Commentary on today's Gospel January 9, 2021 by Fr Luigi Maria Epicoco

Reading the Gospel of Mark one gets the feeling that the main protagonist of evangelization is Jesus and not his disciples. Looking at our churches and our communities, one might have the opposite feeling: it almost seems that the bulk of the work is done by us, while Jesus is in a corner waiting for the results.

The page of today's Gospel is perhaps important precisely for this reversal of perception: “He then ordered the disciples to get into the boat and precede him to the other shore, towards Bethsaida, while he would have dismissed the crowd. As soon as he had sent them away, he went up the mountain to pray ”. It is Jesus who performed the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, it is Jesus now who dismisses the crowd, it is Jesus who prays.

This should really free us from any performance anxiety that we very often get sick of in our pastoral plans and in our daily worries. We should learn to relativize ourselves, to put ourselves back in our rightful place, and to dethrone ourselves from an exaggerated protagonism. Above all because then the time always comes when we find ourselves in the same uncomfortable position as the disciples, and even there we must understand how to face: “When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and he alone on land. But seeing them all tired in rowing, since they had the opposite wind, already towards the last part of the night he went towards them walking on the sea ”.

In moments of fatigue, all our attention is focused on the effort we make and not on the certainty that Jesus does not remain indifferent to it. And it is so true that our eyes are excessively fixed on it that when Jesus decides to intervene our reaction is not of gratitude but of fear because with our mouth we say that Jesus loves us, but when we experience it we remain amazed, frightened, disturbed. , as if it were a strange thing. Then we still need him to free us also from this further difficulty: «Courage, it's me, don't be afraid!».
Mark 6,45-52
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