Today, on the feast day of St Mark, we hear from the end of Mark’s Gospel. Was Mark a member of Jesus’ group of close disciples who followed him in travels around ancient Israel? We are not entirely sure, but it seems that Mark accompanied Barnabas and Paul on their travels, that he founded the church in the great ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt where he died. We also know that Mark is the Evangelist who wrote the earliest Gospel, probably around the year 70 AD. The Gospel of Mark was probably used as a source for the writers of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Mark’s Gospel has definitely had a very strong influence on how Christianity developed. Mark’s Gospel does not have a lot of details of Jesus’ appearances to his disciples after his resurrection. At the empty tomb, an angel tells Mary Magdalene and the two other women: “Go and tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.’” Jesus goes before us as well. Like the message that Peter and the disciples received, we also are called to meet Jesus on our journey. We are called to take up our crosses, to go into the world and to preach the Gospel.
As we reflect upon St Mark today on his feast day, perhaps Mark’s Gospel and his example of faith will give us courage and inspiration on our journey. We know that this pandemic has been a very difficult time for all of us as individuals, as families, and as a society. However, with regards to our faith, perhaps the current circumstance that we are facing are forcing us to think out of the box, to think of new and creative ways to live out our faith and to reach out to others in the faith. Mark and the original group of disciples faced a lot of uncertainty and fears as well. We have nothing to fear. But we do have the responsibility to preach the gospel.
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