Week 1: The Hidden Christ
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Fr Matt Drummond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Mardyke Team Lent Course
Time: Feb 24, 2021 08:00 PM London
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[Begins]
O Lord open our lips.
That our mouths may proclaim your praise.
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever
'The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. [...] John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.'
[Mark 1.1, 4]
Who is Jesus? Where did he come from? What were his origins?
If we go to St Mark's gospel we get no answers whatsoever. Indeed, St Mark's gospel tells us nothing of the early life of Christ. Rather Jesus appears fully formed on the banks of the Jordan, there to be baptised by John and is then immediately driven into the wilderness for the next 40 days.
Indeed, there are only a few references to Jesus's family in Mark's gospel: Mark 3.31-5 w here we get the reference to Jesus's mother and brothers (no sisters are mentioned), and Mark 6.5 where Jesus is referred to as the son of Mary (not Joseph!) and is named as a carpenter.
Neither of these two references are positive. In the first Jesus's mother and brothers come to take him away, because people believe him to be 'out of his mind'. In the second the people of Nazareth reject Jesus precisely because they know him: 'How can this man we know claim to be God's son, or to exercise authority, and the reject him out of hand.
---
Even though we know nothing of Jesus's early life from St Mark, we do know that he was a carpenter, and in all likelihood he would have followed in the footsteps of his (step-)father, Joseph.
In this image by John Everett Millais we meet a very young Jesus in the workshop of Joseph. The image is outwardly a simple one, telling us a simple story. Jesus has hurt his hand. Joseph and Mary express concern, and a fellow apprentice rushes forward with water to cleanse the would. The image is filled with meaning:
- First there are the instruments of the Passion: a ladder; a hammer, and the nail on which Jesus has pierced his hand; wood.
- The young boy who rushes forward with water is John the Baptist (note his hairy garments), and he is holding a bowl of water, to baptise? Or a reference to the bowl of water in which Pilate will wash his hands?
- Sheep peer in through the open doorway. Lambs reminding us of Christ the Paschal Lamb, or of ourselves the flock of Christ? (As Psalm 95 puts it 'we are the people of his pasture, the flock that is led by his hands'.
As in most of the images we will be reflecting on this Lent, Jesus forms the still quiet centre of the image. In this image he does not struggle or complain despite the pain he must be in, rather he accepts quietly his suffering and pain, and submits to his mother's care. As the Passiontide hymn puts it 'yet cheerful he to suffering goes, that he his foes from thence might free'.
For reflection
What are our hopes this Lent? What do we hope to do or learn? What do we want to take up, or give up? (Take a moment to ask for the Holt Spirit's guidance first in what we should be taking up/ giving up, and then for the strength to do so, remembering that God calls us to the possible, not to the impossible.)
In this image we see a quiet and submissive Jesus. Who from our lives, past and present has taught us about, or embodied something of the life and nature of God?
Each person has their place in the story told by this image. Where do we see our place in the life of God? What can we do to find that place, and more fully inhabit it?
Concluding prayer
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