Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Now that the Jesus had risen the full truth of the Gospel was revealed. This was good news that was better than anyone might have guessed after first being much more difficult and challenging than anyone dared to imagine. God himself became one of us, lived among us, offered has life as a sacrifice for our sins, destroyed our death by dying, and opened the way to us for eternal life by his rising from the dead.
Jesus was the suffering servant of Isaiah, the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was the lamb of God that Abraham promised that God himself would provide as his offering. But he was also the son of David, the one over whom death had no rightful claim, making it impossible that he be held by it.
People had been hoping for a military leader to come in and destroy their enemies. But Jesus recognized that our true warfare was not against flesh and blood. He himself triumphed over the Devil and gave his Church the power to live victorious lives, gave her weapons of spiritual warfare with which the enemy could not compete, from which he ultimately must flee.
We tend to get invested in things that can only ever be temporary. And the degree to which we allow the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, to captivate us and motivate us, is the degree to which we become disinterested in the Kingdom and bored by the good news. We lose the eternal perspective that we need to appreciate the Gospel, and in doing so become captives to the vicissitudes of life.
What can we learn from Saint Mark and his Gospel to help us not succumb to the numbing deceptive influence of temptation? In him we can hear the vibrant reality of the Gospel, that it is not a mere fabrication or fairytale, but a message with supernatural power that extends even into the sphere of the natural and the material. Signs have accompanied the proclamation of the Gospel in every age, even our own. These serve as reminders that the Lord himself remains with us, working with us and confirming the word through accompanying signs.
We can also learn and remember the essential nature of the Gospel proclamation, since it is those who believe that will be saved, whereas those who persist in culpable unbelief will be condemned. When we see Jesus himself came to proclaim the good news precisely to save the world from the fires of hell we can see how important this gift was, and learn a bit of fear that we our anyone might not receive it. This is, perhaps, still servile fear. But for those of us who are meant to be servants, whose motives still haven't been transformed into the pure love which can alone cast out fear, it can be useful and indeed a genuine blessing to us as we progress along the way.
These signs will accompany those who believe
We aren't meant to begrudge God the fact that signs and wonders do not happen according to our preference or on our timetable. We, typically, would prefer to do flashy and obvious mighty deeds in order that we ourselves would not need faith. But signs and wonders are never a replacement for faith, but rather are always meant to draw people past obstacles to unbelief into true faith, faith that no longer depends on signs. When those of us who already believe demand signs to sustain our belief we are being ungrateful and are missing the point. But we should nevertheless remain willing to let the Lord work through us for those others who may truly need these miracles as evidence. We may yet be surprised by what he himself desires to do even through weak and flawed creatures such as us.
Instead of the pride that makes us demand signs almost as though for entertainment we should embrace the humility recommended by Saint Peter, allowing God to be God, to do things in his way and according to his timing, so "that he may exalt you in due time".
What does it look like when someone truly internalizes the Gospel message? She has a deeply rooted peace that can even appear reckless in the eyes of the world. This characterized all of the saints and defined their astonishing capacity to endure all things for the sake of mission. It began for them in the same way it can begin for us, which is by embracing this call of Saint Peter:
Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.
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