Reflections on the Gospel of Mark

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Friday, November 6, 2026 The calming of the storm is more than a display of power over nature. It teaches Christology (Christ truly God and truly man), ecclesiology (the life and trials of the Church), and the spiritual struggle of each believer. Today we will think about the first part only: ecclesiology. The boat carrying Jesus and his disciples through the storm is an image of the Church, and of every soul that follows him. 1. "Let us cross to the oth

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Thursday, November 5, 2026 "With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private." (Mk 4:33–34) The close of the parables Mark ends his chapter of parables with these two verses. St. John Chrysostom notes that Mark, who loves brevity, adds them to show how the parables work. After the sower, the lamp, the measure, the se

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Wednesday, November 4, 2026 "To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade." (Mk 4:30–32) A parable to encourage In the sower, three of the four soils lose the se

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Monday, November 2, 2026, All Souls' Day The man in the parable has land entrusted to him, whether bought or inherited, and he chooses to use it well. He scatters the seed, which is the word. That is a good investment: seed given up to the soil looks lost, but only that seed bears fruit. Then he waits. He sleeps and rises, night and day, and does not interfere. He doesn't dig up the seed to check on it or force it to grow faster. The land yields fruit "o

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Friday, October 30, 2026 Yesterday we sat with the lamp: it is not lit to be hidden but set on a lampstand. Now Jesus turns to us, the hearers: "Take care what you hear." The question is no longer only what the Word is, but what we do with what we have received. The measure we bring Mark places the saying about "the measure" inside the sower chapter and applies it to hearing. The measure is the desire and docility, the openness, we bring to the Word. God

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Thursday, October 29, 2026, Bible Study Discussion Guide Where we are Jesus has just finished explaining the parable of the sower: the path, the rocky ground, the thorns, and the rich soil that yields thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Right away he adds a short image: a lamp. The sower showed us how the word is received. The lamp shows us what must happen to the word once it has been received. It cannot stay hidden. An absurd action. Jesus asks whether a

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Wednesday, October 28, 2026 The rich soil "produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." Jesus does not describe one harvest, but three. The seed is the same and the sower is the same. What differs is how much the soil gives back. Three measures of harvest A normal harvest in first-century Galilee was roughly sevenfold to tenfold. Even thirtyfold would be a remarkable yield. Sixtyfold is a bumper crop, very rare, and

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Friday, October 23, 2026 Opening We have walked past the path, the rocky ground, and the thorns. Each showed us a way the word can be lost: snatched away, scorched, or choked. Today Jesus finally shows us the soil where the word lives. It is not a different kind of seed or another sower. The seed is the same and the sower is the same. Only the soil is different. St. John Chrysostom says the word has the same power on the path as in the rich soil. What ch

By Sindhu Nadarajan · October 22, 2026 Quick recap This week we have looked at the soils where the word does not bear fruit. On the path, our hearts are like a wayside crowded with traffic. When we are distracted and don't attend to the word, it never sinks in, as "Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them" (Mk 4:15). On the rocky ground, the word is received with joy, but there is no depth to hold it when trial comes. Among the thorns, the word takes root and

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Tuesday, October 20, 2026 Yesterday we stood at the edge of the path, where the seed never got in but was stolen amid all the traffic. Today Jesus takes us one step further into the field. Here the seed does get in. It is received, even "at once with joy." It springs up quickly. And yet, just as quickly, it withers. The problem is not the sower, and it is not the seed. The problem lies underneath. The hard ground beneath Rocky ground is not a field strew

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Monday, October 19, 2026 Today we stay with only the first ground: the path. "Some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up." When Jesus explains it, he says these are the ones who hear, and at once Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them. The path is a busy place. A path is not bad soil. It is good soil that has been walked on too much. Everyone crosses it, and nothing can sink in. So too the heart that is pulled in many directio

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Thursday, October 15, 2026 A parable inside two commands Jesus begins the parable of the sower with a command: "Hear this!" (4:3). He ends it with another: "Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear" (4:9). The story sits between two calls to listen, and Mark is telling us how to read what lies in between. Before it is a lesson about soil, the parable is a summons to hear. "Hear this!" and the Shema Jesus opens with Akouete!, "Hear this!" The Greek verb ako

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Wednesday, October 14, 2026, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I Who belongs to Jesus Yesterday's sandwich closes with Jesus' family standing outside, asking for him. Jesus looks at those seated around him and redefines family: whoever does the will of God is his brother, sister, and mother. Belonging to Jesus is no longer a matter of blood but of hearing and doing. With that, Mark moves straight to the sea, where Jesus teaches a crowd about how the word is

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Tuesday, October 13, 2026 Yesterday we saw how Mark builds a sandwich. Today we look at the filling in the center. The accusation Scribes come down from Jerusalem. This is no local grumbling; it is an official verdict from the religious center. They cannot deny that demons are being driven out, so they explain it away: "He is possessed by Beelzebul." His power is real, they admit, but they call its source evil. Notice the two misreadings side by side. Hi

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Monday, October 12, 2026 Entering the passage Before we look closely at what happens in this passage, we pause to notice how Mark tells it. He is a careful storyteller, and one of his favorite techniques is what modern scholars call intercalation, often nicknamed the "sandwich." He begins one story, interrupts it with a second story as the filling, and then finishes the first. The two stories are meant to be read together, each shedding light on the othe

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Thursday, October 8, 2026 Jesus calls the Twelve to be with him, to be sent out to preach, and to have authority to drive out demons. This authority is not something they own. It is a share in his own power, the same power that silenced the unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum (1:21–28). The Church teaches that every Christian shares in Christ's authority over evil, but this power is exercised in two distinct ways: through ordinary spiritual comb

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Wednesday, October 7, 2026 From being with to being sent Yesterday we heard the first purpose of the call: "that they might be with him." Today, the second: "that he might send them forth to preach." The order matters. Sending flows from being with him. The very word apostle means "one who is sent." We cannot give what we have not first received. We must be sent Mission is not self-appointed. Jesus tells us to "ask the master of the harvest to send out l

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Tuesday, October 6, 2026 Setting the scene When Jesus called the Twelve, he gave them a job description in three phrases: to be with him, to preach, and to drive out demons. We usually rush to the last two, because they look like real work. But Mark lists them in order, and the order is the lesson. Before the apostles were sent anywhere, they were simply invited to stay close. And even when they were sent out, they felt the communion of the Spirit workin

By Sindhu Nadarajan · Monday, October 5, 2026 Setting the scene After the crowds by the sea, Jesus goes up the mountain, the place of encounter and covenant in Scripture. There he summons those whom he wanted, and they come. The call rests entirely on his choosing, not on their merit. The mystery of the number twelve Twelve recalls the twelve tribes: Jesus is gathering and fulfilling Israel, forming a new people. St. Augustine sees more. Twelve is three times four: the Trinit

By Sindhu Nadarajan · October 2, 2026, Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels Yesterday's passage ended darkly: the Pharisees "took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death" (Mk 3:6). Today, Jesus steps back, but the whole world comes looking for him! 1. Jesus withdraws, but is not silenced Jesus "withdrew toward the sea" with his disciples. This is not fear; his hour has not yet come. He knows when to confront and when to step aside. The plotting of the powerful