What is the depth of your faith?

We discussed the prayer of the dad who interceded for his beloved son, "Help my unbelief!"



German also discusses faith transformation in our parish outreach, Christ Renews His Parish.

A few questions for next time

We will continue through the 9th chapter of Mark's gospel, looking especially at the lessons Jesus presents to the Twelve. Here are a few questions to think over if you want to read ahead.

1. Search your knowledge of history. Who is the greatest evangelist of all time?
2. Which of the great saints of God is famous for his or her humility?
3. A scientist defines salt as a chemical compound of two elements, explosive sodium and toxic chlorine. How does Jesus define salt?

We will get after these and a few other questions early this Thursday morning.

What is the mission of the Twelve?

We know that the Twelve are not functioning yet at genius levels with the gospel message. But what is the eventual mission of the Twelve?

Questions for this morning

Our wisdom harvesting plan today includes part of Mark chapter 9. Here are a few questions we will tackle:

1. Are the Twelve acting like gospel experts yet?
2. Does the cure of the epileptic boy point us toward more meaning of the Transfiguration?
3. We have noticed Jesus telling people not to blab up his healings and so forth. Where in this section does he explain his anti-blabbing plan?
4. What was Peter's reaction to the vision of Jesus with Moses and Elijah?

Comments from the men

In response to the reading of Mark 8:1-36, the men commented especially about the Twelve. Here are some of the comments:

1. Sal: They received help from the Holy Spirit within because they needed to get sight and to act.
2. Scott: They had recently fed 5000 and were now in the same situation and were STILL clueless.
3. Joe: Peter was still stuck in that double line of thought,
   1. Jesus is the Messiah, and
   2. he wants Jesus to kick the Romans out.

Peter only understands half of it. Let's keep reading Mark's gospel and see what we can see.

Make my day. Again.

It is interesting that as soon as Jesus finishes talking to the Pharisees and scribes about what is clean and why something is clean or unclean, Jesus immediately head out for the Tyre district.

Gentiles.

Pagans.

Probably bunches of herds of swine up there.

On the Unclean-O-Meter, the district of Tyre must have been about 8.9 on the Richter scale.

People dodging lightning bolts all over the place.

Yet, Jesus does a work of power for a Greek outlander, Syrophoenician by birth, a woman. He expels a demon from her daughter who is not present but in an undisclosed location somewhere else.

It looks like another "Make my day" kind of situation.

Thanks, Lord!

What we talked about

Joe and Ken made some important connections between the events in this part of Marks gospel.

1. Jesus teaches with authority about the Torah, the Law, and what is clean, because God is the author of the Torah.
2. Ben16 says that Jesus is, himself, God's living Torah, and as such the Torah was meant to be universal.
3. Joe connected the Syrophoenician woman and her daughter to the universality of the Torah.
4. We read through Peter's dream, Acts 10:9-17, about the sheet lowered down from heaven with clean and unclean animals.
5. Ken pointed out that Jesus uses signs, frequently with the humble things of Creation, so that everybody can see what is happening. He does not just send an email.
6. Joe sees the deaf, mute man as a parable for the Twelve and for all of us. How can we spread the Lord's message unless
   1. we hear the message and
   2. speak clearly to others about the message?

Questions for next time, September 10

This Thursday morning, we will look right into the heart of the matter, Jesus and the Torah, in Mark 7. As you get time, think over these questions:

1. Isaiah the prophet has something to say in this matter. What does God want instead of lip service from his people?
2. Are the Twelve acting like gospel experts yet?
3. Where is another place in the New Testament where the Lord gives Peter an experience that helps him to address the matter of clean and unclean?
4. Who initiates the parable of the children and the dogs? Who shows mastery of the parable?
5. What is unusual about Jesus touching the deaf man's ears and tongue?
6. John's gospel focuses on signs, but so does Mark. Why is this important?

You are not required to write down your answers, like a homework assignment, but you are required to think over the message from Mark and be ready for the Holy Spirit to help you early on Thursday morning.

What the men said

Some of the A+ comments this morning were right on the mark.

1. The meaning of the miracle of the loaves and fishes is like the Eucharist. God gives us nourishment.
2. "He is showing the Apostles how the Holy Spirit inside of them (who is knocking) will help them believe so profoundly as to carry the message to the masses of unbelievers. Jesus knows that, in His apostles, they cannot teach if they implicitly believe what they explicitly deny."

Good.

Father Abraham and the mountain where God provides

In this morning's meeting of Men's Bible Study, we talked at length on the meaning of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Mark 6:32-44. To get a broad grasp of this miracle of Jesus, we also dipped into Genesis for the story of Abraham on the mountain with his son Isaac. It is good to pay attention to the two central questions in each passage:

1. Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the holocaust?"
2. But they said to him, "Are we to buy two hundred days' wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?"

Abraham answers his son, "God will provide the lamb." And Jesus answers the Twelve, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see."

St. Paul wrote of Abraham,

"By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name." He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a παραβολη (symbol)."

That last word is also used by Mark and we translate it as parable.

God on that day did not provide the lamb to Abraham, and instead sent a ram, stuck in the thicket, for Abraham to see and use. Good.

But God did provide food for the crowd of 5000 men on the green grass, and we see this as prefiguring the Eucharist. The center of the Eucharist is Jesus himself, whom we know as the Lamb.

Great and wonderful are your works, Lord!