02242021 – Mk 1. 9-15
Harry Eugene Roach Sr. or “Hal,” as he was better known…was an “American FILM and TELEVISION PRODUCER,” a “DIRECTOR,” “ACTOR,” “STUDIO EXECUTIVE,” who was the founder of his namesake “Hal Roach Studios” in Culver City, California.
The 14.5-acre studio was called “THE LOT of FUN!”
In the early days of film, it was all about making “comedies and making people laugh.” THEN, AS NOW, our world needed a few giggles and smiles…and therefore, “THE LOT OF FUN!”
Roach was active in the industry from (GET THIS) the 1910’s to the 1990’s and is best remembered TODAY for producing “a number of successes” including the “Laurel and Hardy FRANCHISE,” the films of entertainer Charley Chase, and the “Our Gang” short film COMEDY SERIES.
Hal Roach made “a name for himself” in the EARLY YEARS of the “SILENT FILM” industry, producing Laurel and Hardy movies, and the series NOW KNOWN as “The Little Rascals” with Spanky and Alfalfa and the rest of “OUR GANG.”
Back in that “EARLY ERA of film-making,” most movies were COMEDIES, and MOST COMEDIES followed a designated formula.
The CLIMAX of the film would ALWAYS BE “the chase scene.” People loved the CHASE!
When INEXPERIENCED DIRECTORS and SCREEN WRITERS tried to pad a film’s script with “extra dialogue,” Hal Roach would tell them, “JUST CUT TO THE CHASE.”
Film historians credit Roach with “coining this phrase” and “using it often.”
“CUT TO THE CHASE,” Roach insisted!
In other words, DO NOT keep the audience IN SUSPENSE for too long, and whatever you do, DO NOT let them GET BORED.
GET TO THE POINT.
MOVE IT ALONG.
CUT TO THE CHASE.
YOU’VE GOTTA KEEP THINGS MOVIN’…
You’ve got to keep your FOCUS.
You’ve got to center yourself on what IS important, and on what IS necessary…
Hal Roach and the author of MARK’S Gospel would have UNDERSTOOD each other PERFECTLY. They probably would have been “best buds.”
Tonight’s gospel reading brings us back to the first chapter, “near the beginning” of Marks’ story.
Mark does not WASTE ANYTIME; he gets RIGHT to the point. IMMEDIATELY.
In six SHORT verses, he lays out THREE important scenes that “CUT TO THE CHASE.”
No matter WHICH GOSPEL we read, the first Sunday in Lent always brings us to the story of Jesus’ TEMPTATION in the desert or in the wilderness.
Mark’s gospel DOES NOT give us much information about the FORTY DAYS -Jesus spent in the wilderness, or HOW Satan TESTED him THERE. It was not important!
Mark actually only devotes TWO SHORT VERSES to these forty days.
“And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” (PERIOD)
That is, it! More than a month, SUMMARIZED.
Before THE WATER has even DRIED ON HIS SKIN from being baptized in the Jordan River, Jesus is DRIVEN, THROWN, TOSSED, PUSHED AND SHOVED into the wilderness…by the SPIRIT.
And the very next thing you know…he is on a PUBLIC STAGE – saying stuff like REPENT…and BELIEVE IN THE “GOOD NEWS…” or (in the gospel.)
Baptized-hangin’ out IN THE WILDERNESS and preachin’ PUBLICLY…all in a handful of verses…there is obviously NO TIME TO WASTE! Talk about “CUT TO THE CHASE!”
Cutting to the chase DOES NOT mean going FASTER. Mark is brief NOT FAST.
Mark is terse, blunt, short, succinct.
CUTTING TO THE CHASE means “cutting out all the UNNECCESSARY noise in our lives,” “all the CLAMOR of THINGS” that pull our attention away from God.
Cutting to the chase means giving God our FULL ATTENTION. HIS DUE.
Cutting to the chase means FOCUSING ON what IS important. Cutting to the chase means NOT GETTING BOGGED DOWN with all the craziness of this life.
It means centering ourselves on that which is important. PRIORITIZING!
THAT, (in a nutshell,) is the Season of Lent. And it is time to CUT TO THE CHASE. Amen.