GOSPEL POWER l MARCH 1, 2022 - TUESDAY

8th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mk 10:28-31  

28Peter began to say to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and  followed you.” 29Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has  left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or  fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not  receive a hundredfold now in this age — houses, brothers and sisters,  mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions — and in the age  to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last  will be first.” 

Strangely, Mark includes persecution in the hundredfold  blessing promised to Peter and those who give up  everything to follow Jesus. That reference is omitted in  Matthew’s and Luke’s version of the story. Why does Mark seem to  suggest that persecution is also a blessing? Mark originally wrote  his work for a persecuted community struggling to keep their faith  alive in the face of violence and death. He wants his community to  know that persecution identifies them in the closest possible way  with the Messiah and conforms them to his destiny as the Suffering  Servant, by whom God is saving the world. Their endurance of  suffering and death is not without meaning and purpose, for through  the experience, they become participants in the fulfillment of God’s  redemptive will. Mark addresses the same message of hope to all  generations of believers undergoing persecution for being faithful to  Christ.  

Lord Jesus, may we also view persecution through Mark’s faith-vision.  Amen.