Videos from Fr Claudio Doglio
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The Way of Formation of the Disciples
In the second part of his Gospel, the evangelist Mark recounts the formative journey through which Jesus seeks to shape his disciples’ mentality. Three times he repeats the announcement of his impending passion, death, and resurrection, yet each time the disciples fail to understand and react negatively. After the first passion prophecy in chapter 8, we find Peter’s reaction. He takes Jesus aside and begins to scold him because, according to Peter, Jesus’ words are strange, absurd, and wrong.
Let us note the contrast between the two scenes. Peter has just professed his faith in Jesus by saying, “You are the Christ,” and immediately afterward reproaches him for saying the wrong things … Is this trust? Is it true that Peter trusts Jesus? If he reproaches him, it is because he thinks he knows better than Jesus how things are. Jesus has just said that he will be killed in Jerusalem, and Peter considers this absurd; he thinks that Jesus’ way of seeing is not right.
He tries to correct him. He does so, at least, with a bit of education: he takes the Master aside and speaks in a low voice, face to face, without being seen by others. Instead, Jesus reacts dramatically: “Jesus turned, and seeing the disciples, rebuked Peter: ‘Get out of my sight, Satan! Your thoughts are those of men, not those of God.’” Satan is a Hebrew term that denotes the function of the prosecutor; it refers to the one who hinders, blocks the path, andputs a spoke in the wheel.
We can say this is the scandal, the stumbling block, something that blocks the path and makes you fall. Jesus calls Peter ‘Satan.’ You are an obstacle; you are a block… Other than a faithful disciple, other than a believer in the messianism of Jesus, he is Satan. It is a common term. It could not be said that the disciple is a devil, because the term ‘demon’ denotes a superhuman nature and a rebellious spirit. It is the impure spirit, rebellious to God, an enemy of man. A disciple is a man, not an angel; it is not a pure spirit.
The term ‘satan,’ translated into Greek as ‘diabolos’ (devil), is a common name. It is a name given to those who oppose, boycott, or row against the tide. ‘You are not a faithful disciple, but one who puts up obstacles.’ “Your thoughts are those of men, not those of God.”
Here is the tricky point. Peter, and also the other disciples of whom he is a spokesman, have a human, very human, too human, earthly thought. They cannot understand what Jesus is saying and do not try to. They accept him as Messiah and love him well as a man, but oppose that dangerous line of life’s sacrifice.
After this first announcement and the first misunderstanding, the first catechesis follows. Jesus calls the crowd and tells them that if they want to come after him, they must say ‘no’ to their ideas, risking the death penalty, meaning ending up on the cross; and to follow him, learn from him, do what he does, and accept his approach. Then follow some episodes in which Jesus confirms his line. On the mountain, he is transfigured and shows his glorious face. The Father’s voice says to the disciples: “Listen to him.” ‘He is right. He is right in everything he was telling you.’
As they come down the mountain, they find the disciples engaged in an exorcism, but they cannot cast out the devil. Jesus intervenes and frees the child. The dialogue with the child’s father is wonderful. He turns to Jesus, saying, “If you can do something,” and, according to Mark’s narrative style, Jesus responds with a slight frown: “If I can! Everything is possible to one who has faith.” Then the boy’s father cries out: ‘I do believe, help my unbelief!”
Here is the fundamental intention of Mark, the catechist of catechumens. Some who accept say they are available, like the disciples, but are still marked by unbelief; they still need help to mature and believe.
We now come to the second passion prophecy at 9:31, and immediately afterward, we find the second scene of misunderstanding. As Jesus spoke of his imminent death, the disciples had been discussing the order of precedence, the places of honor among themselves. When Jesus asked them what they had been discussing on the way, they were ashamed to answer; they remained silent because they had been arguing about who was the first. They had not understood the style of Jesus.
Practically, they still do not understand, and therefore the second catechesis on service follows: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” In this section, Mark has compiled a series of Jesus’ catecheses for the disciples: do not give scandal to the little ones; choose a marriage that is truly a gift of life and for life. The acceptance of the little ones, that is, of those who do not have an important social role, those who do not count; the choice of Jesus rather than human possessions … the rich young man leaves sad, unable to part with his possessions.
And we come to chapter 10, verse 32, the third announcement of the passion, the most explicit one, in which Jesus predicts his passion: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but after three days, he will rise.”
