Homily Ordinary 5B: Taking Jesus to the other villages so that he might heal them too

Homily for 5^th Sunday Ordinary Time Year B 2021

Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23; Mark 1:29-39

Introduction

What happens when a beloved priest is moved from one parish to another?  Sometimes the parishioners at the first parish are up in arms and write scathing letters to the bishop or send him delegations to change his mind.  I am sure that none of you would ever do that. But if you did, the bishop or the priest might respond using the words of Jesus in today’s gospel and tell you: “Let me go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also.  For this purpose have I come.”

Scripture and Theology

Today’s gospel and that of last Sunday describe what had been a rather busy weekend for Jesus.  What had Jesus been doing?

1.    Well, being a faithful Jew, we can assume that Jesus began his weekend on Friday night, with the usual Sabbath dinner.

2.    And then as we heard in last Sunday’s gospel, on Saturday morning, he went to the synagogue in observance of the third commandment, to keep holy the day of the Lord. And while he was there, they randomly called him up to read the Word of God and to preach the sermon; and as we heard, he did a fine job that left an impression on them, for he taught with authority.  Moreover, while at the synagogue, he noticed a man possessed by an unclean spirit and healed him.

3.    That afternoon after church, as our gospel today tells us, Jesus went over to the house of Simon and Andrew, perhaps looking for a free meal, understandably since he had had such a busy morning.  But Simon's mother-in-law was sick and could wait not on them.  So, he healed her.  "He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up." And perhaps in gratitude, she got up and waited on Jesus and his friends.

4.    Jesus probably rested a while, since as a Jew he could do no work until that evening when the Sabbath ended.  We heard that "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 . . .."  Basically, the floodgates opened and all this healing business must have taken him late into the night.

5.    After having gone to bed rather late, the next morning what did Jesus do?  "Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed."  Yes, ministry was important, but even more important was recharging his spiritual energy by prayer, maintaining his relationship with God.  But while he was praying, Simon came to him saying: "Everyone is looking for you."  For they wanted him to return to Capernaum and do more of those healings that he had done the day before.

6.    But Jesus refused to return to Capernaum.  That is when he said those words: "Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also.  For this purpose have I come."  Jesus refused to return to the place where he was already a celebrity, where he was being hailed as a hero.  Instead, he chose to go elsewhere, to the unknown, so that he might continue his ministry.  And as the gospel said, "So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee."

The mission of Jesus is not limited to a few, but is universal, is Catholic.

Christian Life

In a few moments we are going to profess in the creed, that, “I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”  What does it mean to be Catholic?  The Catechism tells us that ". . . the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race” (831).  Like Jesus told those who wanted him to cling to him in an exclusive manner, the Church is sent out, not just to one town or village, state or country, race or tribe, but to the whole world, to the whole human race.

This message is particularly important for us today, who live in a society that encourages exclusivism, encourages enclosing ourselves in the unholy trinity of “me, myself and I.” Such individualism could not be farther from the will of Jesus, who came to bring the good news of salvation to all God’s people.

This idea of going to the other villages to preach there also is perhaps one of the signature teachings of Pope Francis.  At one of the meetings of the cardinals preparing for the election of the pope, a Cardinal from Argentina said this to his brother cardinals.

Evangelizing pre-supposes a desire in the Church to come out of herself. The Church is called to come out of herself and to go to the peripheries, not only geographically, but also the existential peripheries: the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, of intellectual currents, and of all misery.

The Argentinian cardinal went on to describe the dangers of not doing this.

When the Church does not come out of herself to evangelize, she becomes self-referential and then gets sick. . .. The self-referential Church keeps Jesus Christ within herself and does not let him out.

And then he concluded by describing the profile of the person he would have liked to be the next pope. He said:

. . . He must be a man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the Church to go out to the existential peripheries, that helps her to be the fruitful mother, who gains life from “the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.”

It seems that the cardinals liked what they heard.  For they elected the man who said these words, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who is now Pope Francis.

And indeed, Pope Francis, like Jesus, has taken the Church and the gospel to the other villages, going beyond the same old, same old practices.

Without abandoning the Church’s long-standing advocacy for the lives of the unborn, the elderly and terminally ill, Pope Francis has asked us also to advocate for those on death row, refugees, immigrants, the homeless and poor.

Without abandoning the Church’s teaching on monogamous marriage, Pope Francis has asked that we do not forget those who have in some way fallen short of this ideal, offering them pastoral care because they too are God’s children too.

Without abandoning the uniqueness of the Church, Pope Francis has asked us to reach out and enter into dialogue even with those don’t believe what we believe, other Christians, non-Christians, non-believers.

Conclusion

What does going out to the peripheries mean concretely for each of us? To which other villages does Jesus want us to go, does he want us to take him?

A story is told of a young lady, an artist and actress who lived in New York City.  She was obsessed with Mother Theresa and what Mother did and wanted to work with her.  Sometime in the early 80s, she found out that Mother Theresa was coming to New York to speak at the United Nations.  She searched high and low and found out where Mother was staying and went there to wait for her.

And as she is at the gate, Mother’s taxi pulls up and all these little nuns come out and then finally Mother Theresa comes out herself.  This young lady runs up to Mother and says: “I am so glad to meet you; all the work you do is so wonderful.”  Mother Theresa used to all this kind of attention is so nice and takes her hand and listens to her.  The girl went on: “The work you do is so wonderful that I want to come to Calcutta and do that work with you.”

But Mother Theresa shook her head and said, “No. You don’t do this work because you think it is wonderful. You do this work because you so love the poor people of Calcutta that you cannot be away from them; that is when you come.”  The young lady was a little disappointed, but she got the point.

Then Mother Theresa asked her: “But what do you do?”  To which the young lady replied, “Well what I do is not important.  I work in a theatre and help to put on plays.  What use is that?”

To which Mother Theresa said: “There are so many different kinds of famine in this world.  In my country of India, there is a famine of the body, in this country of America, there is a famine of the spirit.  Stay here and feed your people.”

As Mother Teresa rightly pointed out to this young lady, the other villages that Jesus wanted her to take him were right here at home.

And so, what famine, physical and spiritual have you noticed lately, in your parish, in your community, in the world?  How can you bring Jesus to that village on the peripheries, whether at home or beyond, so that with his life-giving Word and Sacraments, he can take care of that famine?