We begin by reading a tragic denouement ending of Mark’s story. Jesus is arrested by the authorities and leads to desertion. Jesus second sermon speaks of powers that are toppled by Human. When Mark narrates the moment, disciples were caught off guard. The passion narrative is filled with execution. We cannot understand this message and the hope it bears unless we come to terms with terrible realism. Mark begins the Passion narrative with two stories where Jesus is the King and the other one a Banquet. Each prepares the reader for the tragic turn. The plot is about to take place in which Messiah does not lead people to military and defeat. Mark closes the passion narrative with stories of women who wished to ritually anoint Jesus for burial that indicates there are female disciples who understand the way of the cross and follow it. In 14:1, we are plunged back into the heart of the Judean social order: Jerusalem on the high holy days of Passover. Jesus is at a table with a leper practicing solidarity with the least to the end. A woman who seems a prostitute interrupts him. Those with Jesus object out of concern of wasteful spending. Jesus interprets her action as a beautiful thing. Jesus dramatically recasts her oil over his head. Jesus asks the people to let her be as for Mark women can be seen as true leaders as they embrace the way of the cross. Jesus association with the least in the society is evidenced to the end. The authorities go undercover recruiting Judas as a mole. From the outset, this banquet is fraught with anxiety as Jesus announces that he is aware of the infiltration and is one among the twelve who will betray him. Despite this, Jesus breaks bread with the disciples.
He knew the person who was going to betray him; this was the only way that God would show his love to the whole world. The prophecy had to be carried out at the cost of a sacrifice. Jesus applies the meals not to the Exodus but to himself, as he is the ‘Paschal lamb who renews the blood of the covenant to Himself. This Banquet reinterprets the central ritual of the nation in terms of giving one’s life for the people. Mark does not use ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ as the words of the institution since Mark wants us to remember discipleship practice. Jesus then blesses and breaks the bread. This ritual should not be past but an ongoing process of the people revealing the understanding of discipleship. A familiar story from the life of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero gives contemporary flesh to the intersection of intimacy and betrayal, community and conflict in the context of Eucharist. When he became the auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador, he was noted for his conservatism. There was terror and instead of a homily, the community insisted on a dialogue with Bishop Romero. Father Pedro Declerc, who was celebrating mass with Bishop Romero, said that they did not have conditions to pray together as Romero responded there is nothing to celebrate in that place. Bread had to remain unbroken, and Eucharist could not be shared, as there was a threat of a terrible betrayal. Romero returned to Sakami when war and repression had honed the role of the church and its commitment to justice and the poor. Romero had begun to understand the meaning of betrayal and crucifixion as seen in the body of Christ. Finally, he became a true shepherd to his people, denouncing the violence, calling for repentance on the party of the military and the powerful oligarchy and calling the church to offer pastoral support to the poor(chapter 21). Jesus presence on mount olives signals the beginning of a dramatic march and sermon. Jesus destiny is immediately refuted by Peter.Peter vehement protestations of loyalty showing that they are all complicit in self-delusion. Jesus demonstrates true prayer that takes us to the heart of Mark’s theological argument. As time goes by Judas approaches Jesus and betrays Him with a kiss. Jesus then says the scriptures had to be fulfilled
As Jesus disciples, the challenge of walking with the Lord is how we relate to the poor. It is being argued that Mark’s trial narrative intends to place culpability for Jesus’ death. An analysis of Mark’s account moreover reveals that he has constructed a careful parallelism between Jesus two trials (chapter 22). Peter denies Jesus three times and as he was told, a rooster crawls and Peter suddenly remembers what he had been told by Jesus and weeps bitterly. Jesus goes before Pilate. Mark’s Pilate is a sketch of pragmatism at work. The story of denial of Jesus by Peter requires the disciples to return to the ways of Christ. A story that started in the wilderness ends up on the cross. Jesus is marched to the grand execution under Roman conquest. Simon of Cyrene assists helps Jesus to carry the cross. Jesus is crucified on the cross, and the soldiers divide his clothing. The body of Christ taken by one of the members of the Sanhedrin. Mary and Salome follow Jesus up to the place where He was laid and bring spices to purify the body (chapter 23).
