Mk 16:15-18
15[Jesus appeared to the Eleven and] said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18They
will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly
thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they
will recover.”
Reflection:
Proclaim the gospel to every creature. The
passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus have become a deep personal
experience of faith and conversion for his disciples. As Jesus had
predicted, they all fell at the time of testing, abandoning their
Master when he is arrested. But Jesus overcomes death and, with it, the
failure of the disciples. At the resurrection, they are reconciled with
him. They are now sent to proclaim the gospel and their own faith to
every creature.
It is in the resurrection that the
words and deeds of Jesus take on a unique significance in the history
of humanity. The gospel has to be preached to everyone because Jesus is
the only way to the fullness of life with God. All peoples should know
this that they may discover and have their own personal experience with
the risen Christ, and so be able to unite their life with that of Jesus
and find in him truth and salvation.
In a special way, Paul experienced the
loving and transforming power of God in the risen Christ. He was a
zealous persecutor of the followers of Jesus. But after the risen
Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Paul completely altered
his judgments and values, and he immediately went to preach the gospel
to the Gentiles with great passion and zeal.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel.
It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:
for Jew first, and then Greek” (Rom 1:16).
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