The Gospels are a unique kind of literature. They are a gathering of specific and limited information about Jesus. The main goal of the Gospels is to encourage faith in Jesus and his mission. We do no read them for history but to discern the implications of the story in our lives, for our journey of faith. The Gospels are about now and not back then. Our task is to grow familiar with them. We need to enter into the stories, events and personalities from our own experience. This is our way of encountering Jesus.In the Gospel of Mark there is a particularly relevant section on discipleship. It often is called “The Road to Jerusalem.” This section begins and ends with a healing of a blind man. The message is that like disciples we, the present day readers, are blind to the depth of Jesus’ call. The cure of the blind men symbolizes the gradual and demanding process we must undergo to truly grasp the demands of Jesus. The Road to Jerusalem is nothing less than an invitation to die with Jesus so we can come to life with him.
The passage begins in Mk 8:22 and concludes in 10:52. The healing of the first blind man was unusual in that it was the only miracle that took place in two stages. First, he saw men but they appeared as trees. Then Jesus puts mud on his eyes and he sees clearly. The point is that we enter into the message in stages. “Go sell all you have” is not a onetime garage sale. It happens over a long period of time.
In the concluding passage of this section on discipleship the encounter of Bartimeaus with Jesus is a model of true discipleship. It reveals how Jesus’ followers need a total commitment to walk The Road to Jerusalem if they want to die and rise with Jesus.
There is no subtlety in Marks’s meaning. Mark is brutal in his clarity. The disciples just did not get it. It is the same for us who want to be disciples. We need to accept Jesus on his terms not as we want him to be.
Jesus starts the process with the question. “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29). With his usual strong leadership Peter answers, “You are the Messiah.” (Mk 8:29) Jesus immediately warns them not to tell anyone.
The disciples were bewildered by this. It was followed by the first prediction the Passion and Death. This was a more radical upheaval leading to a new stage of confusion, fear and anguish for the disciples.
This is the first of three predictions of the eventual death and resurrection. Each prediction is followed by an event exposing the blindness of the disciples. In this first prediction Peter takes Jesus aside to rebuke him about this unnecessary talk of suffering and death. Jesus responds by saying, “Get behind me Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mk8:33) The second prediction in Mk 9:30-32 was followed by the disciples arguing among themselves who was the greatest. The third prediction of the Calvary events (Mk 10:32-34) was followed by James and John asking to sit at his right and left when Jesus entered into his glory.
After all three of these incidents Jesus teaches them what it means to die with him.
After Peter’s failure to understand, Jesus gives a powerful directive of what it means to be a true disciple. “He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it. “(Mk 8:34-35)
The bottom line of this passage is that if we want to walk with Jesus we must be totally open to whatever God asks of us. When the disciples fail to understand the second prediction in their quest for personal superiority and privilege, Jesus takes a child and says he who receives such a child receives him. This second invitation to die with Christ invites us to accept even the apparently insignificant persons into our community of care. All are equal and need to be included and treated with dignity. After the third prediction we see the incomprehension of James and John. Jesus says “You know that those who are recognized as rulers among the Gentiles, lord it over them…but it shall not be so among you. Rather whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant.” (Mk 10:42-44) The third way to die with Jesus appeals to us to see the purpose of our lives in service to others.
In the first half of the Gospel of Mark, the disciples were enraptured with the experience of Jesus. More and more they thought of him as being the Messiah. This increasingly led them to interpret Jesus through the lens of their self-interest. When Jesus asked the question of his identity, Peter had no problem blurting in out “You are the Messiah!”
It is at this critical juncture that Mark captures Jesus’ fundamental teaching on discipleship. We have to accept Jesus not as we want him to be but as he is. This is a concern for every day of our Christian journey.
Like the disciples we are truly inclined to the comfortable and convenient model of Jesus, a savior who is there for our needs, to protect us and guarantee security in our quest to live our own life with few demands. Jesus ‘role is on the periphery especially in the good times.
