This guide is an ongoing resource offered by the Office for Catechesis and Youth Ministry. The information may be shared in your ministries through electronic or print communication. Please credit the author and the OFCYM if you use it in your own communications. Any questions about content can be referred to the author, Thomas McLaughlin.
September 13
Mark 8:27 begins the second major division of Mark’s Gospel. From this point on the gospel looks to Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem and his final week when he would be arrested, crucified, and raised from the dead. If Mark was written in Rome in the late 60s during the persecution on Nero, which is the most commonly accepted belief, a gospel which concentrates on the necessity of suffering would be most meaningful.
The people who follow Jesus may think of him as another prophet. But when Peter is asked “But who do you say that I am?” he answers, “You are the Christ.” Jesus’ response to this seems strange. He tells the disciples to tell no one. But his following words make clear why. No one can understand who the Messiah, the Christ, is until they understand that he must suffer, die, and be raised from the dead. The Messiah can only be understood in terms of suffering. And this is not just true of the Messiah. Anyone who wants to follow the Messiah must also suffer and die.
September 20
No matter how much Jesus tries to explain this to his disciples they just don’t understand it. Two more times on the way to Jerusalem he tries to explain this to them and each time their misunderstanding grows. Instead, as they journey with him, they discuss who is the greatest among them. To further make his point Jesus takes a child in his arms and tells them that whoever receives such a child receives him and the one who sent him.
September 27
The next Sunday’s gospel begins with the very next verse but on a totally different topic. The disciples ask Jesus if they should try to stop someone from casting out demons in Jesus’ name if he was not a part of their group. “Don’t try to stop him,” Jesus tells them. He then offers a very broad description of discipleship: “because whoever is not against us is for us.”
Jesus then changes the topic to the seriousness of sin and gives some extreme examples of ways to avoid sin. We are not meant to take these examples literally but to understand that extreme measures often are necessary to avoid sin.
October 4
The gospel for the next Sunday, October 4, begins with the next chapter, chapter 10. It begins with the Pharisees trying to trip Jesus up with a question on marriage and divorce. Presuming that Jesus is against divorce they ask if a man can divorce his wife? Jesus responds by quoting the Law where Moses described the process for a man to divorce his wife. But he tells them that was because of the hardness of their hearts. Quoting the Law again he reminds them that from the very beginning of creation God intended husband and wife to be one and that what God had joined together no one should separate.
The passage concludes with a return to the children. People are bringing children to Jesus so he can bless them and the disciples are trying to stop them. Jesus rebukes them and reminds them that whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. The kingdom of God is open to all, male and female, young and old.
Sundays October 11 through November 1 will be featured after October 4.