5th Sunday of the year – FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Won’t people feel strange or confused at the end of the Job reading today when the lector says, “The Word of the Lord,” and we respond, “Thanks be to God?” After all, Job just bemoaned his miserable state, ending with, “I shall not see happiness again.” Poor Job — he had a lot and then lost everything — his children, possessions, lands, and servants. Plus, he had a terrible disease and was sitting on a dung heap. Are we sure we want to say, “Thanks be to God?” Maybe we should join Job and lament, “Woe is me!”

His so-called friends were no help. They came to “comfort” him and wound up encouraging him to ask God’s forgiveness. In their way of thinking, good people were “blessed” in this life with wealth, health and family; sinners were punished with poverty and pain. Job’s misery suggested to them that he was being punished by God for some sin he committed. At first his companions sit in silence with him for a week, “They sat down upon the ground with him seven days and seven nights, but none of them spoke a word to him; for they saw how great was his suffering” (2:13). Sometimes, when a person’s suffering is intense, all we can do is be with them in silence. Their initial silence was a better choice than what they did next.

Job’s friends make the mistake of trying to counsel him. They attempt to convince him that he must have done something wrong to deserve such suffering. Job is infuriated by their bromides. His wife even joins the chorus of advisers with the cynical suggestion, “Curse God and die” (2:9).

Job is a figure for the good and innocent sufferer. When evil people suffer we can reason they are getting their just desserts; but when the innocent suffer we can’t come up with a reason to justify their pain. Job can find no rationale for what happened to him. He is overwhelmed by his loss, physical pain and mental anguish. What was worse was his confusion about how God seemed to be treating him. He voices his complaints to God, but he doesn’t give up on God. He won’t break his relationship with God. In fact, by the end of the book his relationship with God deepens and grows stronger. Like Job our faith is tested by unreasonable suffering. How can we justify it? Where is God when we are at our lowest points? Is God with us or against us? Is our suffering a sign that we have displeased God and are being punished? —  We are ready to hear the gospel.

Jesus won’t accept the common belief of his time, that suffering was the result of sin or the infraction of a religious rule. Jesus’ message about God is quite the contrary. Mark’s gospel depicts Jesus in a rush to announce the kingdom of God through his words and actions. Frequently Mark will begin a narrative with, “Immediately…,” “As soon as…,” “Then…” to indicate the rapid sequence of Jesus’ actions. As if to say, he can’t wait to spread the good news of the kingdom.

Jesus’ ministry will lead him to the cross, but like Job, he will not give up on God, even in his time of temptation and agony. He will continue his preaching in God’s name because, as he says, “For this purpose, I have come.”

Jesus goes to Simon’s home and is told of his sick mother-in-law. He doesn’t say anything, but simply “grasped her hand and helped her up.” The verb Mark uses in “egeiren,” which is a verb used for his resurrection (16:6). There is already a hint in this passage of the new life Jesus offers us. Mark tells us that the woman got up and “waited on them.” She was not ordered to serve them, instead, she takes the initiative. Which is what all disciples are supposed to do after we receive new life with Christ. We look around to see how we can serve — do ministry. She is his first deacon.

When Simon and the others are told that if they want to follow Jesus they must serve others, they resist. “Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the needs of all” (10:43-44). Simon’s mother-in-law seems to get it. But the disciples don’t, until after the resurrection when Jesus will send them into the world to proclaim the gospel (16:15). Meanwhile, the mother-in-law does what she can in the simple setting of her home:  she is serving others after being “raised up” by Jesus.

It is a busy day for Jesus: he heals Simon’s mother-in-law, cures many sick and drives out demons. He tries to go off to pray, but Simon and the others “pursue,” or “track down” Jesus. The verb used to describe their action is the one used for the hunting down of an animal. There is a strong, aggressive sense suggested in the verb. One approach to today’s passage would be the contrast between the discipleship shown by Simon’s mother-in-law, against the density of the male disciples, who “pursue” Jesus and want him to return to the excited crowds. Were they enjoying the fame and admiration they had because they were in Jesus’ band of followers? Do they want to go back to the adoring crowds? Jesus pulls them away from their dreams of glory, for he has to go on to other places, “that I may preach there also.”

