Daily Retreat 01/29/06

2006 Jan 29 SUN: FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Dt 18: 15-20/ Ps 94(95): 1-2. 6-7. 7-9 (8)/ 1 Cor 7: 32-35/ Mk 1: 21-28

From today’s readings: "Moses spoke to all the people, saying: ‘A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to Him you shall listen....’ If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts..... I am telling you this for your own benefit.... The people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority.... "

What Can We Still Learn from Jesus?

Like those first disciples mentioned by name in last Sunday’s gospel reading, all of us who glory in the name "Christian" have decided to follow Jesus in our lives. In one way or another, be it promptly or tardily, be it enthusiastically or begrudgingly, each one of us has heard the call of Jesus to come and follow after Him.

But our commitment to Christian discipleship does not imply that you and I already know everything about Jesus - on the contrary, by definition, a disciple is a learner, a student. So we follow Jesus because we recognize Him as our Rabbi, our Teacher, someone who can yet instruct us in essential matters about ourselves, about our world, and about our God Himself.

In all four Gospels, and most clearly in the Gospel of St. Mark, every turn of the page brings new additional and essential details which are intended to teach the Christian disciples the answer to the question, "Who is Jesus?" As a matter of fact, as I will explain later this year, the entire Gospel according to St. Mark is structured to provide the pedagogical answer to that question.

Who is Jesus? When the first disciples originally decided to follow Jesus, they recognized Him as their rabbi, their teacher, and some even had at least a vague hope or hunch that He was the prophet promised by Moses in the First Reading from the book of Deuteronomy. But, in any case, every time Jesus spoke or acted, He revealed Himself as substantially more than the disciples had previously learned about Him.

So, for instance, the Gospel passage today, which is taken from the very first chapter of Mark, relates that the first disciples, soon after their decision to follow Jesus as their rabbi, observed Him teaching in their synagogue on the Sabbath. But clearly, He was more than a typical teacher, more than a run-of-the-mill rabbi, for "He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." In fact, His authority evidently even extended over the unclean spirits, for He rebuked one such disruptive demon with the simple command, "Quiet! Come out of him!" and the demon had no choice but to obey.

In time, the disciples would gradually learn more and more about the authority of Jesus, and they learned that, although He was indeed their rabbi and teacher, although He was indeed the prophet promised in the Old Testament, He was still much more than just that! Gradually, the disciples would learn to recognize Jesus as Messiah and Son of God and all that that entailed, but only because they heard His voice, and hardened not their hearts; they never (except for Judas) closed their minds to new insights taught by Jesus about themselves, their world, and their God.

Yet I fear that, too often, you and I, and so many of the Christian disciples of this time and place, think we already know Jesus enough, and know enough about Jesus. We think we have Him pretty well figured out, and so there’s no compelling reason for us to listen carefully to the Scriptures and His Sabbath teaching in the Church. We figure that our baptismal matriculation in His Church is enough in itself - why would we need continuing education in His school, why would we need careful study of His doctrines?

Well, the first Christian disciples learned, every day that they followed Jesus, that He was more than they had previously learned about Him. They learned that He loved them more, they learned how He loved them more, they learned that they needed to love Him more, they learned that He had more to teach them, they learned that He clearly wanted them to learn more - and so they learned that Christian discipleship means following Jesus every day, learning from Him continually about themselves, their world, and their God! They learned what you and I need to learn today: that we don’t yet know Jesus well enough, and we don’t yet know enough about Jesus, but as long as we remember that we’re still disciples, we’re still learners, then He Himself will clearly continue to teach us!