The Bread King

Seeing how Jesus is presented in the gospel of Mark

04/25/2023

Mk 16:15-20 Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

If you are looking for the ideal book of the Bible to do a beginner’s Bible study, I highly recommend the Gospel of St. Mark. Why? Well, because of the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – Mark is the shortest, with only 16 chapters. So, you can get through it fast and feel you have achieved something special. Or, as we say here in the South, “Git ‘er done!”

As a writer Mark the Evangelist believes strongly in the K.I.S.S. rule of grammar. KISS stands for “keep it simple, stupid.” In other words, write in an uncomplicated and straight-forward way so that all readers, even the most simple and uneducated, will understand who Jesus is and come to faith in him. In a sense, Mark is “everyman’s gospel”, and that is why it will be a good gospel to start a Scripture study with.

I did a Bible study on Mark’s gospel called “Mark the Way.” I actually produced ten videos on the gospel providing historical and cultural background so the gospel of Mark makes more sense. Often 21st century Catholics are clueless about 1st century Jewish culture. It is called “Mark the Way” because there is a distinctive section, from Mk 8:22 to 10:52 called “the Way Section”.

That is, prior to Mark 8:22, Jesus is located in northern Israel, an area called Galilee. But after the Way Section (after Mk 10:52), Jesus has traveled to southern Israel, to Jerusalem, where he will suffer and die. In other words, the Way section describes Jesus’ way as the Messiah, who has come not only to heal and teach (in Galilee), but also, and primarily, to suffer and die for us (in Jerusalem).

But the phrase “the Way” also has an application for us as Jesus’ disciples. In fact, before the disciples were called “Christians” for the very first time in Acts 11:26, the followers of Jesus were referred to as those who adhered to the Way. You might recall this phrase when St. Paul, while still Saul the Pharisee, was persecuting Christians. We read in Act 9:1-2, “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

In other words, the Way signifies the path that Jesus took in his earthly journey as Messiah. But the Way also suggests the path we should take in our journey as disciples, which frequently means being persecuted and suffering. That is why the Bible study on the second gospel is called “Mark the Way” – we mark Jesus’ way, and we mark our own way as his followers. Catchy, huh?

Even though Mark’s gospel is short and sweet, with only sixteen chapters, there is so much that can be said about it. Why is that? Well, because the primary Author of the Bible is the Holy Spirit. So, we will never fully exhaust the riches of truth and love we find in those splendid pages. You could spend you whole life studying nothing but the sixteen chapters of Mark, and it would have been a life well lived and not wasted.

Let me mention just one more distinctive feature of Mark’s gospel, on this feast of St. Mark. Readers of Mark quickly notice something called “the Marcan secret.” Have you ever heard of that? Invariably, when evil spirits are exorcized or miraculous healings happen, people declare Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, or as the Son of God. But Jesus immediately says, “SHHHH! Be quiet!”  Why?

Well, because people’s expectations then – and our expectations today – are primarily about what Jesus can do for us here on earth: heal my sickness, give me food to eat, raise the dead to earthly life. And even though Jesus did these things, that is not the main reason he came. He came to suffer and die and open the doors of paradise to us.

In other words, Jesus came to give us eternal life, not just endless earthly life. But people did not catch that that, and we do not catch that today. People wanted to carry him off and make him a “Bread King.” And so Jesus has to say, “No, no, no! That is not who I am, and that is not why I came.” So, he tried to keep his identity a secret until he completed his mission on the Cross, so people might have true faith in him as the “Bread King.”

Maybe that is why Holy Communion is such a small piece of Bread. That little wafer will not keep us alive for very long here on earth, if that is all we ever eat. But it will be more than enough to keep us alive for all eternity in heaven.

Praised be Jesus Christ!