Many Christians who fight for human rights have approved the way of via crucis (way of the cross). A typical via crucis that can be carried out in the U.S includes the following steps, at station one, Jesus is condemned to death; the pilgrimage starts at the inner city where the homeless sleep and the analogy is made clear. At station two, Jesus takes up his cross the procession moves to the city jail where people are condemned on a daily basis. Station three Jesus falls and the pilgrimage moves to an abandoned house, which symbolizes the failure of the government to provide the poor with proper housing. At station four Jesus meets his mother, a grandmother speaks to her grandchildren and weeps about the society that they are living in. At station five the cross id lay upon Simon Cyrene and they fight for the death penalty to be abolished. At station six Veronica wipes Jesus face and a nurse in a hospital for AIDS patients recounts how a patient died in his arms when he was try to sooth his sores and quench his thirst. At station seven Jesus falls again on the sidewalks facing the department of justice a lawyer reflects on the number of young offenders who are taken back to jail after they fall back to crime. the state uses ‘ two strikes and you are out ‘criteria of imposing the people who fall back into crime .At station eight Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, the procession goes to the doorway of a bar that features adult entertainment. Women lead the prayers for other women, sisters weep for their fallen sisters.
Men examine their consciences with respect to their attitude towards all women. At station nine Jesus falls for the third time and the procession moves to the offices of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and reflects on their failure to address the poverty levels in the society. At station ten Jesus is stripped, the language changes to Spanish, prayers are on behalf of the refuges whose dignity is stripped off, as they have to adopt a new culture. At station eleven Jesus is nailed on the cross, outside a health station a doctor speaks of how patients who are nailed to their death because of a system of heath care which does not facilitate for the people without money. At station twelve Jesus dies the pilgrimage move to the uptown part of the town to the transnational company’s headquarters and focuses on how the company has lead to the crucifixion of countless people every day because of the private motive of such companies. At station thirteen Jesus is taken down from the cross, the procession moves to one of the embassy of a country that has executed human rights activists and they demand them to stop. At station fourteen Jesus is laid in the tomb ends the procession ends in the military cemetery. Grave silence is observed until someone speaks of the young people who lose their lives due to the policies of the powerful. They also remember millions of youths who fight each other for things they do not understand (chapter 23).
On the eve of Sabbath morning, the women went to purify the body of Christ. Upon reaching that place, they found that the stone that had covered the cave had been rolled away. As they peer into the dim light of the cave, they came across a figure of a ‘young man’. The young man tells them that Jesus of Nazareth has risen. He tells them to go and tell Peter and the other disciples that Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee. Resurrection is gratuitous, a purely earned gift from God (chapter 24). Francine an African-American grandmother is living a difficult life in the inner city neighborhood of Washington DC. Francine is determined to carry her children and grandchildren over the rocky terrain of drug-infested alleys, gunfights, and disillusionment that is the landscape of her neighborhood. Francine’s love for her family is first. Although her family is not the kind that can be enumerated as, she is a single parent. She tries to build a culture in her children and grandchildren, by telling her own story of the things that she has gone through. She relies on the will of God despite the challenges that she goes through, she tries to remind her children and grandchildren on who they are, she is not perfect but she is faithful. She is a counselor and organizer for her neighborhood. She does not question the will of God in her life. Mark’s story of the resurrection invites each of us to journey to Galilee in the Geography of our own faith (chapter 25).
Conclusion Mark’s story shows how one of Jesus’ disciples by the name Judas, betrayed him. It also elaborates on Passover where Jesus uses the elements to describe himself. This story tells us to have love for the poor and help them when in need. It concludes that faith is the only way to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus.Christians should accept the will of God in their lives. The women in the society are given a place in the discipleship pf Jesus and this shows that they have a great role to play in ministry.
