1.
Job 7: 1-4,6-7
2. 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel:
Mark 1: 29-39
What Jesus Really Came
for?
When I was still young,
PhD holders caused a lot of confusion to me and to many people around in my
village. People call them doctors and when simple village folks hear it, they
flock to them with all their health problems. These doctors sometimes find themselves
in a serious predicament as they try to explain that even though they are
called doctors they do not cure the sick. Nobody seems to give a satisfactory
answer to the question of the village folks: " If they do not cure the
sick, why do people call them doctors?
Brothers and sisters,
in today's gospel, Jesus finds himself in a similar predicament. Jesus came as
the savior of the world. The prophet Isaiah had said of him that by his bruises
we are healed and made whole (Isaiah 53:4). In the synagogue he heals his
mother in- law who has a fever. " That
evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with
demons...... and he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast
out many demons"( Mark 1:32-34). Then, very early in the morning he escapes to a quiet spot to pray. Before he
could finish his morning prayers his
disciples hunt him down and inform him that even large crowd has gathered with
their sick and infirm and that everyone is looking for him. You would expect Jesus to say,
" Great, now we are in business. Now they are coming . Our strategy is
working." But what does he say? He says no, " Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the
message there also; for that is what I came out to do" ( Mark 1:38)
We can put this
question that why did Jesus say, " Let us go to the neighboring village,
towns, so that I may proclaim the message.......? What message is greater than
healing the sick and restoring to them
their human dignity that has been disfigured by sickness and poverty? Isn't
that essential Jesus came for? Well, not exactly. Jesus came to bring good news
to the poor ( Luke 4:18). This good news is spiritual and material just as the
human person is soul and body. But when it comes to order of priority, the
spiritual comes first, then material. This order is brought out in Jesus'
teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: " Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well" ( Matthew 6:33)
What Jesus came to do ,
in other words is to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God, to invite
all humankind to let God reign as king
in their hearts and in their lives, to reconcile us with God and with one
another. Much of the sickness, poverty and suffering that exists in our world
is traceable to the state of disharmony or sin that separates us from God and
from one another. By healing this root cause of all our problems, we find ourselves in a position
to receive God's abundant blessings in all areas of our lives, spiritual as
well as physical, moral as well as material, social as well as psychological.
But to try to seek physical healing and
material well-being without first making
peace with God is to miss the point. It is putting the cart before the horse.
It does not work. This is probably what the people of Capernaum tried to do
with Jesus that morning. Thus Jesus boycotts them and continues to other cities
of Galilee to proclaim the message.
The big crowd that came
looking for Jesus that morning went home
disappointed. They did not find him. Why? Because they were looking for him for wrong reasons. They were looking
for Jesus simply to get what they wanted; they were not interested in what
Jesus came to give. Not that Jesus is not interested in our material welfare. He is. But the
spiritual must come first. Like the people of Capernaum we come to church on
Sunday looking for Jesus. We come with our various problems of soul and body. To avoid
disappointment the first thing we need to do is to forget our personal problems
and seek the kingdom of God that Jesus came to proclaim. When we find the
kingdom of God then God Himself will see to all our other needs of soul and
body.
|
1.
Job 7: 1-4,6-7
|
2. 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
|
Gospel:
Mark 1: 29-39
|
What Jesus Really Came
for?
When I was still young,
PhD holders caused a lot of confusion to me and to many people around in my
village. People call them doctors and when simple village folks hear it, they
flock to them with all their health problems. These doctors sometimes find themselves
in a serious predicament as they try to explain that even though they are
called doctors they do not cure the sick. Nobody seems to give a satisfactory
answer to the question of the village folks: " If they do not cure the
sick, why do people call them doctors?
Brothers and sisters,
in today's gospel, Jesus finds himself in a similar predicament. Jesus came as
the savior of the world. The prophet Isaiah had said of him that by his bruises
we are healed and made whole (Isaiah 53:4). In the synagogue he heals his
mother in- law who has a fever. " That
evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with
demons...... and he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast
out many demons"( Mark 1:32-34). Then, very early in the morning he escapes to a quiet spot to pray. Before he
could finish his morning prayers his
disciples hunt him down and inform him that even large crowd has gathered with
their sick and infirm and that everyone is looking for him. You would expect Jesus to say,
" Great, now we are in business. Now they are coming . Our strategy is
working." But what does he say? He says no, " Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the
message there also; for that is what I came out to do" ( Mark 1:38)
We can put this
question that why did Jesus say, " Let us go to the neighboring village,
towns, so that I may proclaim the message.......? What message is greater than
healing the sick and restoring to them
their human dignity that has been disfigured by sickness and poverty? Isn't
that essential Jesus came for? Well, not exactly. Jesus came to bring good news
to the poor ( Luke 4:18). This good news is spiritual and material just as the
human person is soul and body. But when it comes to order of priority, the
spiritual comes first, then material. This order is brought out in Jesus'
teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: " Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well" ( Matthew 6:33)
What Jesus came to do ,
in other words is to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God, to invite
all humankind to let God reign as king
in their hearts and in their lives, to reconcile us with God and with one
another. Much of the sickness, poverty and suffering that exists in our world
is traceable to the state of disharmony or sin that separates us from God and
from one another. By healing this root cause of all our problems, we find ourselves in a position
to receive God's abundant blessings in all areas of our lives, spiritual as
well as physical, moral as well as material, social as well as psychological.
But to try to seek physical healing and
material well-being without first making
peace with God is to miss the point. It is putting the cart before the horse.
It does not work. This is probably what the people of Capernaum tried to do
with Jesus that morning. Thus Jesus boycotts them and continues to other cities
of Galilee to proclaim the message.
The big crowd that came
looking for Jesus that morning went home
disappointed. They did not find him. Why? Because they were looking for him for wrong reasons. They were looking
for Jesus simply to get what they wanted; they were not interested in what
Jesus came to give. Not that Jesus is not interested in our material welfare. He is. But the
spiritual must come first. Like the people of Capernaum we come to church on
Sunday looking for Jesus. We come with our various problems of soul and body. To avoid
disappointment the first thing we need to do is to forget our personal problems
and seek the kingdom of God that Jesus came to proclaim. When we find the
kingdom of God then God Himself will see to all our other needs of soul and
body.
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