Homily for 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Feb. 7, 2021
Mark 1: 29-39
Ursulines, Willow Dr.

“He went into their synagogs, preaching and driving out demons thruout the whole of Galilee” (Mark 1: 39).

The 11 verses of today’s gospel summarize the public ministry of Jesus.  Last week we were introduced to that ministry when Jesus cast out a demon in the synagog at Capernaum (Mark 1:21-28), a specific example of the combat against hell he’s engaged in.  Today’s passage begins with another specific example, the cure of Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever.  Jesus displays his power to make people whole, to save the whole person.

Then come more generic remarks about his healing power and his combat with demons.  That combat receives emphasis; Mark mentions it 3x in the space of 8 verses.  Driving out demons manifests the power of God at work in Jesus:  “The kingdom of God is at hand” (1:15).  The power of evil must be broken.

In that context, healing the sick is secondary.  Illness is an evil, but not as devastating as sin, as being in the grip of the Devil.

It’s a triumphant evening for Jesus, during which he surely got little rest.  Except for Simon’s mother-in-law, he doesn’t start these healings and exorcisms till after the Sabbath is over, after sunset (1:32).  How long did they go on?  It must have involved individual dialog with each sick person and each demon and the people who accompanied them.

So we can imagine how exhausted Jesus must have been.  And after the crowds went home, Simon and Andrew and their family were still there, and likely James and John.  Do you think they just said, “Jesus, you need to get some rest”?  More likely, they had lots of questions and comments for a long time.

So we may assume it was a late nite for the Lord, maybe much later than a lot of us will be up tonite.  For sure, it was an early Sunday:  “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place” (1:35).  I’m struck here by the commentary of one of my Scripture profs:

    “This paragraph reveals the great gulf separating Jesus, not only from the crowd but from his disciples.  The distancing is theological; that is, it occurs not because of any difference between Jesus and other human beings but because of his relationship to God.

    “The key word in the text is ‘prayed.’  The word is evocative and comprehensive.  It intends to suggest the fundamental and pervasive response of persons to the reality of God ruling.  The reference to time, ‘in the morning, a great while before day,’ and to place, ‘went out to a lonely place,’ emphasize the priority and the focusing power of the relationship.  The life of Jesus as the agent of the Kingdom of God is controlled and simplified by his submission to the will of God.  Prayer, then, is the basic attitude of his life which is manifest in all that he does and says.”[1]

Jesus masters the demons and whatever afflictions they visit upon human beings—the Book of Job (cf. 1st reading, Job 7:1-7) lays all that man’s woes upon Satan—because Jesus lets God be his master.  He can be the agent of God’s kingdom because he’s in complete synch with God, a relationship that he intensifies thru regular prayer.

The disciples, of course, don’t see that—not here or anywhere in Mark.  They hunt Jesus down, like hunters after their prey, not to join Jesus in prayer but eager for him to perform more wonders.  There seems to be an implication that they want to keep Jesus there in Capernaum—what a great way to keep illness, woe, and even Satan far away.  Certainly easier than repenting and believing in the Gospel! (cf. 1:15)

Jesus will have none of that.  Healings and even exorcisms are in service of God’s reign.  So he must go off to preach God’s word, to announce God’s presence, elsewhere, “thruout the whole of Galilee” (1:39).  He invited Simon, Andrew, James, and John to leave their boats and nets and to follow him.  It will take him a long time to teach them what kingdom he serves and who is its master and what it will cost them.

You and I are probably still learning, too.  One sure way to learn is to follow Jesus into a deserted place, into our secret, interior chamber, and to pray, to work on our relationship with him and his Father—or let them work on us.

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    [1] Van Bogard Dunn, Forming Ministry Through Bible Study:  A Reader’s Guide to the Gospel of Mark (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1987), p. 16.