5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 4, 2024

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Jesus came to preach good tidings about God and to heal

Mark 1:29–39

On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

Rising very early before dawn, he left
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues,
preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Dear Jesus, Let us not only pray for miracles, but teach us to listen to the words of hope and wisdom you spoke to those to whom you brought health and comfort. Teach us to be open to your message of love and compassion. We offer to your care those whom we name now who need your help and courage. [Pause to say those names aloud.] Help us to share your good news with others in our lives. Amen.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

As I read Mark’s brief and animated gospel I am reminded of the musical, “Jesus Christ, Superstar.” The play (also made into a film) had a pounding pace with frenetic scenes of excited crowds pushing in on Jesus to touch him; crying out to him with pleas for help, “Do something!” The people were desperate and they saw Jesus as the “superstar,” the one who could instantly help them. This gospel also reminds me of one of those old time movies, with the characters moving in quick, jerky movements at twice the normal speed.

Jesus was just in the synagogue where his teaching was interrupted by the rants man possessed by an evil spirit. After he drives out the spirit, Jesus leaves the synagogue and, immediately upon entering the house of Simon and Andrew, he is taken to Simon’s mother-in-law who, we are told, “lay sick with a fever.” Jesus cures her, but there isn’t much time for him to rest because at sunset people bring him “all who were ill or possessed by demons”—and more, “The whole town was gathered at the door.” See what I mean, quick paced, frenetic activity caused by a desperate people who look upon Jesus as a miracle worker who can help them. The gospel will show us that Jesus doesn’t want to be seen merely as a wonder worker. In order to get a break from all the hustle and find some quiet for prayer and reflection, he leaves very early in the morning for a deserted place. But Simon and his companions seem caught up in the frenzy, and they “pursued him.” The original language is reminiscent of hunters tracking down an animal. The disciples aren’t cast in a very flattering light in Mark’s gospel. They are like hunters. They want to find Jesus and bring him back to the crowds where he, and they by association, are the center of attention.

People who do various forms of ministry, paid or volunteer, hear this gospel and say, “My life too!” Are we ever off duty? Where is the time clock? When can we punch out and have a break from the many needs we encounter each day? Parents, teachers and those in the helping fields say the same thing. The good work we want to do seems to have no end in sight; our “to do” list has a lot more we need to check off. Jesus’ ministry doesn’t seem to have any clearly drawn lines; no demarcation that sets off his personal from his ministerial lives. Indeed, the needs for help follow him even into a synagogue. That’s what it feels like for many of us too. Here is something else that is like us: most of Jesus’ ministry is conducted outside the sanctuary and “holy places.” His healings and good works take place in domestic settings: like the healing in Peter’s home, on the road, in a fishing boat, walking through a wheat field or on hillsides. Mark’s telling of the story of Jesus’ ministry sounds a lot like our own lives, with no strict lines of demarcation and few “off hours.” We are not part-time Christians and the call to serve can happen at any time and place in our day. So, we feel like we are in “full time ministry.” We are conscious of a child’s needs which interrupt our schedule and plans; a friend’s recent biopsy; a neglected spouse; an aging parent needing doctor’s visits; a son’s wedding; a daughter’s breakup with her boyfriend; a shopping list and a meal to be prepared; a relative who got downsized; the tasks we need to do at our local parish and in our community, etc. We do see these and so much more, through the lens of ministry; in Christ’s name we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned and preach the good news through our actions and words.

Mark’s gospel throws up cautions to disciples. He makes us aware that even the disciples closest to Jesus miss the fuller picture of who he was and what his mission would be like. They got sidetracked by Jesus’ popularity and the acclaim of the crowds. The disciples hear Jesus proclaim “good news” and they think it is a crowd-pleaser that will bring them into power along with a popular Jesus—later James and John will ask him to sit at his right and left when he comes into his “glory” (11:37). Jesus has to remind those disciples that if they aspire to greatness, they must serve the rest. What kept Jesus so focused as his reputation spread throughout the land? What gave him perspective and balance as he wove through the wildly enthusiastic crowds of people reaching out to touch him and get the healings and help they needed? It is too easy to say that he was the “Son of God” and so he knew exactly what he must do and say all the time. Mark stresses Jesus’ humanity, as we say in the fourth Preface at Mass, he was “like us in all things but sin.” When Jesus goes off to pray by himself to a “deserted place” away from the excitement of the crowds and the glory-seeking of his disciples, he seems to do so to get the focus he needs to continue doing the will of the One who sent him. It is as if in prayer Jesus allows God to do for him what Jesus did for Simon’s mother-in-law. In the quiet places, as rare as they are for him in this gospel, Jesus would come to know again that God had a firm grasp on his hand and would never let go, even while he went through the depths of pain and humiliation at his crucifixion. Jesus’ going apart to pray doesn’t mean he will cut back and do less—not in Mark’s gospel! In fact, he has every intention of doing more as he tells Simon they must move on to other places to preach. But he is not deluded or seduced by his reputation; he knows exactly what he must do: he must go to Jerusalem.

