KNOWING AND BELIEVING THE SECRET

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Mk 1:21-28

One of the characteristics of the gospel according to Mark is what exegetes call “The Great Messianic Secret”. Until the very last verse of his gospel, Mark kept the real identity of Jesus from all his characters. All. Except one. “When the centurion who stood facing Him saw how He breathed His last he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mk 15:39).

Despite their first hand experience of the many miracles that Jesus did, the disciples would always ask one another in the end, “Who is this man? What kind of a man is he?” Of course, we, the readers of Mark, know who this Man is and what kind of a man He is. He is Jesus, the Son of God. The centurion already knew that before we ever did. The unclean spirit in the gospel today also knew who Jesus was not only ahead of us but even before Jesus uttered any word to it.

The centurion knew, the unclean spirit knew, and we, too, know. But the disciples did not, at least while Jesus was still with them. Eventually, they, too, would know and come to faith. The centurion – we have no biblical evidence that his initial acknowledgement of Jesus as the Son of God eventually led him to seek for baptism. The unclean spirit – how can it come to faith? It knew who Jesus was but did not believe in Him. We know Jesus and we believe in Him. The disciples came to know, too, and countless of them stood steadfast in their faith in Him even unto the shedding of blood.

The Great Messianic Secret of Mark is not a matter of knowing but of believing. One may know the secret but believing it is far more important. It matters less when one comes to know the secret than how one believes in it.

As Jesus releases a man from the bondage of an unclean spirit, may He frees us from all that binds us to any slightest unbelief in Him. An equally important prayer though is that we may reveal the secret of Christ to others and lead them to faith in Him by the lives we live.