Jesus has to go out in the dark, “before dawn,” to pray. In Mark’s gospel darkness is not a comfortable or contemplative place.  Was it dark for Jesus as he continued to discern what the nature of his ministry should be?  In the resurrection accounts the women will set out to Jesus’ tomb “just after sunrise” (16:2). The darkness that exists in the world and found in the disciples will be penetrated by the light of Jesus’ resurrection.

We are still in the beginning of Mark’s gospel, but we are getting glimpses into what’s coming; how the kingdom of God will take flesh in the world. Already we have seen the heavens parted (1:10); the battle with Satan in the wilderness (1:12-13); the teaching about the coming reign of God; the calling of the first disciples (1:16-20). And we are still only in chapter one! It’s “day one” of the gospel.

At this point in the story, “day one,” we are already getting a glimpse of the flavor and pattern of Mark’s whole gospel. During the next Sundays we will hear how Jesus begins to form his disciples and continue to teach and heal on his way to Jerusalem. The story is just beginning and each week we will return to hear the many ways Jesus brings to the world the gracious reign of God.

What shall we do in life when the world turns on us and suffering, pain and doubt mark our days? Shall we draw on our trust in God, as Job did? Shall we receive the hope and encouragement of the gospel that Jesus brings to us? We come to God with trust and place ourselves in the hands of God, anchored by the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

 

HEALTH, HEALING AND WHOLENESS

 

In the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark we see that Jesus was an extraordinary teacher. The people said he taught “as one having authority.” But he was a healer, too. In Capernaum on the Sabbath, Jesus healed a demon-possessed man in the synagogue. Later that day he went to the home of Simon and Andrew where he healed the mother-in-law of Simon. That evening the people of Capernaum brought to Jesus all who were sick or demon-possessed. At night, Jesus went to a deserted place to pray. But the disciples told him, “Everyone is searching for you.” Jesus was really a healer!

 

Health and healing:  then and now. In biblical times physical afflictions and diseases were explained in one of two ways. Generally they were believed to be a punishment for sin. It was also believed, however, that demons entered even some good people and took control of them. Our modern understanding of psychosomatic illness demonstrates that negative emotions such as guilt can indeed affect a person’s health.

 

Our understanding of sickness and health can, at times, be over-simplistic and naïve. A doctor cannot correct whatever is wrong with us, just as a car mechanic might change a screw or tighten a nut. Healing involves more than fixing broken parts.

 

Obviously, the Bible implies or admits a connection between healing and salvation. This is not to say that all suffering is caused by sin. Both Job and Jesus rejected such a view. But genuine healing inevitably involves the whole person – body and soul, the physical and the spiritual. The Bible sees a holistic view of the human being. Modern medicine, too, regards the whole person as the subject or object of treatment, if complete healing is to occur.

 

Jesus’ healing power, therefore, was related to his power to forgive sins. Jesus was the bringer of health and salvation. This is obvious in his words, “They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to the righteous but sinners.” ( Mk 2:17 )

 

It is so important that the Apostolic Church preserved this sense of connection between salvation and healing. The “Gifts of healing” are mentioned in the Letter to the Corinthians as “gifts of the Spirit.” The success of Christianity as a missionary religion in the ancient world, and the achievements of medical missions in the modern world, is doubtless due to the proclamation of Christ as the Saviour-Healer of the world.

 

“Healing” and “salvation” in some languages are the same word. Certainly, each word helps define or interpret the other. Still, the wholeness we are offered in Jesus Christ is not the absence of pain and suffering. It is the triumph of life over all forms of death and suffering. His invitation to “take up the cross and follow him” cannot be understood as an invitation to longevity, peace and prosperity. But it is an invitation to find something to live for that is worth dying for. Call it salvation or healing, it is the life for which we were born.

