By Steve Raml, Director of Liturgy & Music
The Year of Mark
“Ordinary Time” is not all that ordinary. This longest of seasons in the Church year is called “Ordinary” in the same way as ordained or ordered time, not ordinary in the sense of “not special” or “mundane.” It’s split into a shorter period of time between the Christmas season and Lent (which this year was very short) and a longer period after Easter, continuing all the way to the Solemnity of Christ the King in November.
In one of the strangest aspects of this “Ordinary Time”, we begin with the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, the First generally considered the Baptism of the Lord, which this year was observed on a Monday, not a Sunday. So, this is not an ordinary, “Ordinary Time.”
This year’s Ordinary Time uses Scripture readings from Cycle “B,” which features the Gospel of Mark. Mark’s Gospel was the first of the four collected in our Bible to be written, which makes it the earliest of the accounts of Jesus’ life and teaching.
As I reflect on the Gospels that will be proclaimed this year, I come away with the feeling that these passages, when viewed as a group, seem to address the question: “Who Is Jesus?”
Early on in Mark’s Gospel (2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time), Jesus asks “What are you looking for?” Even though it is asked of two early disciples, it is a question each of us must answer. Their initial answer is another question that tries to figure Jesus out: “where are you staying?” Jesus then invites the two to “come, and you will see.” One of the two, Andrew, invites a third, his brother Simon. At this first encounter, Jesus gives him a new name: Peter.
Over the weeks, we hear about a growing number of people following Jesus, coming to him for healing, listening to his teachings, trying to figure him out. In week 3, he calls more disciples, and in week 4, we hear that “his fame spread everywhere.” In week 6, a leper healed by Jesus “spread the report abroad so it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.” By the 7th week, the Gospel tells us there are so many people gathered around Jesus, there is no more room in the house and people had to lower a paralyzed man from the roof to get him to Jesus!
Mark tells us that this Good News spreads; more and more people are talking about Jesus, even when he orders them not to! That’s something scripture scholars refer to as “the Messianic Secret”. All through this Gospel Jesus tells people he encounters not to tell people about him or what happened to them. But each time, they immediately start telling everyone. They seem to be answering for themselves the question, “Who is Jesus?”
That question is not just for those who heard him 2000 years ago to ponder, but for us to consider today. One of the places to discover Jesus is through the music we sing. This year, we will use music inspired by the Gospel of Mark for our Lenten Cantata: “Mark These Words.” We will present this Cantata on Sunday March 17 at 2 pm.
Our presentation will reflect on Jesus through his call of the disciples, through his healing miracles, through his teaching in parables, and through his passion, death and resurrection, which in Mark is represented by an empty tomb. It is almost as if Mark is inviting us to fill that emptiness with the presence of Jesus Christ as we experience him.
So, who is Jesus for you? We each must come to know the answer to that question for ourselves and not who someone else says he is. Hopefully, the Gospel of Mark that we hear and the music that we sing this year will provide a way for you to answer.