We are not nuns or monks in cloisters. Still, we will need to find some quiet places, some mini-Sabbaths, as Jesus did. We Christians have much to do as Jesus’ followers and we need to make space to allow God to reach out to us, quiet the fevers of our minds and hearts, so that we can return to our current places of service or, hear the call to the next places we must go. The pace of our lives probably will not change dramatically; there will continue to be temptations to lose focus and lean into success; there will always be the disciples’ temptation to shun the cross and, of course, there will be many deaths along the way—of loved ones, but also of our plans and dreams. But if today’s gospel is any indication, Jesus will never let go of our hands, never stop driving out the fevers of anxiety and burn-out, never stop raising us up—what he did for Simon’s mother-in-law assures us of that. Jesus travels well and he is no longer trapped by the limits of time and place.

He comes over to us now at this Eucharistic celebration. He extends a hand to help us go further on our journey with him. He strengthens us in the area of life where we are trying to be more generous in service to others—as we also try to fulfill commitments we already have. This Eucharist is our coming aside for a while, not to a deserted place, but with a community of faith, people to whom Jesus is also extending a hand of support and encouragement.

Further reflection:

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

For this purpose I have come

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • What is the difference between curing and healing?
    Do you let your woundedness define you, or are you looking to move on and be healed?
    How does God help in this process?
  • In his exhaustion, Jesus went to pray in order to find his true home in the midst of need and chaos. What is my true home?
  • As worn out a Jesus was, he was moved by the needs of others to continue to preach and to heal.
    Have you ever been exhausted by the demands of work or the needs of those close to you, but felt you had to muster the energy to continue on as someone really needed you to be there for them?
    Was this a work necessity which you needed to complete because your job or reputation demanded it, or was it a work necessity that affected the well-being and safety of others (such as happens to first responders)?
    Is there a difference?
  • What brings us more awareness, sickness or health?
  • Is there a danger to yourself or others when you carry on beyond total exhaustion?
  • In the time of Jesus, to be sick was to be in a socially devalued state.
    How much is sickness intertwined with a feeling of uselessness, of being irrelevant, or discarded?
    How is sickness isolating?
    What exactly, are the physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of poverty or helplessness?
  • Jesus’ first healing was of a woman and a widow, which made her a marginalized entity in his culture.
    What does that tell me about Jesus?
    What does that tell me about who I should be caring for and helping?
  • What do you think of Peter’s mother-in-law’s response to being cured?
  • The word “service” (in Greek, Diakoneo) as described to Jesus’ later calls to discipleship is the same word Mark used here for Peter’s mother in law and her “waiting on” them after she was healed. How do you see service/discipleship/waiting on as a mission of yours?
  • How available am I to those in my life?
    Do I need Jesus to give me energy to serve?
  • Do I only turn to Jesus when I am in trouble of some sort?
  • The Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus’ ministry as constantly busy. Why do you think this is so?
  • Some say these events in Mark’s gospel are not about Jesus healing, but about Jesus preaching… How could that be so?
  • What do you think is the reason Jesus came into our history?
  • From Sr. Barbara Reid, O.P.:
    How has God transformed you with healing love in times when you felt hopeless?
    In what ways do you help others experience divine mercy?
    How are both personal healing and preaching of social justice needed to bring about the reign of God?
  • From Jude Siciliano:
    At this stage of our journey with Christ, how do we experience his hand reaching out to sustain us?
    Who is the outstretched hand of Christ for us?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Adapted from an article by the director of Pax Christi, 2015:

Upon entering the home, Jesus is told that Simon’s mother-in-law in sick. This verse has a few clues for us to consider. One, Jesus has not demonstrated his power to heal up to this point in Mark’s gospel (the earlier passage is an exorcism, distinct from healing), so to assume that Simon or Andrew bring up her sickness as a request for Jesus to heal her seems a little bit of a stretch. One person this week suggested that maybe the assertion that the mother-in-law is sick with a fever functions more as a warning to Jesus, i.e. Jesus should steer clear of her to avoid illness himself.

The second consideration is the status of Simon’s mother-in-law. Since she’s living with Simon and her daughter’s family, we can assume that she has no husband to care for her. As a widow then, she fits into that specifically Jewish list of those who are consistently the most marginalized and vulnerable in society–the widow, the orphan and the stranger/foreigner/immigrant.

So when Jesus touches her in verse 31–even though he has been warned to stay away, and even though she is a widow, i.e. a person of no account–it seems to be less about any miraculous healing and more about Jesus’ preferential option to see those who are typically rendered invisible, touch those who are typically deemed untouchable, take account of those who are typically considered of no account. Even the muted nature of the miracle–she’s in bed with a fever, not blind or lame–asks us to look elsewhere for deeper significance in the action. The passage asks us to consider how much sickness is intertwined with the feelings of being discarded, ignored, or uncared for by others, as much as it is about the actual physical discomfort. Jesus has not allowed the people’s astonishment or amazement toward him [verses 21-28] to inflate his own sense of self-importance that he would dismiss the sickness and loneliness of this silent widow.

