A Homily – The Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – Job 7:1-4, 6-7 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 146(147):1-6 ©

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 8:17

The Gospel According to Mark 1:29 – 39 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 Consider the ancient wisdom of Job.

 Life is brief and often a struggle; there is no guarantee of joy, even though we were made for it.

 Let me say this again, we were made for joy, but suffering is universal. Therefore, be kind to one another, we cannot tell what tomorrow may bring.

 Consider the words of the psalmist who teaches that God, creator of the universe, that God establishes the conditions for all things to come into being. In wisdom God established the cycles of life and death. Material power of no concern to God, and God does not seeks honors, title, or glory...though it is good to our thanks and praise.

 We honor God when we emulate God’s love for creation, when we pursue a ministry of justice through the exhibition of mercy, when we bend our will toward healing, when we feed the hungry, welcome the exile, clothe the naked and house the homeless.

 For those who seek to follow the way of Jesus, these are not metaphors, these are the concrete steps that must be taken.

 Be mindful of the apostle, pay careful attention to how he thinks and speaks of himself, and remember, like all men the apostle is liable to the vice of vanity.

 Paul chose to follow the way; it was a choice he to accept the ministry. God did not coerce him.

 Know this.

 The apostle does not deliver people to salvation; God, and God alone is the savior. We are saved by grace; we are saved because God wills it. The work of Christian ministry is to demonstrate it.

 Be mindful.

 We are all in the way, and the way does not exclude anyone. Through the way we are all moving toward God, the divine source of all being; we are moving inexorably toward fulfillment in the divine.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today.

 In Mark’s the mission of Jesus is often treated as a mystery, though not a total mystery, his purpose on earth is presented like an open secret.

 Jesus cast out devils and cured those who were afflicted by them, then he forbade those whom he had healed from speaking about him or his works. According to the narrative they knew who he was, Christ the Messiah, but he did not want them to spread the news, not at that point in time.

 This pattern plays over and over again in Mark, encouraging the reader or hearer to regard this as a matter of cosmic significance, as if keeping the secret until the exact right moment mattered in some way to Jesus’ mission. It is depicted as a stratagem, as if the salvation of the world and the ultimate triumph of good or evil, of God’s victory over the Devil, is somehow dependent on this secret being kept.

 Reading the Gospel this way may be viewed as a later interpolation, something placed into the narrative as a means of explaining to the audience that Jesus, who was in fact God’s own self, knew everything that was about to transpire, from the beginning of his mission to the resurrection, and that he did not broadcast it because not broadcasting it was a part of the divine plan.

 Set this aside, it is fantasy.

 This is what the Gospel tells us: from the beginning of his mission Jesus was concerned with healing, the cure of souls and service to his neighbors. His mission was to save them, to provide some comfort, show some love and give some relief.

 To be saved is to be made well, that is the literal meaning of the word salvation, and the savior is not engaged in a cosmic conflict, the savior is concerned with the resolution of ordinary suffering.

 Jesus taught the way, and the way is a path to liberation; he did not want the powerful factions in Jerusalem, in the temple or the synagogue, the power of the royal family, or the power of Rome to come down on him or his followers. Therefore, he made the way, a way of peace and perseverance, of communitarianism and service.

 In this he summarized the whole of the law and the teaching of the prophets. 

 

First Reading – Job 7:1-4, 6-7 ©

My Life is but a Breath

Job began to speak: Is not man’s life on earth nothing more than pressed service, his time no better than hired drudgery?

Like the slave, sighing for the shade, or the workman with no thought but his wages, months of delusion I have assigned to me, nothing for my own but nights of grief.

Lying in bed I wonder, ‘When will it be day?’

Risen I think, ‘How slowly evening comes!’

Restlessly I fret till twilight falls.

Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle my days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind.

Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 146(147):1-6 ©

Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.

Alleluia!

Praise the Lord for he is good;

  sing to our God for he is loving:

  to him our praise is due.

Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem

  and brings back Israel’s exiles,

he heals the broken-hearted,

  he binds up all their wounds.

He fixes the number of the stars;

  he calls each one by its name.

Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.

Our Lord is great and almighty;

  his wisdom can never be measured.

The Lord raises the lowly;

  he humbles the wicked to the dust.

Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 ©

I Should be Punished if I Did not Preach the Gospel

I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this: in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me.

So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could. For the weak I made myself weak: I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost; and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 8:12

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the light of life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 8:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

He took our sicknesses away, and carried our diseases for us.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 1:29 – 39 ©

He Cast Out Devils and Cured Many Who were Suffering from Disease

On leaving the synagogue, Jesus went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and Andrew. Now Simon’s mother-in-law had gone to bed with fever, and they told him about her straightaway. He went to her, took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her and she began to wait on them.

That evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were possessed by devils. The whole town came crowding round the door, and he cured many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.

In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. Simon and his companions set out in search of him, and when they found him they said, ‘Everybody is looking for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came.’ And he went all through Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out devils.

 

The Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year B)