrous innovations that weaken the national spirit and the power of the central system. Their Bible is limited to the Pentateuch where much is said of priests and nothing at all about resurrection. 
{C}THE RESURRECTION{/}
What is "resurrection"? When Jesus called the daughter of Jairus (Mk 5:21) and Lazarus (Jn 11:1) back to life, they only recovered the life they had before. The daughter went back to her dreams, Lazarus went to work in his garden and after this both had to die again. This was not really resurrection.
Many people think that there is "something" after death and that something in us, called "soul," survives. This belief is partly true but it is not the most important aspect. The resurrection points, not to a survival of "something of us," but to a transformation and raising up of our whole person. This will be through grace and the work of God: we will be reborn of God himself.
We would like to know what we shall be once risen, but that is impossible. If we think back on what Paul tried to make us understand on this subject in 1 Cor 15:35-57, this we must admit: as long as we are in the present world, a world where material things and time are our natural lot, it is impossible to imagine "the new heavens and the new earth" announced by the prophets and by Jesus (Is 65:17; Rev 21:1-4).
Let us come back to Paul's comparisons: if someone has never seen more than the seeds of plants or trees, how could she imagine the plant covered with flowers or the tree fully grown? What common feature is there in appearance between the colorless, lifeless little seed and the plant with its flowers swaying in the wind? Whoever looks at the tree or plant knows well the source of this life which she admires. It is today impossible for us to imagine what we shall become, in the totality of our human being, after this transfiguration to which God calls us. When it has taken place we shall understand the vital link between what we shall be then and what we are today. 
With this, we understand the double reproach of Jesus to the Sadducees:
{C}You don't understand the power of God. {/}They only imagine a caricature of the resurrection.
{C}You don't understand the Scriptures.{/} Very few books of the Hebrew Bible speak of the resurrection, but all of them refer to a living God who makes us his friends.
{C}I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob{/} (v. 26){C}.{/} If God committed himself to them, could he be indifferent to their death and let them disappear forever, while he enjoys himself in his glory?

{N}12,{/}28: {C}TO LOVE GOD{/}
{C}You shall love the Lord, your God.{/} This first commandment is not among the Ten Commandments of Moses, which only speak of "serving God." We do read it in Deuteronomy 6:4.
To love God is not a commandment like others, because the commandments show specific actions that should be undertaken or avoided, i.e., you shall rest on the day of the Lord, or you shall not commit adultery. On the other hand, when it comes to loving God there is no limit.
The commandments of the Bible (especially the Ten Commandments of Moses) merely express in a clear manner the demands of our conscience. It should not be necessary to tell us not to steal, and not to slander others. Nevertheless, it is necessary to teach this to children and to unscrupulous persons. Paul says, "The Law was not intended for the good, but for those who do evil" (1 Tim 1:9).
It is the reason why the love of God is not presented in the New Testament as a commandment, but as the fruit of the Spirit that God gives to his sons and daughters: Rom 8, 15 and 22. God is the first to be loved (Mt 6:9-10; Is 4:17) most specially in the person of his Son: 2 Cor 5:16; 1 P 1:8. There is no authentic love of neighbor without the love of God: 1 J 5:2.
{C}You shall love the Lord, with all your heart.{/} You shall love him more than you love your loved ones. You shall long for him, you shall forget yourself so that, in everything, you search for what he wants most from you.
{C}You shall love the Lord,all your mind. {/}You shall devote the best of your intelligence to knowing him. Looking into your own life, you shall understand how much he has guided you. You shall try to understand how the kingdom of God is coming through world and daily events. Praying and reading the Bible regularly, you shall ask God to give you his own Spirit so that you may understand him better.
{C}You shall love the Lord, with all your strength. {/}Since you are very weak in this, you shall ask for his help and strive to unite with the true servants of God, using the means that the Church makes available to you.
The commandment to love your neighbor as you love yourself comes second, because it cannot be understood or fulfilled without love of God. For God asks for more than solidarity with one's neighbor, or concern for those who are suffering. We should make an effort to look at our brothers and sisters in the same way that the Father does. We should give them what the Father wants for them. Among so many good things we could do for our neighbor, we should select those which the Holy Spirit inspires us to do. All this requires that we first know and love God.

{N}12,{/}38: The teachers of the Law were not bad persons. They became teachers of religion because they were interested in religion, but as soon as the teacher stops trying to be a saint, he is only a weak person. The very respect that people show teachers leads them to overlook in themselves many wrongs that in anybody else would be severely censured.

