His Presence Makes the Difference!

(Homily 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. B)

     The readings of this Sunday are beaming with words of hope and encouragement for anyone in a dead-end situation. The readings present the human condition and some of those element that do not permit the full realization and freedom of man; ranging from misfortune, sickness and predicaments. But God through his W(w)ord helps us to get through all the difficult and seemingly impossible situations. Job experienced the miracle of restoration, and the Mother in-law of Simon experienced healing, all wrought through the presence and the mighty hand of God! The good news behind the screen of today’s message is that God is aware of everything that is happening to us, he knows all that we are passing through.

     Our First Reading today is taken form the book of Job (Job 7:1-4.6-7). The book begins with a prose narrative in which Job, the protagonist, a prosperous father of the family, was subdued by calamities upon calamities. He experienced suffering in all aspects of life: domestic, economic, physical, moral and spiritual. However, one thing striking here is that, suffering here doesn’t and cannot have the same connotation as in Deuteronomy (there suffering is seen as a direct punishment for sin). But in the case of Job, that cannot be applied, for he has been a righteous man. At the end, Job had to grapple with the fact that man’s righteousness gives him no claim upon God.

     In the passage of the first reading we encounter whom we could call the “patron” of suffering: Job. His predicament overwhelmed him to the point of desperation. He lost all that he had and labored for in one day, including his children and enormous wealth. At a time in this quagmire Job lost hope, he saw gloom in his condition and exclaimed: “My days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind. Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy” (Jb. 7:6b-7). Life for him became empty and without meaning. For him it was as if he was not going to see light at the end of the dark tunnel. But Job did not end his life in suffering. For after passing through those turbulent and hard times, God intervened and reversed his condition and thus Job recovered all that he lost, and got even more (Jb. 42:10). And indeed, the book ended happily with the restoration of Job’s fortune.

     One thing striking about Job is that he never gave up totally on God: “In all this misfortune Job committed not sin, and he did not reproach God” (Jb. 1:22). For in the midst of his predicament he said “I know that I have a living Defender” (Jb. 19:25). Sometimes unlike Job, when we are confronted with challenges we often forget that our Redeemer lives. Our spiritual experience brings to our consideration the fact that God has not promised us total exclusion from the difficulties of life but He has assured us that He will be with us as we pass through them. Often we make the mistake of telling God how big the storm is, instead of telling the storm how big our God is. Job despite all odds still remains the model of and for Christian Suffering, because his moment of all-round misfortune became for him a moment of a personal experience of God. It is only in this optics that our hard times will draw us closer to God and not the other way round.

     The passage of today’s reading is taken from the early part of the dialogue. After Job must have finished responding to his friends, he was plunged into soliloquy on the miseries of human existence. Indeed, it is not very clear the reason for the choice of this reading today, especially in parallel with the gospel passage. However, we may well presume that Job’s theme on the miseries of human life and existence serves as a background for the healing work of Christ as revealed in the gospel.

     In the Gospel Reading (Mark 1:29-39) we are presented with Jesus’ encounter with people with various challenges including the mother-in-law of Simon who was sick with a fever. From the narrative it is very clear that Simon’s mother-in-law and the other people who later came for healing were in hopeless situations. They were experiencing the height of their various challenges and suddenly Jesus Christ came and everything changed. It was as if they were waiting for him to come. Of course those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31).

     After the healing at Simon’s house, very early in the morning he escaped to a quiet place to pray. Here Jesus teaches us the need and power of prayer when we are tired and in need of strength. Jesus prays in order to renew and recharge Himself. But before he could finish his morning prayers the disciples sought him out and informed Him that an even larger crowd has gathered with their sick and infirm and that everyone is in search of Him. Indeed, here one could expect Jesus to heal those sick people but He does not. He rather says: “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do” (Mark 1:38). Jesus is not conditioned by the CROWD. This is an indication that Jesus came for all mankind, his primary mission is the proclamation of God’s kingdom. However, the people were looking for him, not because of his person and good news but to satisfy their needs of miracles. You, why do you seek him? For the value imbedded in his Words or for cheap miracles? But what did Jesus really come to do? Jesus, being a spiritually-minded person, refuses to limit His ministry to one place or to encourage the belief of a coming worldly Kingdom of God, responding to Simon, He said: “Let us go the neighboring towns so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” So Jesus came to do three major things in His ministry: to heal, to pray and most importantly to preach.

     Jesus moved on for a purpose, and the phrase we see in the passage: “that is why I came out”, may not just only be referred to his departure from Capernaum, but instead to the entire purpose of his mission on earth. As such, we can say that Jesus regarded the miracles merely as subordinate elements of his ministry. The main purpose of his ministry was to preach. Besides, there is an important common particularity of the Marcan gospel, and that is the silencing of the demons. Mark reported that the demons “knew Him”, for they recognized him as the “Holy one of God” (cf. Mk1:24). But he rebuked and subdued them into silence. As we can see, it was only at the end of Mark’s narrative that the centurion at the foot of the cross could freely confess that “truly this man was the Son of God” (Mk. 15:39). Indeed, the Jesus he sees, the Jesus as such, is the crucified-risen One. At this point, one may begin to wonder the place of the miracles in the gospel of Mark, and maybe by extension to the ministry of Jesus? The most eloquent of all the miracles, the messianic miracle per excellence is the Cross and Resurrection. The other miracles are prefiguration and preliminary acts of healing that foreshadow that ultimate act of healing.

     The presence of Jesus makes the difference. For in his presence, things happen, the sick are healed, lives are changed, demons are cast out and the gospel is preached. He gets involved in our day today activities and shows his interest in our wellbeing and welfare, for this he healed Simon’s mother in-law without anyone requesting for it. He is truly sensitive to our needs. He is the God with and for his people. A proper and close reading of the gospel of Mark reveals that the Jesus of Mark is not distanced from the human reality. He enters into people’s houses (cf. 3:20; 7:24). He is close to the people. He entered into the house of Peter and healed his mother in-law. Even today, he continues to go about doing good (cf. Acts 10:38), he continues to come into our houses as he did to Simon, do we welcome him? Are we ready to welcome him? In the book of Revelation he says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

     A very close look at the Gospel would reveal a very important thing our Lord did, which connects us to the Second Reading (1 Cor.9:16-19.22-23). We are told that the next morning, after healing the mother-in-law of Simon and others, our Lord Jesus Christ went to a lonely place to pray. While he was there, a lot of people came looking for him at Simon’s place. When Simon and others found him and reported that people were looking for him he said to them: “Let us go on to the next towns that I may PREACH there also”. St. Paul in the Second Reading shocked the Corinthians when he declared woe upon himself if he fails to preach the word of God. The preaching of the gospel for him remains a necessity he has no right to boast about, irrespective of all odds, for St. Paul to preach the gospel means to preach Christ-crucified.

     In all, the word of God this Sunday is full of hope and encouragement for us. No matter what you are passing through today, no matter what is facing you or what you are facing, be rest assured that there is no human misery that divine grace cannot transform into avenues of blessings and miracles. Just don’t give up! Hold fast!! Stand firm!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)