Feast of St Mark. Before he wrote his gospel the teachings of Jesus circulated in collections of his sayings. For Mark Jesus’ message was rooted in his paradoxical identity as the suffering and crucified Messiah, properly understood in light of his completed ministry and passion.
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For Mark this was best communicated in the form of a story. The crux of the story is the question: who do you say I am? The answer, the Christ, must be reconciled with Jesus foretelling of his own suffering and death—and the assurance that discipleship will entail the same fate.
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And so Mark’s gospel, ostensibly a story of Jesus, is revealed as a handbook of discipleship. To be a Christian is not simply a matter of saying that Jesus is the Christ. It is a matter of patterning one’s own life on Jesus’ example of self-sacrificing love.