5th Sun of Year B.......Job 7,1-4.6-7; 1Cor 9,16-19.22-23; Mark 1,29-39

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Job 7,1-4.6-7; 1Cor 9,16-19.22-23; Mark 1,29-39: 5th Sun of Year B)

Today’s Sunday readings invite us to reflect on the problem of pain and human suffering in the light of Christian faith. The author of the book of Job grappled with the perennial problem of the innocent sufferer. He knew that the principle of retribution should not apply to him, as he as well as the reader know that he was innocent. That is why he held his grounds as he argued, vehemently, against the position of his friends, protagonists of divine retribution. (Divine retribution is the principle that holds that God rewards virtuous people with good things and punishes evil ones. It automatically means that if you suffer any misfortune, you would be reckoned as evil). He even engaged in disputation speeches (discursive arguments) with God intending to have some explanations from God why he was beset with suffering. God did not offer him any direct answers but asserted that as the Creator of the world and its contents, he was governing the world in his providence. If he so provides for even wild animals of the forest and the strange and primordial beasts of the sea, human beings should repose full confidence in his Creator, even when under heavy suffering.  This is the line of answer which the author of the book of Job tried to proffer to the perennial problem of the innocent sufferer.  

The definite response of God to the issue of human suffering is Jesus Christ, God’s only Son whom he sent into the world. Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate coming into the world did not shy away from suffering; rather he took suffering upon himself, associated closely with those who suffered: the sick, the poor, the despised, the marginalized, etc. He even liberated some from their situation of suffering as we read in today’s gospel: and he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another... Jesus did not, however, eliminate suffering from the face of the earth, but he took suffering upon himself and had a direct and personal experience through and through. It was through his suffering, both physical and moral, innocent though, without any stain of sin, that he worked out the salvation of all humanity as was willed by God the Father. Thus, his moral and physical suffering became cause and instrument of salvation. There is no doubt that Jesus would have eliminated every type of sorrow in the world. That is what some of us would wish he had done; to have freed us from physical suffering in the first place, secondly from all moral pains, then from all types of tribulations of life and finally from even death itself. This would have made our earth look like paradise and we would not have the need of God and another paradise!

But God’s plan is quite different. He did not send his Son so as to make this earth and this life our paradise, but rather, to reveal that this life leads to the other, that true happiness is in the next life, that human beings are destined to it and can reach it. Thus, this Good News brought by Jesus Christ is more important than the liberation from physical and moral evils during this life. Again, it is more important to be liberated from the evil of sin through the grace of God by which we can now be reckoned as sons and daughters of God; and more important to be liberated from the anguish of a life without meaning and future with the consoling revelation of another life after this earthly one and of a God who is awaiting us.  This is the mission which God, the Father entrusted to Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate. His was the mission to spread this Good News. The mission was uppermost in his mind as we read in today’s gospel episode. When Peter and others who found him out at his secluded place of prayer, wanted him to perform more miracles in Caphenaum he retorted: Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came. The miracles, which Jesus worked, should not be made to look as if Jesus was simply a magician or an exceptional wonder worker. His miracles should serve as signs, that is to say, they should show that with Him the salvation promised by God has arrived, and that the abounding mercy of God has appeared among men. Thus, one can see the urgency and the necessity of welcoming the message of Christ.

The message of Christ, does not however, liberate us from the sorrows and sufferings of this life. Our conditions as believers in appearance remain the same as non believers when we speak of sorrows and sufferings, but in reality it is diverse. Pope (Saint) John Paul, who himself terribly suffered physical pains holds: The certainty of a future immortality and hope in the promised resurrection sheds new light into the mystery of suffering and death, and infuses in the believers extraordinary force to have confidence in the designs of God. It also signifies that even though suffering in itself is evil and can be a test, it can become sources of good. It becomes so, if it is seen as a sign of love, accepted with love and as gratuitous gift of God. In that way, any one who accepts his suffering according to the dictate of Christ will be conformed to him and will be intimately associated with his work of redemption in favour of the Church and humanity. This is the experience of the Apostle Paul and all who suffer are called upon to declare with him: I am happy with  the sufferings which I am having for you and I complete in my body what is lacking in the tribulations of Christ in favour of his Body, which is the Church (Evangelium Vitae, 67)

It is not so easy entering into the vision of faith when one is touched in his flesh or in his mind/spirit. It is especially, not easy to accept suffering as a sign of love from God, a way of purification, of configuring oneself to Christ and a way of redemption through him. It is a very great favour and grace! However, Jesus taught us a way of attaining it: Prayer! He gave us the example as the Evangelist indicates today: In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.   Let us pray to God for the grace to accept suffering as God’s will and as a way to complete what is lacking in the tribulations of Christ! Happy Sunday!

+John I. Okoye