Do you want the good news, or the bad news?
I wonder if Jesus spoke much Greek.
I wonder if Jesus spoke much Greek.
His
primary language would have been Aramaic.
But he
was a fairly literate guy.
We know
he impressed the scholars in the temple when he was just a boy.
We know
he knew the scriptures and that he read the scroll in the synagogue.
And
Greek and Hebrew, and I guess even some Latin, were spoken
in the area.
So he
may well have known that the Greek word Gospel, means Good
News.
Maybe he
just didn’t know that the accounts of his life and would be called
Gospels.
Because
he often slips in some bad news.
Today’s
Gospel is a good example of that.
Matthew
and Luke seem to have overlooked this bit of bad news.
But Mark
picked up on it and recorded it in his Gospel.
Yesterday
we heard of the disciples’ utter amazement
When
Jesus told them how hard it is for a person to enter the Kingdom of
God.
Especially
for a rich person.
Today we
hear Peter ask for some reassurance.
He says
We’ve given up everything and followed you.
So Jesus
gives that reassurance.
You’ll
receive a hundredfold more—now, in this present age.
And
you’ll have eternal life in the age to come.
That is
Good News.
A
hundredfold in houses and brothers and sisters and children and
lands.
As they
traveled in their ministry, they would indeed be welcomed into many
houses.
And they
came to recognize many hundreds of their brothers and sisters.
All were
brothers and sisters under God.
But in
that list of rewards, the one misfit jumps out –
And
persecutions.
Jesus
isn’t about to mislead us into unrealistic expectations.
Even if
the news is ultimately overwhelmingly good—eternal life!
He
cautions us about the bad that we’ll have to endure.
In this
life everyone encounters some amount of suffering.
The
disciples couldn’t avoid it.
Jesus
himself couldn’t avoid it.
Surely
we can’t avoid it.
Whenever
suffering does find us, we can endure it more easily
If we
remember all the good things we’ve already enjoyed in this present
age.
And that
ultimate Good News –
Eternal life with God, in union with our loved ones.
Eternal life with God, in union with our loved ones.
Tuesday 8th Week Ordinary Time
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