{N}12,{/}41: The poor widow was the only one from among so many worshipers who made retribution to God as he deserves. She was the personification of those uncountable poor, who have practically nothing but somehow find a way to give part of the little they have. The humble person is capable of sacrificing part of his paid time to study or participate in common activities in order to help his companions. The small salary he loses is worth much more than the big salary that wealthy people are not willing to lose. God calls on the poor before anybody else, because only the poor give all that they have to live on.

{N}13,{/}1: {C}THE END OF THE WORLD{/}
The prophets of the Bible spoke in a rather obscure way about the end of the history that would initiate God's universal kingdom. According to them, all nations of the world would join forces to destroy the Holy City of Jerusalem, but right at the moment of greatest despair God would intervene in a triumphant way to establish his own Kingdom (Is 66:18; Ezk 38; Jl 4; Zec 14).
That is why, when Jesus speaks of the destruction of the Temple, the apostles think of the end of time. The answer of Jesus is clear; the tragedy that will end with the destruction of Jerusalem is near but that would not be the end of the world.
This discourse contains Jesus' warnings about the destruction of the Jewish nation that would occur 30 years later, but what he said regarding these agents clarifies the meaning of the conflicts that occur at present in the whole world.
{C}When you hear of war{/} (v. 7). This does not mean that God leaves the world in the hands of evil. It is more a delivery than a failure, because humanity is maturing and the nations encounter more complex problems in their life and development. The crisis suffered by the Jewish nation in the time of Jesus was similar to that experienced by other civilizations: something dies and something is born. 
People, confused, are easily fooled by propaganda and ideologies. Fear makes them blind and they persecute those who do not share their fanaticism. That is why they hate the true believers. At the same time, Jesus asks his followers to {C}bear witness{/} to him (v. 9) as the only Savior and to proclaim what the Gospel demands of the individual and of society.
Thirty years after Jesus' death, the Jews rebelled against their Roman oppressors. The Roman army reorganized after its first defeats and, its flags adorned with the image of their idols, approached the Holy City. Then many messiahs (v. 22) appeared, that is, those who claimed to be the saviors of the Jewish nation, and they had many followers.
The more fanatic Jews locked themselves in the city of Jerusalem waiting for God's intervention, but they were so divided that they fought among themselves. Those who fled from the city because of hunger were arrested by the Romans and crucified in front of the walls. In the end, when the Romans entered, burning the Temple and the palaces, all those that were not killed - men, women and children - were brought to Rome as slaves.

{N}13,{/}24: {C}Later on... {/}(v. 24){C}. {/}After announcing the end of the Jewish world, Jesus speaks of an even more important event: the end of the world or, better still, its transformation.
{C}The sun will grow dark, the moon will not give its light {/}(v. 24). These are images taken from Isaiah 13:10 and 34:4 that express the confusion, the surprise and the disintegration of the people and the universe before the majesty of the Supreme Judge.
{C}He will send the angels.{/} This is also a common image in Jewish books that spoke of God's judgment. Likewise, {C}the trumpet {/}referred to in Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 should not be understood literally.
{C}Learn a lesson.{/} Jesus comes back to the destruction of Jerusalem.

{N}13,{/}32: In this paragraph, we return to the end of the world. The {C}Day{/} mentioned is the day of the Judgment, called the "Day of Yahweh" in the Prophets (Amos 5:18; Zep 1:15).
{C}No one knows when... {/}Jesus states it clearly. Nevertheless, there have always been people who believe they know what {C}the angels {/}do not. People in every century have foretold the impending end of the world (2 Thes 2).
{C}Not even the angels or the Son, only the Father.{/} Some are confused by this. Does this not mean that Jesus is not God as the Father is? They must remember that when Jesus speaks of the Father and the Son, he speaks of himself with his human consciousness in relation to the Father. God's infinite knowledge cannot be encompassed by the human mind of Jesus. See notes on Luke 3:21 and Mark 6:1. 
God the Father can communicate to Jesus certain prophecies but he cannot tell him, for example: "the end of the world will take place on the 12th of July of the year 1977" because the date is not fixed; it depends on how we make the kingdom of God mature through our efforts and prayers (2 P 3:14). 
Modern science shows that time does not pass at the same speed for two persons if one is moving and the other is still; much less equal is the pace of time between God and us. God knows the time as it can be known in eternity, but this does not mean that it corresponds with a certain date in our calendar.

