(Homily 5th 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 tributaries of life 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 decries for the ordeals of human predicament,
but he will later experience the miracle of restoration, and the Mother in-law
of Simon experienced healing, all made possible 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 a twinkling of an eye,
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. 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. In fact, at the end of his predicament,
Job made a spiritual confession thus: “Before, I knew you only by hearsay but
now, having seen you with my own eyes, I retract what I have said, and repent
in dust and ashes” (Jb. 42:5-6). 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). As we can see, as Jesus left the Synagogue he began to heal and
expel demons. Peter’s mother-in-law was the first that He healed. As a result,
the whole town gathered at the door of Peter’s house so that he might heal them
as well. At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus passed by all the
places that where strong meeting points of the people: the place of work (lake
and boat), the place of prayer and assembly (Synagogue), the living house of
the people (Peter’s house).
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 a great lesson modern day preachers have to learn from
Jesus. It is an indication that Jesus
came for all mankind, his primary mission is the proclamation of God’s kingdom.
Probably, in the mind of Peter it was time for Jesus to do more healings
and miracles to satisfy the desires and expectations of the crowd, but Jesus
did not succumb to this logic of success and tendency of a prosperous preacher. Peter and his companions came and
reported to him: “everyone is looking for you”, but he answered: “let us go
elsewhere”. 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 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)
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