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Good morning. Today is the feast day of St Mark the Evangelist, who as it happens is also the patron Saint of Venice. His significance for that historic city is evidenced in the magnificent Piazza and Basilica which bear his name. These also serve as a magnet to the thousands of tourists who gather each day and form long queues to enter the church and view its golden domes and precious mosaics. Among the four Gospel writers, St Mark is represented by the symbol of the Lion, and that’s another image which is to be found all over the city, from St Mark’s Square to the gates of the mighty Arsenal, the dockyard from which ships sailed out to enforce Venice’s power and prestige across the Mediterranean world.
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The lion is an effective symbol of power – but there’s something ironic in attaching it to the Gospel which bears Mark’s name. For of all the Gospels in the New Testament, it’s the shortest and the starkest, the one which most clearly emphasises both the suffering of Jesus and the weakness and fallibility of the disciples. It’s a gospel which challenges readers as to where exactly we should put our trust, and which suggests that this is not to be placed in human wealth and power but in the one who comes to save and redeem us as the Servant King. In time, even the mighty Venetian empire was to wax and wane, but Christian faith teaches that the truth revealed by St Mark the Evangelist still remains; that we are saved by a God who comes to us in our weakness and redeems us not by force but through his love.
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Merciful God, In Jesus you reveal your strength in weakness and your love in service; help us as we undertake our daily business not to be misled by the claims of power and prestige, but to find our true worth in the service of others. Amen.
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