Sermon for the Eve of St. Mark
“Be ye not troubled”
Mark’s feast day fell within Easter Week and so is transferred to the first Tuesday after that week. There is something sacrosanct about the special readings and spiritual focus of Easter week that brooks no other considerations even when, as in the case of Mark, they provide a certain commentary upon the mystery of the Resurrection.
Mark is the saint of Eastertide. The Collect for his day of commemoration draws upon both the epistle reading from Ephesians and upon the Gospel reading taken from Mark. Rather than being “carried away by every blast of vain doctrine,” as the Collect colourfully and profoundly puts it, building upon the Paul’s more modest phrase of “every wind of doctrine,” we seek to “be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel.” And that means being not troubled even in the midst of troubling times and circumstances that pertain to the meaning of the coming of Christ’s kingdom. In other words, in difficult times of persecution when there is every reason to be troubled and to be afraid, we are exhorted to “be not afraid” as Mark’s account of the Resurrection at Easter wonderfully puts it. Here, too, we have the recollection of Christ’s words to Peter and James and John and Andrew, a kind of inner circle, it seems, about the times of wars and rumours of wars, of natural disturbances and troubles which are, Jesus says, “the beginnings of sorrows.” It is in that context that we are not to be troubled. Why? Because such things like persecution and suffering are the occasions for witness and testimony, for “speak[ing] the truth in love.”
I like to think that this is the real fruit of Mark’s Gospel and witness. His Gospel ends, at least in terms of what is called the shorter ending, with the words, “they were afraid,” even though the angel told them not to be afraid. Mark, I like to think, confronts himself in his fears and troubles, perhaps as the young man who runs away naked from the scene of Christ’s capture. Mark is aware of his own limitations and shortcomings. Christian faith is not about human heroism, a kind of willpower on our part for that would be to miss the whole point. The real point is that the Resurrection is God’s doing. The real point is about our utter and complete inability to do the good that we would and our utter and complete ability to do the evil that we would not, to use Paul’s words, words which resonate for me about Mark.
He has realized as few have with such perspicacity that what we want we cannot of ourselves achieve. He points us as few do so wonderfully, so clearly, to the grace of the Resurrection. The point is that it is all grace, all the grace of God, and yet all the grace of God at work for us and in us. To begin to grasp this is to begin to be defined by an overwhelming sense of joy and wonder which nothing, absolutely nothing in our worldly vale of tears can possibly counter. It is the peace and the joy that passes understanding. We need not be troubled. We need not be afraid. Let the good news of Christ’s Resurrection establish you upon the truth which Mark in his life and Gospel opens out to us.
“Be ye not troubled”
Fr. David Curry
Eve of St. Mark (transf.), 2019