Feast of St Mark, Evangelist

Gospel 

Mark 16:15-20

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

 

…

 

Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.

There is no gray area.

 

There are only those who believe and those who do not. And those who have heard the Gospel but do not believe are doomed. Of course it is easy for anyone to say they belief Jesus existed.

 

But we need to take a moment to understand what it means to believe. For the word itself can be difficult to grasp if we don’t pause and reflect..

 

We often here people ask questions on belief. Do you believe we will have rain today? Do you believe the politicians statement? Do you believe in aliens?

 

These are asking if you believe if a condition exists or if even a belief in the character of a person or thing. It is a question most of the time of whether we believe something is real or not.

 

But that is not what Jesus is talking about at all in Mark’s Gospel.  This question of belief goes beyond whether we believe Jesus existed or not. The devil beliefs Jesus exists. It is not enough. The believing that we hear about Jesus is, “do we belief Jesus is the Son of God and do we recognize our need to follow him.” Do we follow him and do we belong to him. One who recognizes we belong to Jesus does nothing that is not consistent with his teaching. The believer logically follows his way through life always deferring to the will of God and living according to his commandments. The believer possesses the knowledge that he is loved and created to be part of the mission of Christ to help others return to God.

The believer does not choose to belong to Jesus as if it is optional… but recognizes it is a truth. For the Father gave us to Jesus and Jesus says he will never lose those he has been given. So being rational and practical men and women we look to our savior and brother Jesus Christ and follow his way to eternal life.

 

Believing in Jesus Christ we accept his yoke, his will, and commit our lives to walk down the path he has set for us.

 

It requires not just an acknowledgement of the reality of something but a conviction to hold fast and keep our eyes on Jesus at all times.  He is our goal, our long-term strategy and our day-to-day guide on how to live.

 

Believing requires commitment and discipline and love. To say I believe in Jesus Christ is about vocation and changes who we are. We no longer live as children of this world, but children of heaven where are true home is. We are pilgrims finding our way home. Jesus shows us the way.

 

We follow because we believe he is the Messiah. He came to this world to come get us. He died for us and was resurrected and gave us his body and blood. Our believe is reflected in the life we lead and the love we share.