{N}13,{/}33: This is like a summary of the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30) and that of the ten young women (Mt 25:1-13). It warns us that we should wait for the Lord who is at work. The doorman symbolizes those who have positions of responsibility in the Church, who are not the owners of the Church but only hold the keys of the Church.
{C}HOW CHRIST COMES; CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT{/}
In several parts of the Gospel, Jesus invites us to be vigilant while waiting for his arrival. How will he come? How can he come to us if we are meant to die before his coming in glory?
It is true that we will meet the Lord when we die. Nevertheless, Jesus comes to us in several ways while we await him, doing our work and living our lives.
{C}Our work{/} (v. 34). One aspect of our commitment to Christ is our commitment to the Christian community, to our Church. This means our participation in common prayer, in the eucharist, in catechesis and other similar events. As we participate in these commitments there is not only one but several "comings" of Christ. We see his coming in those of our brothers and sisters who are converted; he comes to us giving us strength and wisdom; he comes to us through prayer, giving us the inner certainty of his presence.
He also comes in our day-to-day living. The prophets have said time and again that the events that bring renewal and growth in values also bring the Lord. At times, he comes in his resurrection, through happy events that bring life and joy, and more justice and hope for the poor. At other times, he comes through his passion and death.
Precisely because Jesus comes in our daily history, we have a commitment to him to serve our contemporary world.
{C}Be alert{/}, for many begin with generosity, but afterwards they lose sight of the goal and turn out to be mere administrators and activists. 
They are committed to works and movements but not to the Lord himself. That is why their life is full of contradictions. For a time they perform marvels and suddenly they fail. They do useful things, but are not aware of the moment they should stop them and follow another path. They do their own work, but do not let the Lord take over their mind, their heart, their whole life.
This does not happen to those who are {C}alert:{/} through them Christ comes to people.   

{N}14,{/}1: {C}EASTER, THE PASSOVER{/}
The Jews were going to celebrate the 1480th anniversary of their departure from Egypt. Easter, that is the Passover of the Lord, was the feast of national independence and was the most important holiday of the religious calendar.
For the preceding 40 years, however, they had lost their independence. That is why the Passover would revive in them their desire for freedom and often cause disturbances. From all parts of Palestine the Jews went up to Jerusalem in pilgrimage, because the Passover lamb would be sacrificed in the Temple and eaten in Jerusalem.
Each family was to eat the roasted lamb with lettuce and unleavened bread, alternating the singing of psalms with the blessing of several cups according to an old and very precise ritual. The head of the family would recall the departure from Egypt and, on recalling the past, everyone would ask the Lord to free his humiliated people.
The vast majority, both common people and authorities, were incapable of taking a new look at the future. The salvation of Israel, the people of God, did not consist in first breaking their political chains, but in discovering the secret of universal fellowship which transcends all races and parties. 
The Gospel was the ferment capable of liberating humanity, making good triumph over evil. Salvation was in the person of Jesus but they could not see it. Moreover, they distrusted him because his doctrine seemed too idealistic to them, and Judas was one of those who regretted having followed such a useless leader.
Jesus had done very little in the span of two years that followed his baptism by John, but it was enough to raise fears among the authorities. No society can bear the presence of a person, free and without sin. If Jesus had not died young, the society of his time would have collapsed.

{N}14,{/}3: See John 12:1 and the notes on Luke 7:36.
A few days before the Passover, while Jesus was at dinner in Bethany (Jn 12:1), Mary publicly demonstrated her tender and passionate love for him. Others present also loved Jesus, although they were unable to express it. Still others, prompted by Judas' remark, were scandalized that Mary should show more concern for Jesus than for the poor.
{C}What she has done for me is a very charitable work{/} (v. 6){C}. {/}The Jews numbered burying the dead among the "charitable works." Jesus sees in the gesture of Mary a sign, an announcement of his imminent death. Nothing should be lost of Jesus' numbered hours among us. It was far more important to pay attention to and accompany him in these last moments than to be performing charitable deeds for the poor (something similar in Mark 2:19-20 regarding those who are prisoners to their structured fasts and prayers).
{C}You always have them with you{/} (v. 7){C}. {/}It would be inexact to translate this with: "There will always be poor," even if that is a reality, and still more inexact to conclude that for Jesus we are wasting our time striving for a more just society. He merely states that assisting the poor is not always what is most urgent.
{C}Then Judas Iscariot{/} (v. 10){C}. {/}The Gospel highlights the contrast between the gestures of Mary and Judas. Mary's true love leads her to behave in a way that appears stupid to the apostles, while Judas criticizes Mary's good deed for the sake of thrift.

