Short Reflection
Jesus calls people to follow the Way
Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
Proverbs 8:1
We’re near the beginning of Mark’s Gospel. Jesus has cured a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day, infuriating the Pharisees, sticklers for the letter of the law.
When Jesus asks them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’, they remain silent as they have no answer.
In the passage we read today, Jesus has climbed the mountain, calling people to follow him.
There’s an intriguing line:
and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him.
It’s evident from elsewhere in the Gospel that it’s the outsiders who are making their way to the Kingdom: the tax collectors and prostitutes; the Pharisees and other professional religious leaders are condemned for their hypocrisy and legalism.
As Wisdom personified, we can read into Jesus’ actions:
To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.
Proverbs 8:4
We are reminded of Newman’s hymn:
O generous love!
that he, who smote
in man for man the foe,
the double agony in man
for man should undergo.
And in the garden secretly,
and on the cross on high,
should teach his brethren, and inspire
to suffer and to die.
Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise:
in all his words most wonderful;
most sure in all his ways.
St John Henry Newman
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