Waking up is the work of a lifetime. Most of us will have particular moments of insight and new awareness from time to time. These are a normal part of an inner journey by which we become who and what we are – God’s creation. Today’s Gospel – Mark 8:25-37 – describes a moment of awakening for the disciples. It comes after many missed opportunities, it must be said. It is rare for human beings to grasp the first opportunity that life offers to wake up.
Recall the delightful story immediately prior to this: “They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, ‘Can you see anything?’ And the man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees, walking’. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly” (8:22-25).
In Mark’s Gospel it is notable that outsiders – including demons (1:25; 3:11; 5:7) – wake up and see who Jesus is long before those who are his disciples. Thus, we have “the unclean woman” of 5:25-34, “the Syrophoenician woman” (7:24-30) and the Gentile deaf-mute in the Decapolis region (7:31-37). Mark himself, as narrator, declares Jesus’ true identity at the very beginning of his Gospel – see 1:1 – and he reports the voice of God at Jesus’ baptism: “‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’” (1:11).
The disciples are on a journey – an inner journey. Recall the earlier conversation: “‘The twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God . . .’” (4:10-11). The “secret” may have been “given”, but the disciples are clearly not awake to what the secret actually is. When Jesus and the disciples are on their way to “the villages of Caesarea Philippi” we glimpse a further moment of awakening. Jesus asks the question: “‘Who do people say that I am?’” The disciples have obviously been thinking and talking about this: “They answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets’”. Jesus becomes more direct: “‘But who do you say that I am?’” Peter answers: “‘You are the Messiah’”.
Like the blind man at Bethsaida, Jesus “takes (them) by the hand and leads (them) out of the village”. The “village” may be understood as the taken for granted world. Under the influences of habit and ignorance, selfishness and fear, human beings can sleep-walk through life embedded in little “villages”. The questions of Jesus – sometimes it is life that asks the questions – are his gentle hand leading the disciples – and each of us – out of those little “villages”. All awakenings are moments of leaving the “village”. Slowly and incrementally we awaken to God’s reality. This is what it means to live!
(Audio Available)
