The Gospel of Mark doesn’t have an Infancy Narrative, but instead gets right into the action. Fr. Eric Immel, SJ, reflects on the urgency of this gospel and reminds us that we don’t need to wait to prepare for the Lord. Based on the readings for Sunday, December 10, 2023.
No dreams? No annunciation? No baby Jesus? What IS this?
I’m Fr. Eric Immel, and this is my one-minute homily.
Mark’s gospel – the shortest, most urgent, and oldest of the four gospels has none of the stories of Jesus’ birth and early life. Dreams and annunciations and births are nowhere to be found. Instead, the gospel begins with the image of a wild man – a desert-dwelling insect eater shouting about one who is to come and baptizing people in the river Jordan. Why?
Early followers of Jesus expected him to come back SOON, and so, perhaps in their preaching, their writing, their brevity – they knew that they needed to get right to the heart of the matter – Jesus will baptize in the spirit, and we need to be ready.
It’s been 2,000 years, but there’s still something to take from Mark’s beginning – there’s no need to wait to share the Lord – the time is now to go out into the deserts of our day and proclaim Jesus to all.