{N}14,{/}12: {C}THE NEW COVENANT{/}
During the Passover supper Jesus wanted to clarify the meaning of his imminent Passion. He was headed toward a death which he freely ac-cepted, a death that would save the world. What would "his" salvation be? It would bring human history to its fulfillment: peoples and races needed to mature, to confront one another and finally to be united in one body. The world would pass through a thousand crises and deaths in order to come to the resurrection. Within such a history God could spread and distribute the riches of his Spirit and bring to holiness his elect. Jesus had presented a message that should guide humanity, but a people of God was also needed, a yeast, a minority who would feel committed to God's work, and to whom God would commit himself.
Twelve centuries before Jesus' birth, God made a covenant with the people of Israel on Mount Sinai: they and their children would be, among all races, the chosen people of God. As time passed and the infidelities of God's people became more evident, the prophets understood that something more was needed: a covenant whose prime effect would be the forgiveness of sins (Jer 31:31). The family of God could no longer be identified with a certain race, but would be a family of believers pardoned of their sins: that is the Church.
On the eve of his death, Jesus remembered the first covenant on Sinai, when the blood of sacrificial animals was spilled (Ex 24:8). He would soon spill his blood {C}for many,{/} that is, for a multitude (Is 53:11). These {C}many{/} were first the "remnant" of Israel, these are those who would recognize the Savior and believes in him, entering the Church, and with them all those who would be integrated coming from other nations. So Jesus purifies through his death those who will be his own people in the world.
Whenever we celebrate the eucharist (or Mass), we renew this covenant. Jesus is among us as we remember his sacrifice. He becomes our spiritual bread and consecrates us to his Father so that we may participate more and more in his work of salvation.
Jesus' last supper was the first Christian liturgy. Unlike the solemn Temple ceremonies, the liturgical service of primary importance in the life of the Church would be a communal meal in which Jesus offers himself as the bread of life.
{C}I will not taste the fruit of the vine again{/} (v. 25){C}. {/}The eucharist not only reenacts Jesus' death but also announces the day when Christ, with all humanity reunited in him, would celebrate at the Banquet in the Kingdom.
To understand the meaning of the Lord's supper, it is necessary to read Jesus' farewell speeches to his apostles, which John situates on this very night of Holy Thursday (Jn 14-17). Jesus came not only to preach but to spread his Spirit among his believers. In the future he would be present and empower them in a special way whenever they would gather to celebrate the Holy Supper. John explains this in John 6 and Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:17.
See notes on Matthew 26:26.

{N}14,{/}32: {C}THE SILENCE OF GOD{/}
Jesus is alone as he confronts death to overcome it, carrying on his shoulders the destiny of all humanity. He sees the wickedness of people who will ill-treat him or let him be ill-treated. He also sees behind it all the power of Darkness.
At this moment Jesus is the man of sorrows, aware of all afflictions, made one with sin. He is burdened by all the wickedness on earth. For this his death will be the price, the atonement. Face to face in prayer with his beloved and just Father, Jesus experiences anguish as great as death itself.
Jesus continually repeats one phrase which expresses the perfect prayer: "Father, your will be done." There are moments and places in which the persecuted church is in agony and cannot do anything other than pray that the will of God be done. During these times her prayer is more effective than ever.
How mysterious is the {C}agony{/} of the Son of God (agony means struggle): he who will give countless martyrs the inner strength to face their tortures fearlessly, allows himself to experience the very extreme of human weakness. This is for us. Even filled with fear or a sense of weakness, we shall not doubt: he will make us firm.
Let us look at Jesus our Savior, who had no faults or need to be purified. Yet he came to know humiliations, sufferings and even the silence of God to reach the maturity he still lacked in order to become a human being, the head of humanity (Heb 2:10). 