So, what do we take from this analysis?

First, that we are called to respond when a need is evident, even if the situation seems insignificant or the recipient insignificant? Who do I consider outside my sphere of ministry/help?

Second, we are called to respond when a need is evident, even if it is inconvenient. Have there been times in my life that I have had to rearrange my priorities because of another’s illness, sorrow or loss?

Third, there might be a possible cost either physically, psychologically, or monetary when were are called upon to help someone. Have I ever had to weigh the costs of helping someone against the personal costs to me or to those I love and am responsible for?

Four, we sometimes snicker about the mother-in-law getting up from her sick bed and waiting on them, thinking how sexist the passage is. (We should also note that the Greek word interpreted here to say that the widow then “waited on” Jesus and his disciples is the same Greek word used later in Mark that is specific to the “service” that is associated with discipleship (see 15:41). The work of seeing to another’s need is recognized as an authentic exercise of discipleship, not devalued as “unimportant” work to be done by those of lesser status). So How do I view discipleship? Is it “waiting on” others or is discipleship for me something with a little more status? Do I take to heart Jesus comment that to be a disciple is to be of service to others, not to sit in places of honor? How hard is it to remember that?

And finally, even though this gospel portrays Jesus as a man constantly “doing”, a man “in a hurry”, Jesus still needs time to recharge his batteries and connect with the source of his purpose and the major relationship in his life—God. Even in the midst of terrible sorrow and need, Jesus had to carve out some time for himself. Have I regarded taking time for myself to pray, reflect, or simply to rest and relax a failure on my part? Have I ever experienced “burnout”? How did I handle it? Why do we often see time to rest as self-indulgent?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

The following passage from Job is more than a complaint; it is a form of Jewish prayer called “Lamentation”. The psalms are full of these lamentations, written by people who are willing to lay themselves bare before their Yahweh, knowing Yahweh understands and cares. In this prayer lamenting life’s sorrow and losses, we see Job laying his sorrow and frustration before a God to whom he can speak honestly. Too often, we put on our “prayer party dress” and speak to God as if we are merely being polite. This passage teaches us to level with God about how we are feeling, trusting that God knows how we feel and what we are going through. Read the passage slowly, reflecting on which of these words might actually speak to your life, now or in the past. Share with Jesus your anger, your frustrations, your fears and, yes, your hopes… If you wish, write your own psalm of lamentation.

Is not life on earth a drudgery, its days like those of a hireling?
Like a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for wages,
So I have been assigned months of futility, and troubled nights have been counted off for me.
When I lie down I say, “When shall I arise?” then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
Remember that my life is like the wind; my eye will not see happiness again.
A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Read Luke 5:17-26 (The healing of the paralytic). The lengths they went to bring the man to Jesus’ attention was truly remarkable. This was certainly proof to Jesus that they had faith in God’s ability to heal the sick. Do we see healing as a necessary ministry we inherited from Jesus? Make a little extra effort to do something truly special for someone who is ill, in pain, disabled, or elderly, even if it is only saying a daily prayer for that person.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Rewrite the responsorial psalm from this Sunday, using the first person instead of the third person. It is your personal psalm of praise and hope. The Alleluia line is an example of this transposition to the first person: “Alleluia! I praise you Lord, who heals the brokenhearted”

How good to sing psalms to our God;
how pleasant to chant fitting praise!
The LORD builds up Jerusalem
and brings back Israel’s exiles;
he heals the brokenhearted;
he binds up all their wounds.
He counts out the number of the stars;
he calls each one by its name.
Our Lord is great and almighty;
his wisdom can never be measured.
The LORD lifts up the lowly;
he casts down the wicked to the ground.
O sing to the LORD, giving thanks;
sing psalms to our God with the harp.
He covers the heavens with clouds;
he prepares the rain for the earth,
making mountains sprout with grass,
and plants to serve human needs.
He provides the cattle with their food,
and young ravens that call upon him.
His delight is not in horses,
nor his pleasure in a warrior’s strength.
The LORD delights in those who revere him,
those who wait for his merciful love.
Poetic Reflection:

This prayer reflects the difference between Jesus’ sensibility and that of his frequently clueless disciples:

A Christian Confederate Soldier’s Prayer
(Anonymous—alleged to have been found on a CSA casualty at the Devil’s Den, Gettysburg)

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for but got everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all people, most richly blessed.

Closing Prayer

Dear Jesus, we have heard your call and it compels us to follow. Let the truth of the Gospel break the yoke of our selfishness. Draw us and all people to the joy of salvation. We especially pray for all those in need of your guidance and your comfort at this time, particularly those suffering in Palestine, the Ukraine and at our very borders. We pray for a world in need of your call to serve others and the natural world. [Pause to recall the issues you want to pray about.] Give us ears to hear and eyes to see.