Doctrine and Faith
(Job 7,1-4.6-7; 1 Cor.9,16-19.22-23; Mark1,29-39: 5th Sun of Year 4 Feb. 2018: Year B)
The gospel of today may be considered a narration of a typical day in the life of Jesus. In this narrative, Mark the Evangelist, brings up three moments in the ministry of Jesus:evangelising the people orpreaching the gospel,alleviating human suffering by curing the sick and strengthening his relationship/intimacy with the Father through prayer. From the gospel reading, it is clear that evangelization,as proclamation of the Good news, is the principal duty of Jesus. This is clear from his words to Peter and the other disciples who wanted him to spend more time at Capernaum, where everyone was looking for him. Jesus retorted: Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I preach there too, because that is why I came.Indeed as Mark noted, Jesus went through all Galilee, preaching in their Synagogue and casting out devils. Evangelisation means bringing to the world the good news of God’s love for it and his wishes for its salvation. It connotes also how and the means of achieving salvation without wasting any effort. Through the work of evangelization, Jesus makes concrete, visible and palpable the goodwill of God the Father towards his children and his plan for their salvation.
From the gospel reading, we can see Jesus’ involvement in human suffering. The first reading from the book of Job can be considered the epitome of human suffering. For Job, human life itself is harsh and he cites the hard military service, the beholden attitude of a hireling and the servile life of a slave as a typical examples. He then goes on to give instances how miserable his own life is. His days are charged with hardship and his nights are fraught with sorrows. Job is also perturbed by the transitoriness of life. His life is like a wind that has no substance. Its comes and goes, it cannot be directed, and leaves nothing of value behind it. Job sees no value in the life that has been thrust upon him. It is filled with affliction and empty of meaning. The suffering and laments of Job can be interpreted as the consequences of the disruption of the harmony between God and man through the sins of Adam and Eve. Humanity lost its glory then. Having lost the privilege of God’s friendship on account of disobedience, man’s life and existence suffered a terrible shift away from God’s originalplan. Contrary to a blessed life of abundance and plenitude of satisfaction, man would have to contend with harsh conditions for survival. The cursed pronounced by God after the fall revealed in unmistakable manner the very unpalatable experience that would be the lot of humanity. With the loss of God’s friendship, man was deprived of blissful living. Suffering and drudgery thenceforth characterised his existence. Suffice it to say that humanity was wounded and in dire need of healing and restoration. That was the primary reason why the Son of God took flesh: to heal the wounded humanity and restore it to the order of divine harmony. In the gospel of today, we see Jesus bringing healing, cleansing and restoring people. The healing activities of Jesus in the Gospel should be seen from a wider spectacle of his mission to bring restoration of wholeness to humanity. This wholeness is not only about physical healing; it touches everything about man – his identity, social life, psychic make-up, psychological orientation and so on. More importantly, it is a spiritual wholeness that aims at restoring in man that image of God tainted by sin. The healing and restoration Jesus brought to humanity gave an entirely new meaning to our earthly existence. One who discovers and accepts this healing sees life no longer as drudgery, but a participation in God’s own life. In Jesus therefore, one finds life, restored harmony and friendship with God. Outside of him, it is unending drudgery and meaningless.
Jesus was able to restore humanity to its pristine splendor because of his union with God the Father which he constantly nurtured through prayer. Prayerful silence is the third characteristics of the daily life of Jesus as depicted today in the gospel reading. Leaving synagogue (a place of prayer and meditation on the word of God) Jesus enters into the home of Simon and there heals his mother-in-law. Thus he immersed himself in human situation of suffering passing from the life of prayer to action and from action to prayer, from cult of God to the service of the neighbor and vice versa. The evangelist Mark notes that in the evening Jesus cured the sick and sent many evil spirits away from their victims but in the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went of to a lonely place and prayed there. One may make bold to say that Jesus’ human soul/natured was completely absorbed in contemplating the Father; that Jesus entered into a very intimate communion with God and that Jesus identified himself fully with the will of God, whence he drew strength to fulfill the dictates of God’s will in their depth.
The disciples of Jesus of his time and of today, are challenged to follow the example of Jesus in his work of evangelization, restoration of humanity and in his life of intimate relationship with God the Father, a relationship each of us started at our baptism. Paul stands in for us all in taking further the work of evangelization. He identifies himself as a messenger of the gospel of salvation and fulfillment. For him, he has no option than to preach because it is his destiny. He does it wholeheartedly, with fervor and dedication. He is so committed to his mission that he empathises with all those who will hear his preaching. He identifies with the slaves, the weak, the brokenhearted, all those who know well the harshness of life. He does this so that the message he preaches does not appear to be disassociated from the realities of life. Just as we so easily identify with Job in his suffering, so should we identify with Paul in his commitment to evangelization. By the power of God, Jesus addressed the needs of his day, by the power of the same God; Paul addressed the needs of his. Now it is our turn. We are the disciples who must bring the good news to the brokenhearted, to those who are enslaved, to those who are weak. We are the ones who will then share in the blessings of this good news. Happy Sunday!+John I. Okoye
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