{N}14,{/}43: {C}JUDAS{/}
Judas was one of the Twelve. After a night of prayer (Lk 6:12), how could Jesus have chosen the one who would betray him? When Judas followed Jesus, he waited, like the rest of the apostles, for a liberator in the ordinary sense. The others, as they came to know Jesus better, gradually changed their ambitions, but Judas did not. Judas betrayed Jesus to take revenge against a Master who had disappointed him. Though Judas was among Jesus' closest group, he could not return the Master's affection for him and finally returned hatred for love, falling into an abyss of evil.
Perhaps the other apostles contributed as well to Judas' failure. Judas, like Levi-Matthew, joined a team in which the majority were fishermen from Galilee. Had they tried hard enough to integrate him into their group?

{N}14,{/}53: {C}THE TRIAL OF JESUS{/}
Jesus appeared before two courts. First before the Sanhedrin, or the Supreme Council of the Jews, where he was accused of blasphemy. Later he was brought before the Roman governor Pilate and accused of being a political agitator.
The reason for this double process was that the Jews, under Roman rule, had lost the power to issue the death sentence. So, after judging Jesus according to their law, that is, the laws of the Bible, they asked Pontius Pilate to implement the death penalty. To impress and convince Pilate, they submitted new charges. 
It is very difficult to say whether Jesus' trial was dealt with in a legal way or not. It was similar to many other trials, in which the authorities can twist the law and condemn their opponents without resorting to obvious fraud.

{N}14,{/}60: {C}THE SENTENCE OF JESUS{/}
The priests could not sentence Jesus to death for minor violations of the Law. That is why they had to find something more important that occupies the central place in the Gospel: {C}Are you the Son of God?{/}
Jesus answered by combining two Biblical texts which reflect the divine personality of the Savior. {C}Son of Man (the Human One){/} who comes from God himself (Dn 7:13), {C}who is seated at the right hand of God {/}as an equal (Ps 110). With this assertion, Jesus clearly affirmed that he is not only a son of God like a saint or an envoy of God, but the Only One who shares the divinity of the Father.
The priests were not mistaken in their understanding of what Jesus claimed to be as Son of God. They condemned him, not just because he used a dangerous word, but because in all his way of acting Jesus put himself in a place fitting only to God. They could soothe their conscience, for they were upholding the honor due to the Only One. 
So they forgot that actually they hated him, because he had denounced their hypocrisy, their lack of faith and their love of money. Jesus felt free about religious rules they defended and had caused them to fall from their pedestals. God had come in the person of Jesus to demand from them {C}the fruits of the vineyard{/} (Mk 12:2) calling them to account, and they opposed him.
Jesus was condemned in the name of God. He did not rebel against the unjust sentence imposed by the religious leaders of his people who were the legal, though unworthy, representatives of God. This was his perfect obedience to the Father.

{N}14,{/}66: The apostles did not lack character or courage; if so, Jesus would not have chosen them. Peter was sincere when he said: "Although all abandon you, I will not." They were ready to die for Jesus, as people are in the enthusiasm of a battle, but what happened was quite different. When Jesus was arrested, the apostles became confused because he did not use his divine power and showed no resistance to his enemies. It would be wrong to say that the apostles were cowards until they received the Holy Spirit.
It was an understandable reaction for them to flee from the scene of Jesus' arrest. Their fleeing, however, shook to the foundations all the faith they had after living day by day with Jesus for the past two years. It was more than fear which caused Peter to deny Jesus; in fact, he did not yet know who Jesus really was.
The denial of Peter is a real and serious fall, although God forgives the sin the instant Peter's gaze meets Jesus and Peter repents (Lk 22:61). This failure however, will compel him, to the end of his life, not to rely on himself alone. Peter, Rock and  responsible for the Universal Church, would remain ever conscious of his personal weakness and never find peace until he followed Jesus by giving up his life for him (Jn 21:19).

{N}14,{/}6: The crowd assembled before Pilate abandoned Jesus and chose Barabbas. Why? Because Jesus proposed a path to liberation that requires time, responsibility and sacrifice, while the political agitator Barabbas used irresponsible violence, which attracts the mediocre and satisfies their own hidden violence. Here the Gospel does not want to accuse the whole Jewish people for the death of Jesus. It testifies that most of them, and not only the leaders, had already rejected Jesus' message as they would later reject the preaching of the apostles (Rom 10:19). The purpose of Mark was to underline Jesus' strength; this would fully appear when those he came to save disowned him.
The Gospel sees a logical link between this rejection and the past history of Israel which in several instances refused to enter the path God offered them. Now God sent his Son as a prophet and savior, and the community handed him over to the pagans. From now on its history would be branded with this tragedy (Mt 23:28; Lc 21:24). Jesus would be in Israel an unpleasant remembrance, because everyone knows that with him all has been torn (Mk 15:38). God, who saves Israel and guides its history, will plant in it the cross.
From the very first days of the Church the Spirit will teach the apostles that that rejection so scandalous for the Christian of Jewish origin is part of God's plan (Acts 4:18; Rom 11:25-32). Was it possible for God to come to us without us rejecting him (Jn 1:5)? This sentencing to death of the manifested-God was part of his paradoxical wisdom that we hardly accept (1 Cor 1:17-24). God's people, be they Jewish or Christian, are as blind as the others when facing tragedy (Is 42:19; Mk 8:17).

