Did you notice how that started? It
said,
The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
That doesn't seem like much-- like it's
just an introduction or something akin to "Once upon a time."
But this line is important. In fact, it's the key to all of our
readings today.
The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
Mark starts his gospel book in a way
that echoes how the Bible starts: "In the beginning." And
what happens "In the beginning"? God creates. Here, Mark
starts his book hearkening to that beginning-- to point out to us
that something new is about to begin. And what is about to begin?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ...
Again, we've heard that word-- Gospel--
before. But what does it mean? It comes from the Greek: evangelion.
That word means "message" or "good news." From
this word, evangelion, we get English words such as Evangelist and
Evangelize and even the word "angel". So, at Christmas,
Gabriel the archangel is a messenger of good news. And what is the
good news-- the Gospel, the evangelion?
Of course, it's that Jesus is born.
But there's more to it than that. This
word hearkens back to ancient times when a king would be off at
battle. If the king and his armies were victorious, they would send
back to the cities an evangelion-- a messenger with good news: and
the good news was that the king was victorious.
Hold on to that thought for a moment,
then, because we need to take a detour back in time.
***
***
In our first reading, we hear Isaiah
speaking to God's people, Israel. They are in exile in Babylon--
enslaved in a foreign country and far away from home. God says to
Isaiah: bring my people comfort, tell them that I will send them a
Messiah, one who will deliver them from Babylon, who will win the
victory for them and bring them home.
So, the good news, the evangelion, that
Isaiah brings is that there will be a king, a messiah, whose victory
will set them free.
Do you know what the Greek word for
Messiah is? It's Christ. (Christos).
So, when Mark starts off his book with
the line
The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
Mark is saying:
"Look! Something new! I come bearing a message: good news: our
king, Jesus, is victorious!"
Indeed, the rest of
the Gospel of Mark will revolve around this theme.
And it points out
something very important: whereas in Isaiah's time the Messiah was
promised to come some time in the future, Mark is saying, "Look,
the Messiah is here now!" That's why Mark begins with the
prophet Isaiah-- to say, "Hey, this is being fulfilled right
now! The victory is here! We're going home!" And Mark's gospel
then continues with John the Baptist pointing this out: there's a new
beginning here! The kingdom of God is at hand!
***
But Isaiah and John
say something very interesting. They say: "Prepare the way of
the Lord." And, later, "Every valley shall be raised and
every mountain made low." What does this mean?
Well, practically
speaking, when the victorious king was coming home from battle, he
would be bringing with him the spoils of war. But to go up and down
mountains and valleys would be difficult and time consuming. So, on
the practical side of things, both Isaiah and John are saying, "Hey,
make the returning king's path easy! Help him bring back these spoils
of war quickly!"
Prepare the way of
the Lord: if you make His way easy, He will all the more quickly
bring His victory to you.
And what is His
victory? It is over sin and death and the devil Himself. It is a
spiritual victory.
The mountains and
valleys, therefore, are not just geographical places but the quality
of our souls.
The valleys are
those souls that are weighted down by their sins and maybe even
wonder "can I be forgiven?" And God is saying, "Yes!
Let me fill you with my grace." The valley is the soul that
needs to receive.
The mountains are
those souls that have grown large by their pride, and in their
heights may think that God is too far beneath them, too dull or
unintelligent and so on. And God is saying, "You are not beyond
me. Come down from your height for I have great treasures for you,
too."
Both kinds of
souls-- valleys and mountains-- are being told that they will
participate in the King's victory. There is but one thing necessary,
and John tells us what it is: repent.
***
Often, we think of
repentance as simply saying "I'm sorry." But in the context
of our readings today, we see that repentance is actually the
condition for receiving the King's victory. His victory is over sin--
repentance is the door that opens to the spoils, the treasures.
We see this
beautifully in the confessional. This past week, the second graders
went to First Confession and some of them were a little nervous. They
go in with their heads down, but they come out with such joy!
Something has happened in this moment when they are the valley that
is filled with grace and the mountain that acknowledges their sin--
they receive the joy of a new beginning; their hearts become light.
This is the Gospel, the evangelion, the good news.
***
Our Catholic Church
highlights these opportunities in particular when she obliges us to
go to confession once per year or when she says that a particular
Mass is a Holy Day of Obligation. Take this past Friday, the
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, for example. The Church knows
that all of us during this busy season are becoming like those
valleys, low by the lack of sunlight and burdened by our to-do lists.
So the Church says, "hey, there is a great opportunity for grace
that can fill you up-- that will slow you down for a night and
refocus your Advent and set you free on a course of peace. And that
is Immaculate Conception Mass. And we've been at this for a few years
and we know how much you need this great grace, so we're going to
make it obligatory." And those of you who went, I know, were
lifted up, filled like those valleys.
But then there were
some who did not go. Not because of sickness or mandatory work, but
because we let other things get the best of us or we were lazy or
maybe selfish. And the Church highlights that we, the mountains, need
to be lowered a bit-- that we didn't "Prepare the way of the
Lord" and didn't make it easy for Him to come to us. And the
Church does this by saying that if we missed-- again, not because of
sickness or mandatory work, but because of our own free will-- that
if we skipped the Holy Day, we can't receive Holy Communion today
until we go to confession. We need to lower ourselves and acknowledge
our disobedience to the king-- we need to be filled by the grace of
repentance before we can be filled by the grace of holy communion.
And, I know, we may
not like to hear that or we may think it's going to be embarrassing
to come up in the communion line with our arms crossed. But I want to
tell you that I've been there before. And I don't judge you. Neither
will my deacon. In fact, none of my amazing parishioners here-- none
will judge you. In fact, I will admire your courage and your honesty
and your faithfulness to God and His Church. Because I will see that
you take this seriously and you are letting God lower the mountains.
Indeed, the
treasures of our victorious king are yours-- precisely because you
are repenting.
Of course, it would
be unfair of me to give such a homily without hearing confessions
right after Mass. So, that's what I'm going to do. After Mass today,
I'm going to go straight to the confessional and hear confessions of
the mountains and the valleys. Those valleys who say, "I don't
know-- could God really forgive this really big sin in my life?"
Jesus is going to forgive you today. Those mountains who say, "I
don't know-- does God really care about what goes on up here in my
life?" Jesus is going to forgive you today.
This is what it
means to "make straight his paths," to have "every
valley... raised" and "every mountain... made low."
This is "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ" our
victorious king who brings the treasures of mercy. Let us now "prepare the way of the Lord!"
In the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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