 

AT OUR DOORSTEP

 

It was at the synagogue of Capernaum that Jesus had cured a man possessed by an unclean spirit. The gospel text tells us that Jesus and his disciples, “on leaving the synagogue, went straight to the house of Simon and Andrew”. This explicit mention, evidently, is important for Mark because he wants to teach something to the Christian communities of the future.

Jesus leaves the synagogue, official place of the Jewish religion, and goes into a home where his friends’ family resides. It is in such homes that Jesus’ human family will grow larger and larger. The Christian communities should realize that they are not places where the Jewish Law is kept, but a place where people learn a new life around Jesus.

As soon as he entered the house, the disciples told him about Peter’s mother in law. She was in bed with fever. That’s all that Jesus needed to know. Even though it was a Sabbath, Jesus would “take her by the hand and help her up.” People’s health and wellbeing are more important than religious laws instituted by society. The gospel describes every gesture of Jesus in trying to help her back to health.

He went to her.” That’s what Jesus always did: going near people who suffered or begged for help, listen to them and share their worries. And then, “took He took her hand”even though she was sick and there were rules that forbad such actions. He wants the woman to feel his life-giving strength. Finally, He “helped her up:” she stood up and regained her dignity.

That was the way Jesus acted with his own: with hands outstretched to help anyone, like a friend in need. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. And that is also why “as soon as the fever left her, she began to wait on them.”  She learned it from Jesus. His followers must always be ready to

welcome everyone and serve one another.

It would be a mistake, however, to think that a Christian family must be concerned only or mainly with one’s own members, unmindful of the sufferings of the rest of the world. The Gospel narrative, in fact, tells us that “the same evening at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by devils”.

Christians should ponder this scene very well. That evening after sunset

everyone, sick or possessed by devils, came crowding to where Jesus was. Their eyes and hope looked towards the door of the house where Jesus was. The Church will really attract people who suffer only if they know that the spirit of Jesus lives on within – open to heal suffering and bring about life. Outside the doors of our communities, there are many suffering people. We should never forget that.

 

HE WENT OFF TO PRAY

 

In the midst of his many activities as an itinerant prophet, Jesus kept always his communication with God, in quiet and solitude. The gospels have

left us written records of one of His customs that has made a deep impression on all of us: Jesus always retired at night to pray.

 

Mark’s narrative today will help us to appreciate how important prayer was for Jesus. The day before Jesus had had a very busy schedule and he “had cured many people suffering from all diseases.” The whole town came crowding around him, and Cafarnaun was all talking about him.

 

That same night, before sunrise, between three and six in the morning, Jesus got up and, without telling his disciples, retired to a lonely place to pray. He needed to be alone with his Father. He did not want to be distracted by the cheering crowds. His wish was to know his Father’s will and find out the road to follow in his days ahead.

 

Surprised by his absence, Simon and his companions went out looking for him. They didn’t hesitate to interrupt his prayer, because they wanted him to go back to the people: “Everybody is looking for you.” But Jesus did not let himself to be pulled by the people: he was only concerned about his Father’s plan. Nobody and nothing else will pull him away from that call.

 

He is not interested in staying in Cafarnaun to receive the people’s acclaim. There are still many villages that haven’t yet heard the Good News: “I must preach there, too”, He told them.

 

One of the more positive traits in contemporary Christianity is finding

new ways of communicating with God, in retreats and silence, both private as well as in groups. Ever more responsible and enlightened Christians want to draw the Church to more contemplative forms of prayer and worship.

 

It is an urgent need, because Christians, generally, have lost the ability to be at home with God. Theologians, preachers and catechists talk much about God, but too little to Him. This practice of Jesus has long since been lost. In the Parishes, we have many business meetings and a lot of work is done, but we have lost the habit of finding peace and quiet for contemplation with God.

 

As time goes by, we are fewer and fewer to do more and more things. We run the risk of becoming victims of “activism” and feeling exhausted and having no interior life at all. Our problem is not that we have many problems, rather that we lack the spiritual strength to confront them.