{N}14,{/}15: Jesus was subjected to torture and mockery and everything that befalls the condemned anywhere in the world, when police and military no longer consider them as persons and brothers and sisters. To comply with Roman law Jesus was scourged, but this was not done out of cruelty; the loss of blood and exhaustion caused by such a scourging would hasten the death of the crucified man, thus shortening his agony.
A convicted man with his arms nailed to the cross would suffocate. To make breathing possible, he would shift his weight from his feet to his arms, thus increasing the unbearable pain caused by the nails in the feet and the wrists. As soon as he no longer had enough strength to do this, he would suffocate and die. The bitter wine offered was a drink commonly used by Roman soldiers. Although myrrh lessens pain, Jesus rejected what would have reduced his pain.

{N}14,{/}33: {C}RECONCILIATION
Eloi, Eloi lamma sabachthani?{/} These are the opening words of Psalm 22 that begins with a cry of anguish and ends with certainty of victory. This psalm makes constant reference to the passion of Jesus.
Jesus' shout at the moment of death presents a mystery, for a crucified man ordinarily would die from exhaustion and suffocation and be unable to cry out in this manner. No one could take life away from Jesus; it was in his own power, and he surrendered his life when he chose to do so. Those near him were taken aback: was it a shout of defeat or of victory?
The death of a person is sometimes cause for division in a family. At other times a death leads to reconciliation. The cross Jesus died on was made of two wooden beams, a vertical one pointed towards the skies, and the other horizontal: stretched out between heaven and earth, Jesus reconciles all people with God and with each other.
Those who see in Jesus' death God's greatest manifestation of love for humanity become reconciled with God. They are no longer controlled by their fear of God and come to understand that we are not subject to blind fate, but are always in God's loving care (Rom 5). 
{C}The curtain which enclosed the Temple sanctuary was torn in two. {/}God no longer remains in that place where no mortal could enter. God left the awe-inspiring temple shrine and is now present to all of us through his wounded Son - wounded, not only by sin, but also by the compassion he feels for us.
Reconciliation among persons and nations. Before Jesus entered our world, God had not begun to lift the barriers that divided people but limited himself to relating with just one people, the Jewish people. From the time of Jesus' birth, all were called to enter the Kingdom (Eph 2:11-16). Previously each people had their own religious rites and beliefs. Now, the knowledge of Jesus crucified would be the basis of faith and unity. Knowing and believing in him, persons and nations would become reconciled, despite the differences dividing them.
{C}Truly this man was the Son of God{/} (v. 39){C}. {/}Assuredly, the Roman captain proclaimed that Jesus was {C}a just man{/} (Lk 23:47), that is, an outstanding man. Mark intentionally places on the lips of the captain the words "Son of God," because this pagan officer represents the pagan nations who would recognize the Son of God in this crucified man.
On several occasions Jesus insisted that he not be proclaimed Son of God (Mk 1:44). He did this because no one can know who God is or what being Son of God means (Mt 11:27), until he has known how Jesus died and come to believe in his resurrection. See Romans 3:24.

{N}14,{/}42: Joseph of Arimathea hastened to claim and bury the body of Jesus, because the Jewish law demanded burial before nightfall of the bodies of convicted people (Dt 21:22), and even more so on a day which preceded an important feast. The tomb selected had been cut from rock on a hillside. The entrance was very low and sealed with a big round stone, similar to that used in a mill. See commentary on John 19:41.
Like the seed that is buried in the soil, the body of Jesus was buried so that new life could flourish (Rom 6:3-5). See commentary on Matthew 27:52.