This was the mindset of the disciples when Jesus presented them with the world shattering truth of the Suffering Messiah. For a thousand years the nation of David longed for a return to his power and prosperity. All these dreams of power, wealth and prestige were wrapped up in the longing for the Messiah who was always on the horizon.
The disciples were the first to be invited into the totally improbable concept that the Messiah would have to suffer and die. Their dreams of wealth and power slowly gave way to chaotic confusion and fright as Jesus continued to insist that they go with him on The Road to Jerusalem.
An interesting insight of their broken discipleship comes when we compare them to the rich young man. They were living with shattered dreams, a growing apprehension and muddled hearts. In the end, however, they were faithful unlike the rich young man who walked away sad because he had many possessions.
For our part, we have the same challenge. We are part of a Church that institutionalizes mediocrity. It often seeks to reduce the Christian life to moral precepts and cultural practices. We have to work hard to encounter the Jesus of the Gospels and even harder to embrace the discipleship he is calling us to. Following Jesus is not a task added onto others like a second job or a commitment to work out regularly. It is everything.
Mark captures our dilemma beautifully in two stories in his Gospel. These two stories show us a way out of our broken response to Jesus.
The first is the story of Bartimeaus. In the process of Jesus calling Bartimeaus the word “call” is used three times within twenty words. It signifies the invitation to discipleship. Mark says, “He threw aside his cloak and sprang up and came to Jesus.” (Mk 10:50) Jesus asks: what do you want? He replies: I want to see. This is the true prayer of the disciple. After the cure, Jesus tells him to go because his faith has saved him. Bartimeaus did not go. “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. (Mk 10:52) In following Jesus he was being faithful in accepting Jesus ‘call of complete surrender on The Road to Jerusalem.
In this story of Bartimeaus we see a true disciple in the concrete. The casting away of the cloak is the key. For the beggar, the cloak was the instrument of his livelihood and most likely his only possession. He would place it out in front of him to accept the alms of the travelers to Jerusalem. At night it was the only protection from the freezing cold of the desert.
The second gift of Mark is a small passage after the resurrection. The two Marys go to the tomb and encounter the heavenly messenger. He tells them to go tell the disciples and Peter, “He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him as he told.” (Mk 16:7)
Jesus is giving the disciples a second chance. They are going back to where it all began. He is going to go over the story once again so they can receive the message in the new reality of a Messiah who suffered and died only to rise again to the fullness of life. The breakthrough is clear. They need to change not Jesus. They can now go over the story free of their agenda with a new openness to Jesus.
We, too, have a second chance, indeed, many chances to grasp the meaning of the crucified and risen Christ. We have our own invitation to go to Galilee to encounter Christ with a commitment that seeks to live true Gospel values, when we stay open to the wonder of the liturgy of the Church and most of all with the regular practice of deep personal prayer rooted in the Scriptures.
The Interior Castle
Teresa of Avila did not have the benefit of modern exegesis which has laid out the insight of The Road to Jerusalem with such clarity and depth. She did, however, have a continuing experience of God at the deepest levels of her being. With this divine intimacy she was able to describe in her Interior Castle seven levels that cover the universal experience of God.
It is uncanny how her insights in The Interior Castle are similar to modern exegesis’ understanding of the Markan story of The Road to Jerusalem.
In the first two dwelling place of the Interior Castle, the initial opening to the call of God is received and accepted. This is the same as the disciples accepting the call of Jesus. It is in the third dwelling places that we see the similarities with the disciples’ initial experience on The Road to Jerusalem.
Teresa describes the third dwelling places as a good place to be. There is a new sense of order and direction. There has been real change with transformed insights and values. This clearly was the experience of the disciples in their companionship with Jesus.
