November 20, 2022
Gospel – 4/25/20 – Mark 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.
My dad, while I was growing up, could deliver a lesson. Sometimes it was a harsh lesson that involved physical punishment. And yet here i am today, alive and better for it. The real value of the lesson could trail the punishment – sometimes by years. But, who I am today, is mainly due to those lessons given in love by my father.
The words that followed, I wish I had written down. I’m sorry I didn’t. That would be something to read.
If you’ve been paying attention, leading up to today’s Gospel – on the Feast Day of St Mark – Jesus has given some harsh lessons to his Apostles. He has just sternly rebuked them for not believing Mary of Magdala and the two disciples who saw him on there Walk to Emmaus. He teaches them a stern lesson about belief.
But he softens the punishment when he gives the Commission to go out into the world – teaching, healing, driving out demons and baptizing in his name those who BELIEVE the Good News they take with them. He will be with them always. Even to the ends of the world.
The Covid 19 may be a message for us to hear and learn from.
It’s easy to be lost in the punishment and miss the lesson.
The lesson being that he is always with us.
At least that’s what I heard Him say…
What I Heard Him Say 