A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Mark. Jesus appeared to the 11 and said to them, go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation. The man who believes in it and accepts baptism will be saved. The man who refuses to believe in it will be condemned. Signs like these will accompany those who have professed their faith.
They will use my name to expel demons. They will speak entirely new languages. They will be able to handle serpents. They will be able to drink deadly poison without harm. And the sick upon whom they lay their hands will recover.
Then after speaking to them, the lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took his seat at god's right hand. The 11 went forth and preached everywhere. Throughout the lord continued to work with them and to confirm the message through the signs which accompanied them. And this is the gospel, the good news of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen.
You're not astonished, of course, that we read today an excerpt from Saint Mark. We practically everything we know from Saint Mark, we know from the New Testament from the and that isn't very much. It appears that he wrote his gospel from Rome, and it also seems very likely, probable, that he wrote it specifically for Gentiles. Now whenever we have the feast of one of the evangelists, it's a fit opportunity to to make a few well chosen remarks on this matter of the of the bible, the word of god, and inspiration. Because today, I mean, right now in our time, the great thrust is not towards what we call organized or established religions.
The thrust today is away from church. It's away from organized religions. As they say, mainline religions are are are sinking. And the thrust is towards evangelicals, evangelicalism. That is an approach to God through Jesus Christ as we know him individually and personally by reading the bible.
And it works. Apparently, works because today, that's the great thrust where you have a great deal of vigor. And, of course, you have this concept of the reborn Christian, which is a very personal individual experience of a rebirth, and it's tied in to some extent also with the charismatic movement. Now I say this simply as a statement of fact of the contemporary scene. It's several months ago that after doing my best to present the teaching of the Catholic church from this pulpit, I went out and was greeting the parishioners out on the steps when several young people, several meaning more than two, it was three, who came up and said, why don't you these were very intelligent young people that I've known for a long, long time.
Known them since I came here in '68. Said, why don't you preach the word of God from the bible? Well, I I had used the bible quite a bit. But you see, I didn't stand up here and hold the bible up and and well, anyway, you know how it's done. I haven't seen them in this church since.
I say, I haven't seen them here since. Because I I said this to them, and they they were absolutely shocked. I said, you talk to me about the bible. I said, where do you read? What is it?
A book? They said, of course, it's a book. See, when you ask questions like this, they look at you as if you're a bit insane, en route to Saint Elizabeth's. I said, well, now what language did you read it in? They read it in English.
I said, is the English? Is is that the the word of God? Now the answer is yes or no. And if you say it's yes, then it was written in English. Now if there's one thing I'm perfectly sure of, and I and I challenge all the scripture scholars from the time of Adam.
The New Testament was not written in English, and you can quote me on that. It was written in Greek. We had there's there's no question of this at all. And for the most part, there's very little question about the author about the the text itself. There are by and large, the text is pretty certain in but it's in Greek.
Saint Mark wrote in Greek. He didn't take his pen and get up in front of a machine and and put it on a graph in English. Whatever he picked up, he wrote it under the inspiration of the holy spirit, but in Greek. Because when you read a translation, you are under the tyranny of the translator. You're reading what someone thinks the Greek says.
And the last time I occupied this book with on a Sunday, which is just a little just a little over a week ago now, just this one little phrase, look above. I there are at least I I have five or six bibles. There are at least six translations of that very simple phrase, which can mean all the way from looking above, pursuing what is above, seeking what is above. And as I pointed out on that Sunday, it can even mean to live for what's above. And all of these are valid translations of the Greek.
So what what is the inspired word, which is the original Greek? You see, you as a rational, intelligent person, if someone asks me and to to believe something and gives me a book, all they've given me is a handful of of some kind of material on which there's a lot of squiggly, funny looking black or yellow or what have you ink or blood or something. What does all that mean? These are signs. What does all that mean?
I ask you to remember one of the earliest incidents after I in the primitive church. Philip was walking along the road, as you know, when when a a eunuch, a Jew, was returning home. And Philip asked him, what are you doing? The man says, I'm reading, and he was reading Isaiah. And Philip, who's walking along, says, do you understand what you're reading?
And the eunuch replies, how can I understand it unless there's someone to tell me what it means? See, there it is. If you give a person a book and if you give five people a book, if you give 10 people a book and ask them to read it and then tell you what it means, you will get 10 different versions. And they will not only be different, sometimes they can be utterly contrary and contradictory. And if there's any if there's anything on God's earth called truth, then truth cannot be contradictory.
It's gotta be consistent with itself and with the absolute truth of God if you believe in God. Now you see, this kind of talk appears to downgrade the bible. As I say, I haven't seen these three young people in church since. But it is not downgrading the bible. It is simply being honest to god about the bible.
It is it is looking at it for what the what the reality is. Now if you come and tell me, as some will say, now look, take it easy. What I am reading, I know I'm reading a book, but god speaks to me directly from that book. But when they talk like this, all I can say is, look at the facts, madam or sir. Because, as I say, people have been reading the bible down the centuries and look at the different opinions they got, especially after the 60 in the sixteenth century and afterwards.
So that's no answer because if you if that's your answer, then you've got to have to say that God almighty is responsible for these contrary contraries and contradictory explanations of the bible. And that is abhorrent to my logical mind that God himself can be inconsistent and false to himself. And so we come back to the necessity of a living voice which hands us the book and which tells us what it means. And without that, infallible living voice of Jesus Christ, we are lost. Notice this text from Saint Mark today.
This text was chosen from Saint Mark where Christ says, go out and teach all nations. Teach them what I have told you. He didn't give them a book. And so the living voice of Jesus Christ today is what we have to thank god for. We have to thank god for his message, the written word, but we have to thank god for the fact that he lives with us, that Jesus Christ lives tangibly in his church, in his Catholic church.
In the name of the father, and of the son, holy spirit. Amen.