However, the third dwelling places have shadow side. The inescapable and deceptive action of the ego goes underground. It often surfaces in the guise of apparent good works. Most often one’s own agenda is the hidden motivation. Self-righteousness is never far from the surface. It is driven by a lust to control the situation. This limits the response to God’s call for total surrender.
Settling for less becomes the norm in the third dwelling places. God’s call for more is gentle but relentless. We want to sink roots, to create a world where we set the direction. Desire to be in charge dominates. The instinct to avoid further struggle dictates the program.
This was clearly the conflict the disciples experienced with Jesus as the Suffering Messiah. They wanted Jesus but according to their interests. This is a major characteristic of Teresa’s third dwelling places.
For Teresa the way out of this dead-end is a constant, open and honest search to understand God’s Word and the commitment to live God’s will in our daily life. This is the struggle of the third dwelling places. It demands giving up control. This, in turn, happens only as we grow in self-knowledge. All of this happens over a long period of time. It is embedded in a personal commitment to deep personal prayer.
Teresa presents a program that energizes this struggle. She says we need humility, detachment and love for our brothers and sisters as the non-negotiable foundation of prayer. These virtues flow from the values of Jesus’ Gospel message.
Following the post resurrection encounter of Jesus with the disciples in Galilee, we next meet the disciples in Acts. They are transformed persons. Gone are the dreams of personal enrichment: “Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean rise and walk.” (Aacts3:5) They are no longer hungry to be number one: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide among all according to their needs.” (Acts 2:44) The fear and anxiety gave way to a new confidence even in the face of going to prison: “In replying to the threat of further imprisonment Peter said, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts5:29)
Teresa talks about this kind of transformation when she describes the fourth dwelling places. This deep personal change flows from a totally new experience. It is the beginning of the mystical journey where God takes the lead. The person enters the state of contemplation.
The Interior Castle with its seven dwelling places is simply a way of explaining how we experience God at the different stages on the journey to the center where we discover our true selves. Self-knowledge, surrender, humility and love grow in each of the various stages. In the fourth dwelling places God takes on a more active role in this transforming experience. This active role by God is called mystical experience.
We must prepare for the fourth dwelling places with a long period of faithfulness to prayer and a committed life. In the end, however, it is a total gift from God.
The fourth dwelling places proceed from the ego-driven and controlled actions of the first three dwelling places towards union with God. Letting go generates the change. A growing awareness delivers us from being petty and thin-skinned. On the contrary, there is a peace that opens us up to surrender and acceptance on an unprecedented level. We experience a new freedom in the Lord.
In the fourth dwelling places the upside down images of the Gospel where first is last and the need to lose one’s life to save it kick in in a forceful way. The basic shift to place God at the center leads to new perceptions never possible before. A less self-centered focus lights up the world in all manner of ways that shatters the former darkness. The new awareness opens up both the grandeur of God and discloses the consequences of our dependence on God. God’s mercy becomes front and center.
The activity of God makes the difference in the fourth dwelling places. The spiritual delights flow from God’s action. This movement of God is contemplation. The individual receives healing that transforms. We no longer try to conquer God but are free and open to be conquered by love. Letting go and letting God has never been so real.
The fundamental teaching of Teresa on self-knowledge and humility now takes place with unprecedented transparency and depth. The experience leads to a growing acceptance of God’s grandeur and mercy. The fourth dwelling places are essentially a bridge that connects what Teresa called the natural and supernatural. Today we understand these events in the overall context of grace. Our good will opens up the possibility but in the end, it is the action of God. This bridge leads to the fifth and sixth dwelling places that intensify the journey to the center: union with God and the total transformation of the person in the seventh dwelling places. Today we understand this journey through the final dwelling places as the complete human development of the individual.
Conclusion
In 1970, Teresa was declared the first woman Doctor of the Church. A Doctor of the Church manifests the Gospel in their teachings over the centuries. This connection between the Road to Jerusalem and the Interior Castle is a clear example of the faithfulness to the Gospels in Teresa’s writings.
