A friend texted, “If Jesus performs an act of compassion/mercy today, is it proper to call it a miracle?”
I was intrigued and answered, “It would be a grace for sure. Whether it would be a miracle would depend on circumstances. Why are you wondering?”
The response was, “It happened to me today. Let’s make it our next conversation. I feel like shouting.”
When we talked, my friend described a chronic health condition which had flared up to acute pain just as all the doctors’ offices closed for the New Year’s holiday. After a day of “take over your life” intense pain, my friend said he just happened to look up at the crucifix above his doorway. “When I did, I found myself literally on my knees, pouring out my heart to God. I didn’t ask for the pain to go away, but, still, the pain was what brought me to this intense, outpouring of my heart. I found myself, from my heart, telling God my sorrow for things I had done in the past. I felt His love, as He held me in it,” he said. “It was a beautiful moment.”
He continued, “The next morning I got up and the pain was tolerable. After a while, I noticed it was still much diminished. Toward the end of the day, it was almost entirely gone.”
Our God in Ordinary Times
Sunday was the end of the Christmas season. Today we begin “Ordinary Time.” Vestments return to green. Gospel readings return to Jesus’ adventures as he goes about Galilee working miracles, teaching, and gathering disciples. Most of our Gospel readings until Lent will come from the Gospel of Mark. Our first readings will mostly come from Hebrews.
Background on Mark and Hebrews
The Gospel of Mark was written early and is the shortest Gospel. Very often, what Matthew or Luke take a dozen verses to tell, Mark tells in three or four verses. Mark was closely associated with the Apostle Peter, and scholars see Mark’s Gospel as the story of Jesus through Peter’s eyes. Mark did not write for Jewish converts, but for Gentile ones. It was likely specifically written for Gentile converts in Rome before AD 70. A major theme is, “Who is Jesus?” Mark answers that question with lots of short stories.
Considering Peter’s proclamation right before the Transfiguration, “You are the Christ,” it is kind of fun to explore the Gospel of Mark through Peter’s eyes—to think as we read the events, “If I were Peter, what would I be thinking, feeling, and wondering about?” “How would I see Jesus?”
The book of Hebrews was written specifically for Jewish converts, most likely also before AD 70. Today’s scholars do not see it as the work of St. Paul. Though its thought is very similar to his, its style is substantially different. Hebrews can be some pretty “high theology.” I have several friends who love, love, LOVE Hebrews. I have to work at appreciating it, but I’m trusting my friends have a treasure in Hebrews, so I’m determined to seek that I might find during these next few weeks.
Kerygma
Kerygma–the Good News that God loves us, wants us to be one with Him, and that the Father sent the Son to make that possible–is the theme of both Mark and Hebrews. I am pulled by the word and the concept of Kerygma.
When I talked about my Kergyma tree as Advent began, some readers requested I follow up. The picture today is the completed tree. It was a wonderful way for me to pray through Advent and Christmas. Years ago, when my children were small, we would do a Jesse Tree of stories from the Hebrew scriptures as part of getting ready for Christmas. This year, I painted a tree and ornaments that added the major events of Christmas, as well as highlights through the Resurrection. I called it my Kergyma tree. Even though my art work is very basic, it was the action of making the ornaments to represent key events in salvation history that was transformative for me. It got me INTO the stories, INTO the history of God’s revelation, INTO the wonder and the glory of God coming to earth in Jesus.
The Pull
My friend was pulled through pain to prayer. In the prayer he was touched by God. His heart was moved. He felt a metanoia—that is, a turning toward God that included a sense of repentance, even though that sense of repentance was not for something now, but rather a deeper repentance for events in his past. As he did, God drew him closer. As Catholics, conversion is not a “one and done” event for us. Conversion happens again and again as God touches us again and again.
Today’s reading from Hebrews begins with the author’s thesis and theme: “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe.”
Hebrews is an invitation to us to enter into the kerygma and let God touch us. The first chapters speak from Jewish history; the latter ones focus on Jesus as the culmination of that history.
In the Gospel of Mark, we see how Jesus began to speak: “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.’”
Jesus begins his ministry with a call to repentance and metanoia. He still calls us to let God pull us, so we turn to let God touch us and change us.
When we feel the pull of God, that is the kerygma: It is the same Good News as it was to new Christians in Hebrews, the same as it was along the Galilean shore when Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”
It remains the same Good News of a new life of hope, love, and the ways of God when God pulls us to pray before a crucifix or make a Kerygma Tree.
Prayer
Lord, You pull at me. You pulled at me through the story of the gradual revelation of who You are to the Hebrew people that You and I recalled together as I spent time making Kergyma tree ornaments. You pulled when my friend told me his story. You pull….and pull….and pull. When You pull, You call me closer. When You call me closer, You call me to another metanoia, another transformation.
When You pull, Lord, it is Your grace, Your Holy Spirit that comes to me. Peter left his nets to follow, then he told the story to Mark, who tells the story to us. Peter’s life with You was adventure. It required multiple metanoias. You offer me adventure, too, and ask of me metanoias. Every metanoia brings me closer to You. Every metanoia births more of the kerygma in my life. Those Greek words still have great power today.
St. John Henry Newman said, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to change often.” Pull me, Lord, to whatever metanoia change you would ask of me. Manifest your kerygma in me, in all of us, in church, nation, and world this new year. Small change by small change by small change, help us “be re-created and renew the face of the earth.”
