Monuments    There are monuments established to remind everyone of significant events. Cornerstones of buildings are often hollowed out to be filled with significant memorabilia. Recently Alice and I drove by the church building where we worked through significant events in our lives—dating, marriage, dedication of our first child. The cornerstone of the building has the date of the building’s original construction carved into it.
   St. Mark said that Jesus healed a leprous man: “And warning him strongly, then he sent him out.” (1:43) Scholars vary in their interpretation of the word “warning.” It is a strong word—more than just caution. Among the interpretations of this word, some melodramatic, the most likely translation would be to “warn sternly.” It could be that Jesus cautioned the man about what he would face in the coming ritual of purification. Perhaps Jesus described to him the meaning of the new, “cleansed,” life. Another possibility—there is no textual reason given for this stern warning—could be that Jesus didn’t want the man to memorialize the actual place of his cleansing: no stone memorial, no building covering the site, no plaque. His new life should be the memorial. He should avoid worshiping the site rather than worshiping the source of the cleansing— a thought worth remembering. Directory