Facing Evil Head On

 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

6-7 February 2021 – St. Mary’s in Salem

 

Jb 7:1-4, 6-7

1 Cor 9: 16-19, 22-23

Mk 1:29-39

 

Praised be Jesus Christ!

    Mark’s Gospel here describes Jesus as the itinerant preacher and worker of wonders and healing. Jesus in the Gospel is not a political figure: He is not out to exercise leverage or gain control over His listeners. The Lord is acting openly and inviting His listeners to respond in freedom. He is healing them and lifting them up without asking anything in return. I would say that is why the people are drawn to Him. But we note His response to their enthusiasm:

    “’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.”

    Our Gospel reading today makes it clear that Jesus simply walked away, withdrew from popularity. “For this purpose have I come.”

There are other passages which say that He ran the other way, when they tried to make Him king, an earthly ruler. Jesus saw His mission in a radically different manner than did some of His first followers. The Lord was not out to promote a popular or populist movement; He did not seek to win over the majority or take control of society in a public way. In that sense, I suppose, it should come as no surprise that for a first reading this Sunday the Church has chosen a rather difficult passage from the Old Testament Book of Job.  

        “I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.”

    These words from the Book of Job characterize the hardships which came to Job in his trials and which often come to the sick and to some elderly people, who find it extremely hard to sleep at night: “I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.”  They speak to a common enough drama in the lives of people who suffer and have big worries or anxieties, or perhaps serious illness, physical aches and pains. Typically, it is young people, healthy as they are, whom we must shake out of the feathers. The difference between health and frailty, fortune in life and misfortune, can indeed be described in terms of a good night’s sleep or the lack thereof.

    This presents me with a question that I believe more of our Catholic people need to be asking themselves. What is the Gospel about really? What is the Good News? What is its message by Christ’s will and what is the Church there for? I will not exclude the possibility that there are people out there who know exactly where the Church is or where it should be going today. If, however, you are uneasy about the picture St. Mark paints of Jesus, teaching simply for the sake of truth and healing especially by casting out evil, it could be that you need to face up to our question. What is the Gospel, the Good News, what is the Church all about?

I am back home here now in South Dakota just over a month and in the last two weeks, I have been invited to the deanery meetings of two different groups of priests and deacons (in Brookings and in Sioux Falls) and in both groups they discussed a project which Bishop has proposed for the diocese in this coming season of Lent. The idea would be to read together and discuss in groups a pamphlet by Monsignor James P. Shea, published by the University of Mary Press in the Diocese of Bismarck. The booklet is entitled: “From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age”.

    I had not heard before of the book in Switzerland and now I have started reading it myself. As I am just at the introduction, I do not really have an opinion on the position taken by Monsignor Shea. It is one he shares with other insightful people. He is not the only one to propose a different approach to living our Catholicism. We will have to see if he can convince me that we find ourselves in a new apostolic age, no longer able to depend on the institutions and structures of Christendom.

    Fair or not, I would like to say that our fundamental question is not one of pitting true apostolic zeal against the tried-and-true institutions of the past. That would be a simplification of the problem which is a crisis of faith and faith practice among today’s Catholics. I think the fundamental issue is another, the one already mentioned, namely, human suffering: “I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.”

    Let me be clear, when in the Gospel Jesus was healing and casting out demons, not only was He not playing politics in a power game, but He was not doing social work either. The Son of God Incarnate was doing what God does; He was loving first and without conditions. Jesus was proclaiming the truth in its fullness and healing those who sought healing from Him. The Lord was casting out demons and doing so in power, not imposing His will or His message on His neighbor but opening His hand to all in need and striking down the devil. “For this purpose have I come.”

    In the classic or routine form of things, just like in the Book of Job, people feel themselves confronted with the problem of suffering, the problem of evil in the world. How can we claim that God is good and loves us, if innocent people suffer so much? “I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.” Jesus did it directly and unconditionally – free of charge if you will.

      You might say that I am refusing to acknowledge the indifference or faithlessness typical of so many in contemporary society. I am sorry, but such people are a lost cause, their indifference is perverse, and it is to be condemned; serious or earnest people face differently life and the question of the role of God in my life. We need to be busy with the all-important question of where God is when I suffer. Job answered that question by professing that God is so much greater; His ways are unsearchable. In the Catholic Church, in Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, we see the Lord taking on and healing our fallen world and doing so one person at a time, teaching, casting out demons and restoring people to health.

    If we do not know Jesus that way, this coming Lent might be our chance to seek His face and know healing and strength in Him. “I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.” We need to be eager to seek the Holy One Who dawns from on high and Who has sought us first. 

    Praised be Jesus Christ!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI