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This first chapter explores the Word of God in Genesis chapter 1 and John chapter 1. Some basic points about scritpure and tradition are covered. This chapter also introduces some basics about prayer and leadership.
INTRODUCTION
This course on Mark's gospel presumes you have some familiarity with Christianity and want to go deeper into your faith and walk with Jesus. We will journey with Jesus through Mark's gospel. We will allow Mark to let us build a deeper friendship with Jesus who will reveal God's Love and guidance for us. This journey is not just about coming to a better understanding about Jesus, but to actually encounter the living Christ and build a friendship with Him. It will involve some reading, reflecting and prayer.
The course is broken up into two parts which together cover all of Mark's gospel. This first part will lay the foundation and cover some essential points for the Christian Disciple. A disciple is someone who wants to follow Jesus. The second part will build on that foundation and lead us into the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The course is designed to be completed over a number of weeks with a chapter for each week. Daily readings are also given to help develop prayerful habits and extend the reflection time, and thus deepen the richness of insight gained.
Ideally, there is a weekly meeting where a group of people completing the course can come together and share the insights gained and build friendship with each other. There is also an introductory chapter and suggested group method included in this course.
We are about to study God's Word. The Bible or scriptures is also called God's Word or the Word of God. To gain a better understanding of God's Word, we will start with John's Gospel, which begins with, "In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the Word was God." (Jn 1:1)
How do you understand this passage?
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John's gospel is full of connections and depth. He borrows words from other stories and weaves them into his gospel. Thus he weaves the imagery and meanings of the other stories into his own, but in such a way to bring about fresh meanings and connections. His opening line is no exception.
"In the beginning...."
These are also in fact the first words of the Bible and so John is taking us back to Genesis the first book of the Bible to the story of how God created the universe. To be able to understand what John wants us to, we must first have an understanding of the first creation account in Genesis.
"In the beginning, when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth had no form and was void; darkness was over the deep and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters." (Gen 1:1-2)
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the language of the Jews. Like English, words in Hebrew can have more than one meaning. For instance in English the word ring can mean a circle or it can mean to give some one a phone call, eg She lost her ring and had to ring her husband. In another language there would be a different word for each meaning. When something is translated, we loose something in the translation. The core meanings are still gained, but a bit of research is needed for a more complete picture.
Can you give some other examples of a word with more than one meaning?
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We start with 4 'ugly' words, 'no form', 'void', 'darkness' and 'deep'. The Hebrew word for 'deep' can also be translated as 'abyss'. In other words, a profound chaos.
"The Spirit of God hovered over the waters"
The Hebrew word translated here for Spirit is "ruah" which also means breath and wind.
"God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light."
"Let there be light" is one word in Hebrew, "Light!" and Light came into existence. We have here in this passage God breathing and then speaking. But already this breathing also is an expression of God's Holy Spirit, because the word for breath is also the word for spirit. In this case the word God spoke was "Light!" and instantly whatever was spoken came to be. God created by speaking his word for each of the remaining 5 days. Then he rested. This word was so powerful it created the whole universe.
We can now study God using this text. The study of God is theology and the person who studies God is a theologian. This text explains that God created the whole universe out of nothing, by speaking. This means God is very powerful. If God can do that, can he then do anything? Obviously there are no limits to his power if he wanted to use it. God is all-powerful. We use the word omnipotent to describe this, 'omni' meaning 'all' and 'potent' meaning 'powerful'. There are other 'omni' words to describe God, do you know what they are?
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It is this all powerful word that John highlights at the beginning of his gospel. Now we can go back to John's gospel and pick up where we left off.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (Jn 1:1-5)
John describes this dynamic of God speaking 'the Word', through which all things were created. But he takes us deeper, he indicates that this Word existed with God before it was spoken and that what has come into being in the Word was life and this life is the light of all people. Who is this Word?
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We can see further down in verse 14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." The Word is Jesus. Do you know what name we give the mystery of the Word (God) becoming man (Jesus)?
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This is what we celebrate at Christmas. The coming of Jesus to be among us. God with us. The word Emmanuel means 'God with us'. God is always with us.
