Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
HEALING AND RAISING UP
In Year I, the first reading comes from the wisdom book of Ben Sirach, a high-placed Jewish official of Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC. Whatever wisdom a human person can acquire through education and experience falls far short of true and full wisdom which comes from God, and which often puts human wisdom to shame. Indeed, human wisdom is sometimes folly, and God’s folly, as the wisdom of the cross, is genuine wisdom.
Jesus heals a man who is possessed. He demands faith and trusting prayer, otherwise we are closed to God’s action. Mark describes the healing of the possessed boy in terms of a raising up, like the cure of the mother-in-law of Peter or the raising up of the daughter of Jairus. By his touch Jesus heals and restores life.
Reading 1 Sir 1:1-10
and with him it remains forever, and is before all time
The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain,
the days of eternity: who can number these?
Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth,
the depths of the abyss: who can explore these?
Before all things else wisdom was created;
and prudent understanding, from eternity.
The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom
and her ways are everlasting.
To whom has wisdom’s root been revealed?
Who knows her subtleties?
To whom has the discipline of wisdom been revealed?
And who has understood the multiplicity of her ways?
There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring,
seated upon his throne:
There is but one, Most High
all-powerful creator-king and truly awe-inspiring one,
seated upon his throne and he is the God of dominion.
It is the LORD; he created her through the Holy Spirit,
has seen her and taken note of her.
He has poured her forth upon all his works,
upon every living thing according to his bounty;
he has lavished her upon his friends.
Gospel Mk 9:14-29
When they came back down the mountain to the other disciples, they saw a huge crowd around them, and the religion scholars cross-examining them. As soon as the people in the crowd saw Jesus, admiring excitement stirred them. They ran and greeted him. He asked, “What’s going on? What’s all the commotion?”
A man out of the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought my mute son, made speechless by a demon, to you. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes stiff as a board. I told your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they couldn’t.”
Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.” They brought him. When the demon saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a seizure, causing him to writhe on the ground and foam at the mouth.
He asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been going on?”
“Ever since he was a little boy. Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!”
Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!”
Seeing that the crowd was forming fast, Jesus gave the vile spirit its marching orders: “Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you—Out of him, and stay out!” Screaming, and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up.
After arriving back home, his disciples cornered Jesus and asked, “Why couldn’t we throw the demon out?”
He answered, “There is no way to get rid of this kind of demon except by prayer.”
Prayer
Compassionate God,
through your Son, Jesus Christ,
you raised the sick to a full life
by healing them.
Take us by the hand too,
touch us and restore us to a fuller humanity.
Touch our minds, that we may become wiser
and look at the world and people
with your own compassionate eyes.
Touch our hearts,
that we may love and serve people more.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
20 February 2023
Mark 9: 14-29
Help my unbelief
Jesus comes down with the three apostles after the ecstatic experience of transfiguration on the mountain. Peter and his companions wanted to remain in the thickness of the cloud, to experience God’s undiluted presence. But this cannot be: our call is to live with Christ and one another in the daily realities of pains and struggles. Now the disciples are back to the realities of life on the ground.
The scene on the planes which greets the returning apostles is contrary to the beatific vision they had on the top of the mountain. It happens all the time. Despite all the spiritual exercises and prayers, we suddenly find ourselves in disputes and confrontations about what is right and who is right.
Mark must have been narrating his experience in his Community, where they had plenty of disputes, arguments and disagreements. And this is our experience in the Church even today: we are still in arguments. The boy, possessed by the devil and his father, are representatives of the numerous disputes we have among ourselves, our families, and the community. Despite the beatific vision we experience in the Eucharist and our spiritual exercises, it is also our experience that we feel helpless and unable to drive the demons that torment us out of our lives.
The disciples stood embarrassed by their failure in front of so many people and were hoping that Christ could come quickly and deliver them from their discomfort. The crowd, as usual, was always watching, demanding and commenting on the failure of the disciples until they saw Jesus coming down from the mountain.
Jesus had previously commissioned the apostles to exorcise demons, and they had successfully done it in the early part of their following of Jesus (Mark 6:13). However, in this episode, they failed in their effort. Jesus explains the reasons: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29). Mark indicates that the disciples need to grow not only in faith but also in prayer. One cannot be complacent about having faith in Christ and remain content with past experiences. Faith needs to be constantly nurtured through prayer to confront the forces of evil.
The cured boy remains like a corpse until Jesus raises him by hand. God does that with all of us who remain like the dead. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus by hand and gave her a new life, he took the deaf and mute person by hand and gave him hearing, he guided the blind at Bethsaida by hand away from the village and gave him sight. Let us join the father of the boy in prayer: “Lord, Help my unbelief.”