FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YR B
Job 7:1-4,6-7; Ps 147
1Cor. 9:16-19;,22-23; Mk 1:20-39
JESUS HEALS US
Today the fifth Sunday in ordinary time, we continue our reading of the Jesus story as Mark wrote it. After leaving the synagogue where he astonished the people with his teaching, Jesus went to the house of Simon (Peter) and found his mother-in-law sick with fever. He healed her by raising her up. Then she began to serve them. Later that evening the whole town came to Peter’s house to see Jesus. He healed the sick among them and exorcised those possessed by demons. The next day, he was found alone praying in silence in a deserted place. When his disciples told him that people were looking for him, he rather told them that it was time to leave and go to the other villages.
Todays gospel describes a day in the life of Jesus, and it was a very busy one. A busy day of bringing healing, peace and freedom to people.
Jesus heals the woman who was sick with a fever. Fever is the kind of illness that is part of ordinary life and it is generally not life threatening but Jesus is still attentive to it. Believe it or not, our Lord Jesus is concerned about the little details of our lives. He cares about the small sufferings we go through daily.
The fever does not seem life threatening but it was hindering her from performing her daily task. In this case, Peter’s mother-in-law was hindered from performing her task of hospitality to the visitors. Jesus heals her so that she could undertake this service to others.
We read that when she was healed, she began to serve them. In the gospel of Mark, any one who is healed by Jesus does two things; the first is to follow him or to go and serve others. Jesus heals us so that we can serve others. He forgives us so that we can bring forgiveness into this world. In spite of the many difficulties life presents, Jesus fills us with his peace so that we can bring hope to this world.
Jesus did not only come to talk about the kingdom of God, he also demonstrated the power of the kingdom in the healings he brought to people. Sometimes when we see the pain and sickness around us, we wonder whether he heals today. The global torture of the Covid-19 makes us wonder whether God has abandoned us. The worse of all was when Churches had to be closed to prevent the spread of the virus. When we consider the lives we have lost this year in the Covid-19 crisis, we wonder whether God heals today.
I write this piece to tell you that Jesus’ healing today is as it was 2000 years ago. That power is available to us today. His healing power comes to us when we pray to him. It comes to us in the sacraments.
A couple of years ago, I received a phone call from one woman who wanted to come and see me. We scheduled a meeting. To my surprise, this woman stormed my office with her family all dressed in white. I was wondering what was going on. I began to ask who I spoke to on the phone, and they all referred to her as “ma”, that is their mother. She should be in her sixties. They showed me pictures of this woman and I didn’t know what to look out for. Then she got up amid tears and asked me to describe how she looked in the pictures and how she looked standing before me. In the pictures, I saw she was always bent over. She said for about eighteen years she was never able to stand upright until she attended three days program at St. Margaret Mary at Dansoman.
My dear friend, Jesus can heal you today. It is important for each one of us to bring our hurts, pains and sicknesses to the Lord in prayer asking for his healing grace. Jesus wants you to call him when you are sick. He may answer immediately. Other times he may delay but never lose faith, he is never absent from our lives.
Do not be afraid to pray. Never be tired to pray. God is always ready to hear our prayers and when answers do not come, he accompanies us on our journey.
May the Lord lift you out of every sickness.
God bless you.
By Fr. Delight Arnold Carbonu