This passage clearly indicates that Jesus, the Word existed with God and was God. Let us now reflect back to Genesis again. To speak a word we need a speaker and we need a breath to carry the word. Let's put this all together into a table
| Speaker | |
| Breath | Holy Spirit |
| Word | Jesus |
If the breath/wind/spirit ('ruah') is the Holy Spirit and the Word is Jesus, then who is the speaker?
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We can see here a Trinitarian image that John leads us toward at the start of his gospel. We see God the Father speaking the Word (God the Son) by the breath of God the Holy Spirit. One God in three persons. Each person is involved in the work of creation. Each person is needed for creation to happen. We can better understand John's words "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."
All of this may seem like pie in the sky to some and far removed from our own lives... but read on.
"What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people."
Let us now take a personal journey. Each of us are troubled at times in our life. We experience something of the darkness that may come our way. We may feel empty as if there is a deep void within us. Sometimes we feel like we are in an abyss and unable to get out. We clamour and struggle seeking some kind of order, but it just seems like chaos. I think we can all talk about times like that in our own lives. This is the place where the Bible starts, in Genesis with the 'void', 'darkness', 'emptiness', 'the abyss' and 'chaos'.
God wants to bring his light, life and love into our lives. Genesis explains that in that very darkness God brings light. John goes on to explain that it is there within the chaos that through Jesus, life and light are created. And Jesus comes into creation and eventually takes on flesh and lives among us. God with us, not to condemn but to save and to love.
"But how do I get this new life?"
What Genesis and John explains, is this life comes through the Word of God, Jesus which is also the Scriptures, the Bible. In other words, by reading the Bible, Jesus is formed in us, He comes to live in us, and this new life within us, becomes the light to guide our life by. By reading God's word we are brought into the new life of God and share in God's inner life. Divine life, light and love become ours.
Can you describe a time when you were experiencing some kind of darkness/chaos and then something helped bring light and life to the situation?
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Let me highlight some key concepts:
Jesus is the Word of God, through whom all creation came to be, including you.
Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity, fully God and fully man. (We will explore this later, it does take a bit to become comfortible with it).
Jesus comes to bring life, light and love.
We can start to experience this by reading the Bible which is God's word, which draws us into relationship with Jesus.
So as we explore Mark's gospel, Jesus will be formed within us in a new way and we will have a deeper relationship with him.
This new understanding we have about God, we call a revelation of God. This revelation (new understanding) comes through the Word of God. We are now ready to understand what the Church has declared about revelation in a special document that describes it in greater depth, 'the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation', called 'Dei Verbum' or in English 'God's Word'.
Dei Verbum - God's Word
What has come to be in the Word is life, light and love. In other words, salvation. Salvation is experiencing a life full of life, light and love.
How can God ensure that this salvation is passed on to all generations?
We are now ready to read straight from Dei Verbum. I will hightligh key points on the right.
| 7. In His gracious goodness, God has seen to it that what He had revealed for the salvation of all nations would abide perpetually in its full integrity and be handed on to all generations. | God uses his all powerfulness (omnipotence) to ensure that the full revelation would be able to be passed on to all generations. |
| Therefore Christ the Lord in whom the full revelation of the supreme God is brought to completion (see Cor. 1:20; 3:13; 4:6), commissioned the Apostles to preach to all men that Gospel which is the source of all saving truth and moral teaching, (1) and to impart to them heavenly gifts. |
Jesus is the full revelation of God's love and goodness, ie salvation. This revelation is also called the gospel. The Apostles are to preach and impart graces. |
| This Gospel had been promised in former times through the prophets, and Christ Himself had fulfilled it and promulgated it with His lips. This commission was faithfully fulfilled by the Apostles who, by their oral preaching, by example, and by observances handed on what they had received from the lips of Christ, from living with Him, and from what He did, or what they had learned through the prompting of the Holy Spirit. | The Apostles did hand on the truth of Jesus, by word and action. What was passed on is called 'Tradition' which comes from the Latin and means 'to pass on'. |
| The commission was fulfilled, too, by those Apostles and apostolic men who under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit committed the message of salvation to writing. | One source of the word of God, Jesus is the Scriptures. |
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But in order to keep the Gospel forever whole and alive within the Church, the Apostles left bishops as their successors, "handing over" to them "the authority to teach in their own place." |
This authority Jesus gave to the apostles was passed on to the Bishops. |
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9. Hence there exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. |
Scripture and Tradition come from Jesus, the Word of God and lead us to Jesus, God. |
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For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known. |
Scripture Tradition is fully and without error passed on to all believers |
| Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence. | Therefore the Catholic Church draws her certainty from scripture and the Traditions of the Church, ie from the sacraments, saints, practices etc. |
I encourage you to read the whole document of Dei Verbum on the internet. There is also a sharebook on this site that explains some of it.
