A Divine Craziness
A Reflection on the Gospel of Mark 3:13-19; 19 January 2024
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.”– Unknown.
The Summons and the View
Today’s Gospel begins with a summons,
“[Jesus] went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.” (Mark 3:13 NABRE)
Mountains, heights, play a unique role in Jesus’ ministry. The mountains are the place where Jesus teaches the sublime truth of who God is and who we are called “to be” (Matthew 5). Mount Tabor is the place where He unveils His divinity, His transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–8 Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36). The mountains are also a place of spiritual battle where Jesus contends with Satan and sends him away (Matthew 4:10–11). They are the place where countless times, He withdraws to pray. It is on the height that is Golgotha that our Lord gives us the best perspective. Ever since He climbed that hill, the world below sits in the shadow of the cross and in this shadow is our reconciliation, our salvation, and the promise of eternal joy. In this, we understand what the Psalmist foretells,
I raise my eyes toward the mountains. From whence shall come my help? My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1–2)
Jesus is still summoning us to the heights. Like the disciples, we too must still come. The height He calls us to is the Mass. It is in Mass that we too gain a physical and spiritual perspective. Heaven comes down to us as we are lifted up with all the angels and saints to adore the vision of God and cry, “Glory to God in the highest!” (Luke 2:14)
From the heights of the Word proclaimed, we receive a true vision of the world that surrounds us, and full view of the work God summons us to do. We glimpse God’s view, a truly magnificent picture. In the heights of prayer, especially in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we are present as a people of God in a special place of solitude. It is a place where we like Elijah, if we listen, hear the quiet voice of God, “a whistling of a gentle air.” (1 Kings 19:12 DRB) The climbing may be difficult, leaving behind all that distracts us in the world, but the best view does come after the hardest climb.
Though we can be captured by the beauty and majesty of the heights and like St Peter, be tempted to remain and bask in God’s glory (Luke 9:32–33); we cannot! Having received the Lord at Mass, both the Word proclaimed, and the Word consumed in the Eucharist, we must come down and “go!” Jesus always sends us forth from the heights, just as He did the Apostles, to do His work.
Apostles
Jesus summons the twelve disciples up the mountain and there they are commissioned as apostles. The Greek word, apŏstŏlŏs, means one who is sent as an ambassador and invested with the King’s authority. In this case, the twelve are commissioned to preach the Gospel and drive out demons. Note that among the twelve the Lord wants, summons, and empowers is also His betrayer, Judas Iscariot. Yet, Christ summons us all, even though we may betray Him. Love hopes in all, who climb with open hearts.
In the same way, Christ summons us all to the mountaintop that is Holy Mass. There we gain physical and spiritual perspective and receive our commission as those who are “sent.” Sealed through Baptism and Confirmation, and fueled intimately with Christ’s body, blood, soul, and divinity in us through the Eucharist; God, both empowers and sends us out into the world, to proclaim its salvation. Some may betray the Lord with silence. Others betray Him for the distractions of the world. They betray Him for silver. However, unlike Judas, we must steadfastly refuse the allurements of this life, rejecting fear and sin, and refuse to betray our Lord and His commission. Instead let us embrace the grand and holy perspective that God has given us on the heights of the altar, and become instead Boanerges, sons of thunder.
At Holy Mass we are all summoned and then sent forth from the heights with an apostolic zeal for love of God and our neighbor. Let us not betray our Lord. Empowered, go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that the Lord commands. (Matthew 28:19–20)
St Josemarie Escriva writes,
“Apostolic zeal is a divine craziness ... Its symptoms are: hunger to know the Master; constant concern for souls; perseverance that nothing can shake” (St Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, 934).
Summoned to and then sent from the mountaintop, may God fill us all with a “divine craziness.”
Endnotes
Douay-Rheims Bible (DRB), Translated from the Latin Vulgate. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009. Print.
Escriva, Josemaría. The Way. In The Way ; The Furrow; The Forge. Scepter Publishers, 2004. Print.
Folsom, R. (2022, January 15). A simple way to get more out of holy mass. Virtue Connection. https://virtueconnection.com/a-simple-way-to-get-more-out-of-holy-mass/
New American Bible. Revised Edition (NABRE). Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011. Print.)