one another with a kiss of love” (5:14) reminds the readers that they are identified by their “genuine mutual love” (1:22) as a household or family. Earlier in the letter, readers are commanded, “Love the family of believers” (2:17), and “[M]aintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins” (4:8). The refrain of Peter Scholtes’ hymn, “They’ll Know We Are Christians,” captures this sentiment: “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
The love that 1 Peter writes about is not the sappy sentimentality or the emotional-laden feeling or the general “I love everything” that the word “love” carries with it today. 1 Peter understands love as the sacrifice of self for the good of others. In other words, mutual love indicates that others come first, before the self. Such sacrificial love imitates Jesus, who loved us all the way to the cross.
Meditation: Where do you find genuine sacrificial love in your Christian community?
Prayer: Almighty God, you loved the world so much that you sent your only Son to save it. Jesus taught and lived sacrificial love, opening his arms on the cross. Grant that we may imitate his example and so share in the promise of Mark’s Gospel. We ask this through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Irony
Mark 16:15–20
Scripture: [Jesus said to the Eleven,] “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).
Reflection: If one opens his or her Bible to Mark’s Gospel, chapter 16, he or she will quickly notice that it has three endings. Biblical scholars have determined that the original ending is 16:8. Another verse is added to 16:8 to form the shorter ending of Mark. And verses 9 through 20 form the longer ending of Mark. All three endings are canonical.
The irony of the Feast of St. Mark is that whoever wrote the rest of the gospel did not write the passage assigned to be read today. The pericope for today is a part of the longer ending of Mark which differs in style and emphasis from the rest of the gospel. The longer ending seems to be a compilation of the endings of Matthew’s Gospel, Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, and John’s Gospel, echoing the Emmaus story, the great commissioning, the ascension, and more. It also contradicts Jesus’ refusal to give signs in Mark’s Gospel by portraying him now giving signs to those who believe.
Besides the irony found in the gospel reading, irony is present in celebrating this feast
of a gospel writer, whoever he was, about whom we know absolutely nothing. We know that someone had to write Mark’s Gospel, but the author is forever lost in human history, since this gospel did not have a name until the second century.
Throughout the Bible, we find God’s irony, and maybe that is what we are celebrating on this feast of St. Mark. God’s irony is found throughout biblical literature. God calls Abraham and Sarah to be the parents of a multitude of people, except that Sarah is barren. God calls Moses to lead his people out of slavery to freedom, except that Moses has a speech impediment. God calls Peter to be the closest of Jesus’ companions, except that Peter denies knowing Jesus three times—in every gospel.
The truth of this feast might be found in the irony of our own lives. If we gaze deeply into our own lives, we might find God’s irony written there with big letters. Sometimes, God’s irony comes through illness of any kind. The very illness that weakens us also strengthens our faith and our commitment to God. At other times, God’s irony comes financially. How many times have we heard people tell us that the more we give away, the more it comes back to us? And God’s irony may come through our personal relationships. The person we can fight with the best is often the person we love the most.
See, God’s truth can shine through the irony of our lives. As we celebrate this feast we do well to reflect upon God’s irony in our lives and the truth it teaches us. Then, we will have connected ourselves to the irony found in the Bible and the irony inherent in this feast of St. Mark.
Meditation: What irony in your life reveals God at work there?
Prayer: Almighty God, you entrusted the proclamation of the good news of your Son to Mark, your evangelist. Help us recognize your work in the irony of our lives, that we may proclaim to the whole creation that Jesus is Lord to your glory. We ask this through Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
May 1: Optional Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker
Carpenter’s Son
Matthew 13:54–58
Scripture: “[Jesus] came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?’” (Matt 13:54–55)
Reflection: Matthew’s account of Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth comes from Mark’s Gospel (6:1–6). Matthew, as he often does, shortens and alters material he borrows from Mark. For example, in Mark’s Gospel those who hear Jesus in the synagogue ask, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary . . . ?” (6:3) To refer to a man as the son of his mother is a slur; in Judaism a man is known as the son of his father. Matthew rewrites the account he finds in Mark’s Gospel to remove the slur. Jesus is referred to as the “carpenter’s son,” whose “mother [is] called Mary” (13:55).
Thus, Matthew transfers Mark’s description of Jesus as a carpenter to Joseph. The Greek word used by both Mark and Matthew means “artisan” and might better be translated as “craftsman” or “builder.” It is broader in meaning that our usual understanding of carpenter as one who works with wood.
In modifying Mark’s story, Matthew declares that Jesus is much more than a craftsman. However, his father, Joseph, was a carpenter, according to Matthew. Thus, we are given today’s optional memorial of St. Joseph the Worker and an opportunity to reflect on work in a culture that seems to despise it or find any way possible to avoid it.
Work is the way we make a living, no matter if it is manual labor as a stone mason, a carpenter, a construction employee or office labor as a receptionist, a secretary, or an accountant. According to the U.S. Bishops’ pastoral letter, “Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy,” “. . . [I]t is primarily through their daily labor that people make their most important contributions to economic justice” (96).
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