{N}16,{/}1: {C}JESUS HAS BEEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD{/}
Jesus' history comes to an end with the discovery of the empty tomb. In the last pages of the Gospel we find a brief account of the most important apparitions of Jesus after his death. He is no longer the earthly Jesus but the resurrected one, born again of the Father and never to die again, as Psalm 2 says: "You are my son and on this very day I have given you life."
Jesus has risen. The Gospel narrates events that took place after his death and mentions the names of those who saw the resurrected Jesus. Can we believe them? We would like more details to support our faith, but if even thousands of interviews with eyewitnesses were published, with pictures in full color to support the statements, there would always be room for doubt. We do not see him, we cannot find him. Where is he?
Actually it is not important whether there are few or many witnesses. This is a matter of faith and faith is something personal.
We doubt, not because there is not enough evidence, but because the event overwhelms us. How can we believe in a resurrection? The evidence, nevertheless, is there and has withstood recurring criticisms and even modern studies.
Finally, who will believe? Those whose own experience has prepared them to accept the most fundamental truth: the living God loves people and restores them to life. Some persons are predisposed to believe because they have experienced that God himself walks with them in their trials and gives them hope when everything seems lost. Because of this, they recognize in Christ the ideal human being and understand that he had to suffer before reaching his glory. They have learned the ways of God and that is why they believe the witnesses of the resurrected Christ.
It is not more difficult to believe in Christ's resurrection than to believe in his words, for both go together. "Those who believe have overcome the world{C},"{/} John the apostle says (1 Jn 5:5). This means overcoming the false meaning that most people give to their existence due to their ignorance of God. Whoever believes has overcome the fears each of us has when we have to pass through uncharted paths, when we have to set reason aside and entrust ourselves to God's hands.

{N}15,{/}9: In verse 8 there is an abrupt ending to Mark's Gospel. We were looking forward to  the meeting between Jesus and the apostles in Galilee, but it does not take place. Why? We do not know. We find only a series of brief references to Jesus' appearances after his resurrection.

{N}15,{/}15: {C}Proclaim the Good News to all creation. {/}The Good News is the seed that will be planted in the world and will flourish, in its proper time, in every field of human endeavor. Salvation is not a matter of saving isolated souls or individual beings. The Gospel is to be proclaimed to all creation in all activities and acts of those who have been renewed by baptism. They are to be the yeast that transforms human history.
{C}THE NAME OF JESUS{/}
On the day of his resurrection, Jesus' human nature begins to participate fully in divine Glory (Rom 1:1). Jesus now asks us to believe in his {C}Name, {/}that is, in the divine power he has just received and that works through him.
{C}The Name{/} is a word that has little or no meaning for us. For the Jews it meant the active presence of God. This term allowed them to speak of God's mysterious presence in the world without disregarding his greatness. The Bible does not say that God walked with the Hebrews toward the promised land (for God does not walk); instead it says that his Name or his Face (Ex 33:14) was among them. God's presence could not be confined within his temple, but the Bible says that his Name dwelt in this temple, from whence he blessed all the activities of his people (1 K 8:27).
The Name, thus, means divine presence or power. Paul says that the resurrected Jesus has received this Name that outshines any other (Phil 2:9). God the Father has given it to him and Jesus, who has received it, is not less than him, since whatever belongs to his Father is now his as well. Jesus does not receive glory as one receives a title or an honor (as already proclaimed in Is 9:5), for divine glory can be granted only to God. If he receives a divine title, it is because he actually received divinity from the Father in the beginning - divinity is his very being.
Thus, Jesus is as much God as the Father, but he is so in a different way, by receiving everything from God who possesses all. That is why it is written that {C}his Name is the Son{/} (Heb 1:4). When we speak to the Father {C}in the Name of Jesus,{/} this means much more than bolstering ourselves with his merits (Heb 5:9) or making use of his valuable intercession (Heb 7:25). We present ourselves as sons and daughters, knowing that God embraces us with the same paternal love he has for his own Beloved One (Eph 1:6).
From then on our Lord Jesus Christ, with divine power, begins little by little to direct human history and the personal path of each one of us to himself. The apostles were sent into the world to heal and sanctify it. The miracles and healings are not ends in themselves; they are only signs and means. The goal of evangelization is that all creation may be gathered around the person of the Son-of-God-become-human, through the power of his Spirit. "Do not fear," the Lord says, "my Church is not a shelter against the world, its temptations and problems; rather each of you is baptized to be an apostle."
{C}Signs like these will accompany those who have believed.{/} The Acts of the Apostles reports these signs and miracles. Even today they can be seen wherever Christians fulfill their mission of evangelizing the world.

