By James Duckett
Mark 12:25-37
Delight. The crowd listened to him with delight. I want to have a look at this theme of delighting in the Lord through three groups of people. Firstly, the scribes, secondly, the crowd, thirdly, us, how we can delight in listening to the Lord.
The scribes. For this part, I need to backtrack quickly to yesterday’s Gospel. There, the scribe acknowledged that Jesus had spoken well, and Jesus said to him: “you are not far from the kingdom of God.” He didn’t say: “you have found the kingdom of God,” but you are not far from it. So to do what the scribe did, to recognise that Jesus speaks the truth is good and important, but not enough. In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites this scribe the take a further step. He does this through a question: how do you, the scribes explain the fact that the Messiah is both the Son of David and the Lord of David. In this question, Jesus invites the scribe to recognise in him the one who is both of these things, David’s Son and David’s Lord. To go beyond recognising that Jesus speaks the truth, and to see that he is the truth. He invites the scribe to meet him personally, to know him, to love him.
Secondly, the crowd. The crowd does delight in listening to Jesus. Why are they able to do this? Because they have already taken the step that Jesus invited the scribe to take. A few chapters earlier in the Gospel, they stood at the entrance to Jerusalem and shouted: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming.” They have encountered Jesus, they have taken the step of acknowledging him as the Messiah, and they delight to hear Jesus confirm their faith.
Thirdly, us. Where do we find ourselves? Perhaps in some ways or at some times, we are like the scribe. We recognise the truth of what Jesus has taught and continues to teach through his Church, but are invited to take a further step, to follow not only the teachings of Jesus, vitally important as they are, but his very person. Perhaps in other ways we are like the crowds: we already delight in him. Regardless of where we find ourselves, the Lord’s invitation today is the same. To fall in love with him, and to renew that love everyday. As St. Josemaria said: “to be happy, what you need is not an easy life but a heart which is in love.”
A final word on how we can foster and maintain this love, this delight in the Lord in our hearts. There are many things that we already do, there are many things that could be said. Let me leave you with one thought from St. Francis de Sales: “love only resides in peace, always be careful to conserve holy tranquility of heart.” Receiving the Lord’s peace, a peace which the world cannot give, and maintaining that peace allows God to act within us in a most powerful way, allows him to light the fire of love in our hearts. A peaceful heart is not taken up with the anxieties and worries of the world, and so is free to love, free to delight in God.