We come into the life of God through scripture, but also through the practices of the Catholic Church, through the sacraments such as Mass/Eucharist, and the hospitality of the Church which has been practiced since those first disciples joined Jesus. It is the hospitality of a small group that helps us come into deeper relationship with Jesus as well as the Sunday Mass as well as the practice of prayer.
PRAYER
I invite you to spend some time in prayer each day. I suggest 5 minutes and the following method.
1) Call to mind God's presence, by making the sign of the cross.
2) Read some scripture, or the suggested passage for the day. Read it slowly. If something catches your attention. Think about it. If your mind starts to wander, go back to reading the scripture. It does not matter if you don't finish reading the whole passage. It is more important to think about God and reflect on his goodness.
3) If something comes to mind, particularly as a response to what you read, to do a particular thing, then make a decision to do it.
4) Finish with an Our Father.
LEADERSHIP
The first and most important lesson in leadership is to take care of your relationship with Jesus. It is the source and summit. The source - all our strength comes from him. The summit - our ultimate goal is to be with him.
Please read Luke 10:38-42
Leadership is not about doing, it is about being. Ultimately being at Jesus' feet listening to him. It is the best part. The saints achieved so much in their lives - why? Because they loved Jesus. They were captured by that love. They spread that love. The first thing is to have that love. Prayer builds that love. By spending time in prayer we grow in love and become purified of our wrong motives for doing things. We no longer seek goals for our sake, but for his sake. Ultimately Jesus will give us the strength to pray like he did, "Father not my will but yours be done."
If we live it, others will see it and they will begin to follow, even without us saying a word. "Preach always, if necessary, use words." What better sign can we give than to go to prayer. Jesus himself gave this example.
We must be disciplined as leaders. St. Paul knew this. Please read 1 Cor 9:25-27. How do think he was disciplined?
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The first discipline is prayer.
How would you sum up what you have learnt this week?
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Here are the suggested scriptures for this week. Next week we will have a closer look at scripture and learn about St. Mark.
1) Gen 1:1-2:4a
Write down any reflections you have on reading through this passage.
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2) John 1:1-17
Write down any reflections you have on reading through this passage.
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3) Ez 37:1-14
Notice the words are connected with the breath or wind. That these words are powerful and create life.
Everytime you read God's Word, God is speaking and his Holy Spirit is active in transforming your life, even without you noticing it. In fact most of the time he prefers to work without anyone noticing it, because he is humble, and wants you to grow in faith. But over time you cannot help but clearly see the effects of his grace working in your life, if you keep reading his word.
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4) What does friendship with God mean? I think it has been best described by the Bishops of Vatican II when they wrote, "In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4).Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself." (DV 2)
Friends share what they have. A divine friend shares divinity. This quote clearly states that God wants to share his divinity with us! What do you think divine nature is like?
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Jesus wants to be our friend and have fellowship with us. He invites us. He does not demand. He invites us. Out of his love he speaks to us as friends. He wants to live among us. He wants to fellowship with us to share his divine nature with us. Let me make this as clear as I can:
God wants to share ALL that he has with us. The universe is not the most important thing he has. The most important thing he has is himself. This is far more important than anything. God wants to share his very self with us, because he loves us. God invites us to share ourselves with him.
How does God share himself with us?
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5) Mark 1:35-39. Jesus though he would have been tired still got up to pray. So too must we.
6) 1 Cor 9:25-27 Keep persevering.
7) Mark 1 We will be finally starting with the gospel. It is good to become familiar with the first chapter.
- If the sharebook has a MSWord, PDF or Open Office version, then the respective icon will
appear and when clicked will take you strait to the document.
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Dei Verbum
