COMMENTARY: The very roughness and breathless nature of the Gospel of St. Peter’s ‘interpreter’ makes his stories vivid and arresting.

John BergsmaCommentariesNovember 30, 2020

Be warned! Year B has begun! Year B is, of course, the second of the three-year cycle for the Lectionary at Mass. In Year A, we read from Matthew for the Gospels of Ordinary Time; in Year B, Mark; in Year C, Luke. John is read so heavily in Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and on feast days that it doesn’t get its own year.

So let’s quickly give an overview of Mark! If I sound like I’m in a hurry, its Mark’s influence on me. His is the breathless Gospel — his most typical word of his Gospel iseuthus(41 times), translated “immediately” or “straightway.”

Mark portrays Jesus as a man of action:…