Here we find the full outline of the future passion: the arrest, the interrogation before the priests and the scribes, the condemnation, the transfer to the Roman court, followed by mockery, scourging, and capital execution, but the last word is the resurrection. For the third time, the disciples give a clear sign that they have not understood.
Immediately after, Mark says that the disciples James and John approach Jesus and ask him for something: “Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ He replied, ‘What do you wish [me] to do for you?’ They answered him, ‘Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.’” What glory do they expect, a seizure of administrativeor political power? They hope that in Jerusalem, Jesus will ascend the throne to become king and organize a new government, for which he will need two chief ministers, one on the right and one on the left, the first two positions in the new government. And James and John will be in charge. ‘We want those top two spots.’
Jesus has just described in detail what will happen to him in Jerusalem, yet the disciples who appreciate him have not understood anything; they do not share his mentality; they continue to hold their own ideas and remain fixed in their schemes. And Jesus responds with “No.” He does not give them satisfaction. If they had understood what they were asking, the positions to the right and the left of Jesus would have been occupied by two bandits crucified with him. That will be his glory. But if they had accepted Jesus’ words and imagined that the main places were those of two condemned to death, they would not have asked for them.
Jesus asks them whether they are willing to drink the cup he must drink. It is a Semitic image indicating they will face difficulties. They say, ‘Yes.’ “Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” This is not a symbolic liturgical image. Baptism means immersion. Are you ready for total immersion in difficulties that will surprise me? They say, ‘Yes.’ “Then I give you the honor of suffering with me.’
Shortly after, they arrive at Jericho, the final leg of the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. In Jericho, Jesus heals another blind man. The blind man of Bethsaida was healed in two stages, before Peter’s profession of faith. The blind man from Jericho was healed in one stroke. In this case, we also have the theological symbol of the disciples being transformed by grace, so that the disciples of Jesus can understand and accept his mentality.
There is a need for a miracle. They cannot reach it by their own strength or reasoning alone. An intervention from above is needed, a prodigious work by which Christ opens their eyes. This is an image of baptism, the gift of grace.
When one is open to receiving Jesus, even if he doesn’t fully understand, he is ready to receive the grace of the sacrament, and, in a sacramental way, the Lord truly transforms the heart and mind. It is like opening the disciples’ heads and putting in a new idea, a new way of seeing. To see is like opening the eyes of this blind man, Bartimaeus. We notice an important detail when Bartimaeus throws off his cloak and runs to Jesus because Jesus calls him. Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
This is the same question he asked the disciples, James and John, earlier. To them, he said ‘No.’ Instead, to Bartimaeus, who answered, “Master, I want to see,” he says ‘Yes.’ Jesus keeps asking, “What do you want from me?” And what question should the catechumen, the one who prepares to receive the baptismal grace, ask? The light. The possibility of seeing. ‘Open my eyes … open my heart … open my head … let me understand your style.’ “Immediately, he received his sight and followed him on the way.”
This is an important event. The healed blind man follows Jesus on his way, and the way of Jesus, the one that goes up from Jericho to Jerusalem, 30 kilometers with over 1000 meters of altitude difference, is a one-day leg of a hard day’s walk, a climb in the middle of the desert to Jerusalem, where the tragic epilogue awaits him. And the disciple, a figure of every disciple, the blind disciple, once healed, follows Jesus on the way of the cross, that path that leads to the cross.
Chapter 11 begins the section that narrates the ministry of Jesus in Jerusalem. It opens with the story of the Messiah’s clamorous entrance, arriving on a donkey, as foretold in a verse from the prophet Zacharias, an image of meekness and weakness. He does not arrive as a leader, mounted on a great horse at the head of an army; he comes like a peasant riding a donkey. It is almost an anti-militarist statement, a prophetic sign of that meek and gentle Messiah; he is disarmed to eliminate chariots and war horses.
The crowds acclaim him, but it is superficial acclaim. We have seen how superficial the faith of the disciples who live with him and love him is; however, they cannot truly adhere to his mentality, let alone the crowd. The crowd has accepted this prophet from Galilee because he works miracles and because they expect him to confer political advantages; each dreams of his private interests and acclaim Jesus because it suits them, but they are not convinced of what Jesus is bringing. In the following days, Mark narrates them as moments of catechesis, formative moments inside the temple with the Jerusalem authorities, and it is precisely that clash that becomes the anticipation of the tragic end and the death sentence of Jesus.