I love the picture and note of solemnity with which St. Mark paints the opening scene of today’s Gospel. For we are, as the first disciples, on a journey. “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem.” We are on a road, the road of discipleship, that is, of learning, always learning, learning that to follow Jesus is filled with amazing twists and turns, some at God’s direction and intervention, some not; following in the Way of faith verses fear—there is a lot for faith to believe and plenty of things that make us afraid. “They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.” We join the ranks of trembling, fearful saints marching behind Jesus. And that’s the one, most important detail we missed in the middle: “Jesus was walking,” not behind them, or beside them, but “ahead of them.” Jesus leads the way because He knows where He is going and He knows where we are going, and He knows what lies ahead for Him and for us. “Christ leads us through no darker rooms than He has gone before.” Continue reading “A Ransom for Many”