Just a brief thought about the Passion.
There is an
odd little story that seems to come out of nowhere in the middle of
the Passion according to Mark. I'm talking about that story about
the young man who was following Jesus to Gethsemane. The guards
tried to seize him, but he left the linen cloth he was wearing behind
and ran off naked. This story can seem so out of left-field that it
can be hard to know what to make of it.
Many
scholars think that the young man was St. Mark, the same person who
wrote the Gospel. Many think that he included the rather
embarrassing story to help establish that he really was there; that
he was truly a witness to Jesus' arrest and the beginning of His
Passion.
The Early
Church seems to have been all about showing that they have
eye-witness accounts of what happened at the Passion and the
Resurrection. They wanted other people to know that this is a true
story and not something that was made up. St. Mark also takes the
time to tell us about three women who were present at the crucifixion
and burial of Jesus. Mary Magdalen, the other Mary and Salome are
also the first to see the empty tomb on Easter morning. They are the
witnesses to what took place in those days and where it all took
place.
We are
called to be witnesses as well, brothers and sisters. Even though we
were not there at the actual historical events, we are still
witnesses of faith to the fact that Christ suffered and died for you
and me. May we be given the courage and faith necessary to share
with others what we have witnessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment