Point of Reference (Mark 6: 14-16)

The main story of the Gospel for today is preceded by three verses with Herod wondering who Jesus was. Some said Jesus was a prophet like the other prophets. Some said he was Elijah who had been prophesied to make a come back appearance. But Herod insisted that it was John the Baptist whom he had beheaded.

It must have been the guilt talking. He was hesitant, after all, to have John the Baptist beheaded. But Herodias and Herodias' daughter tricked him into doing it. So when he saw Jesus (who was after all John's second cousin) and heard Jesus' message, it must have been like seeing a ghost.

It's very human to have these little constructs in our head in which we fit phenomena. In this passage, we see the following constructs: prophets, Elijah, and John the Baptist. In an earlier passage, we see the construct "Nazarene" when Philip asks, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" These constructs help us to gain a handle on things.

But the constructs never capture reality (ex. something good did come out of Nazareth) and Jesus was a reality like no other. The Messiah, as Peter would later proclaim. A God-made man.

When we view reality through our constructs, it helps us to get a handle on things. But sometimes, it is these handles which prevent us from recognizing what confronts us.

Luke 2:22-40: Blood and the Presentation at the Temple

This little exercise of posting thoughts on the reading for the day has helped me to understand the liturgical calendar more and more.

For the past few days, the Gospel readings have walked through the early chapters of Mark and then suddenly, today, the reading is about the presentation at the temple. So a grown-up Jesus is suddenly a baby again.

But of course the reason that's celebrated today (breaking momentum as it were) is because it's the 40th day since Jesus' birth and this was the time prescribed for the sacrifice of a lamb and a dove or two turtledoves (so that's where it came from!) which symbolized the consecration of the firstborn son and the purification of Mary after forty days of not being able to touch anything sacred.

Seen in the light of this sacrifice of turtledoves and Mary's purification, I can't help but think that there was a lot of blood involved in this little story. Right before this was a single line on Jesus' circumcision which happens on the 8th day after a boy's birth. (I learned that there used to be a Feast of the Circumcision and the Holy Name of Jesus on January 1 but that was changed to the Solemnity of Mary in 1969.) Circumcision involves blood and symbolizes the renewal of God's covenant with his people.

The birth of Jesus involved a lot of blood as all births do. And that blood required Mary to go through a purification period of 40 days and she was not allowed to touch anything sacred. Ironically, she was touching the most sacred thing that could be touched- God himself which just goes to show that God came to (touch and) be touched, and rules of exclusion are set aside.

Then there is the sacrifice of the turtledoves. The turtledoves are offered by the priest to make atonement for the woman who gave birth. In one entry in the internet, a claim is made that the blood of the turtledoves are spread on the sides of the altar of the sacrificial lamb.

All this serves as a preview to the crucifixion, the climax, as it were of blood-letting. The Sacrificial Lamb covered in blood, atoning for humanity's sins, and establishing a perfect covenant.

And a mother, who once held a bloody baby upon his birth holding a bloody son after he was taken down from the cross.