As an alternative: “‘Brothers and sisters: What more shall I say? I have not time to tell of Brady, Gronkowski, Belichick, Edelman, McCourty(s), Kraft, Michel, White, Hightower and Flowers who conquered the kingdom of LA, did what was asked of them, obtained the promises of fans; they closed the mouths of lions and rams, put out raging fires, escaped the devouring sword; no weakness they were powerful, became stronger in battle, and turned back West Coast foreign invaders…”
Another great Super Bowl win! Thanks Pats!
Today’s Gospel reads in part: “…He asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "Legion is my name. There are many of us." And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, "Send us into the swine. Let us enter them." And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned…”
This reading is the author’s clever way of condemning the Roman Legions. “When Augustus became sole ruler in 31 BC, he disbanded about half of the over 50 legions then in existence. The remaining 28 legions became the core of the early Imperial army of the Principate (27 BC – 284 AD), most lasting over three centuries.”
Mark wrote his Gospel around 70 AD just about the time when Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem and the temple due to the Jewish revolt against Roman rule. This was the “little apocalypse.”
No wonder Mark’s story has such an anti-Rome slant with a desire to see the two thousand drown.
Deacon David Pierce
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