February 7th 2021.  Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL Mark 1:29-39

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL 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.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORTER HOMILY . . .  In the Gospel, Jesus walks out of the synagogue and goes to the house of Peter. This journey is very significant. Once, we would have had to enter a synagogue to encounter God. But now God, in the person of Jesus, has come out of the synagogue and into our daily lives. During the tribulation of this pandemic, we have become aware more than ever of the essential domestic dimension of the faith. The faith is something that must be lived in our homes, not just in church! Jesus goes to the house of Peter and encounters human suffering there in the person of Peter’s mother-in-law. After her healing, the woman does not begin to do frivolous things, but begins to serve them. True healing involves discovering that life is a mission of service. We can be healthy and beautiful, but if we do not know how to love and serve others, then what use is our wellbeing? Jesus wishes to bring us to the fullness of life, not just wellbeing of the body.

After sunset, those who are in need of healing are brought to Jesus. Why after sunset? Because it was a Sabbath, which ended at sundown. The day after the Sabbath is Sunday, the day of resurrection, the day of mercy, the day of salvation. It is on this day that Jesus heals the people. Sunday represents the day of our experience of the power of God. The passage goes on to tell us that Jesus rises early and goes off to pray, to spend time with his Father. Then he tells Peter that he must go further to preach to others. This “going further”, this “going beyond” represents the act of entering into the will of his Father. Jesus came to bring us beyond, to lead us into the greatness and beauty of this life.  Do we wish to be healed of this pandemic so that we can do what we like? No, if we are healed then it must be to go beyond, to discover that we are called to love, to be with the Father so that we can be liberated from ourselves, to enter into a life of service. If this pandemic does not bring us to service then it is of no use. As Pope Francis says, the real danger of this pandemic is that we do not allow ourselves to be changed by the experience! Let us spend time with the Father and discover that our life is beautiful, extraordinary, relevant, eternal, noble.

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

What is the Christian response to suffering?

The first reading on Sunday presents us with the enigma of the human condition as we hear Job cry out in suffering. The book of Job is a challenge that must be faced by anyone who wants to undertake a deep journey in spirituality. This book will eventually resolve the enigma of suffering in an unexpected way, a way that cannot be comprehended directly by the intellect, but must be lived and experienced. Sunday’s liturgy presents us with the moment in which Job cries out in desperation. This emphasizes that life is not something superficial, like a pantomime with little meaning. Instead it is something serious that demands a mature response from us. What response can we make to the suffering that is proclaimed in the first reading?

Once, you had to go to the synagogue to encounter God. But now Christ becomes one of us and comes to touch us where we are

In the Gospel, Jesus comes out of the synagogue after the healing of the man with the demon. He goes to the house of Peter and Andrew in the company of James and John. Up to that time, the synagogue was the place to go in order to listen to the word of God. The Gospel mentions the journey from the synagogue to the house. This is not a casual reference: it points to an important innovation in Christianity, a break with the old conception of the sacred place that comes with the incarnation of the Son of God, the God who situates himself concretely in our daily lives. The possibility of living the new life that comes from Christ is given in an ordinary house. It is significant that the Church in its early days developed in the homes of families. Once, you had to go to the synagogue to encounter God, but Jesus now comes out of the synagogue and inserts himself in the existence of ordinary people.

Peter’s mother-in-law is not healed because of her own abilities, but because she is touched by the hand of God

And what does he find? He finds suffering. The mother-in-law of Simon Peter is in bed with fever. This fact is recounted to Jesus. The story of her condition is mediated to him by a family, a community, a fraternity, that surrounds the woman and tells of her illness. How important it is to pray for each other! To speak to Jesus about the sufferings of those who are near us! Often an excess of words brings us nowhere, but a supplication that comes straight from the heart can bring about real change. The passage tells us that Jesus approaches the woman and then we hear a story of two hands, the hand of Jesus and the hand of the woman. The hand of the woman is the hand of a sick body, but it touches the hand of Jesus, which is the hand of God. He is the Messiah, the one sent by God, and his hand is the hand of the power of God, of the right hand of the Father who comes and brings with him the power of God. She is not healed because she is good or talented or integrated, but because she is touched by the hand of God.

Humanity is sick when it is unable to love, unable to serve others. We cannot remedy this by making more effort, but by encountering the power of God

The fever leaves her and she serves him, according to the text. This detail is important: we could simply have been told that she was healed and felt better; but instead we are told that she was healed and served them. The hand that was ill was no longer able to do anything, and it recalls the hand of humanity that is ill and is unable to serve, unable to be love for others; the hand that is paralysed and in bed and unable to move. This is the real illness of humanity. We seek to heal ourselves by trying to become more integrated or by applying more effort. What we really need to do is touch the hand of God. Jesus lifted her up and now she became able to serve. What must we do when we become unable to love? We need to be touched by the Lord and raised up by him. This is what heals us.

Suffering is the place where we encounter the presence of God in our lives

So far we have only considered the first part of the Gospel, but it gives us a perspective on the rest. This woman is healed because she has come in contact with the power of God. The first reading tells us how humanity is when it suffers alone. But, later in the book of Job, everything is resolved in the encounter with God, in the apparent absurdity of the situation when he realises that his suffering is the location of the presence of God in his life. In the same way, Peter’s mother-in-law discovers that the fever is the prelude for her meeting with the power of God.

Jesus moves on to heal other villages. Once we have encountered God, we cannot remain fixed in this position. If we are touched by God then we must go out to others so that they are touched by him also

Then the day is over and the evening comes, which signals the end of the Sabbath, the day in which they gathered in the synagogue. According to the law, no-one was allowed to go anywhere on the Sabbath day, but after sunset the day is considered over and everyone comes to see Jesus. He heals them, but when dawn comes they find that he has gone away to pray. Jesus, we are told, cannot remain in the same place. He must go beyond in order to touch more people. Jesus wasn’t sent in order to remain in Capernaum or to heal just one mother-in-law. He heals this lady and many people in Capernaum, but then he goes to heal people in the other villages nearby. This is the experience of the Church. Every one of us is a prelude to others. We can’t stop once we ourselves have been restored to order. We are healed in order that others may be healed. We are touched in order that others may be touched. Our life is a mission that is truly splendid. The grace of God in Christ is always the beginning of an even greater adventure that we must learn to discover.