Faith

Tiles, roofs and brickbats – Friday, 1st week in ordinary time- Mark 2: 1-12

Jesus has completed what would seem like a quick pastoral visit to the towns of Galilee and ‘after some days’ (2:1) has returned to Capernaum and is at ‘home’. Brace yourself, because this little detail has often skipped you. He will now work a miracle in His very home under His very roof and yet it is the roof that becomes the great prop in this this miracle. This home was not owned by Jesus, in all probability was the home of Peter (1:29, 33) but Jesus has made this His home in Capernaum.

The miracle in 2: 1-12 is part of what is called the five conflict stories (2: 1- 3:6) spanning thirty four verses. The five conflict stories will introduce the various opponents of Jesus who were also the opponents of the early Christians. These opponents move from admiration (2:12) to active hostility (3:6). First they have question in their hearts (Mark 2:6); then they question His disciples (Mark 2:16); and finally, they confront Jesus himself (Mark 2:24). By the end they are so incensed that they immediately begin to plan to “destroy him” (Mark 3:6). In the first of these five conflict stories, we encounter the scribes who are the opponents of Jesus.

Jesus chooses His own home to break the word (diaphemizein ton logon). He is teaching the scriptures to a crowd that has flocked to not merely see the miracles but now have settled down to the words behind the miracles. Scripture now tells us that some people (unspecified number) come to Him and of these ‘some’ it mentions four who carry a paralyzed man.

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Faith

Becoming the Good News- Thursday, 1st Week in ordinary time – Mark 1: 40-45

The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) each have a focus. Matthew is the ‘teaching’ Gospel, Luke is the ‘feeling’ Gospel, for you see a compassionate Christ and Mark is the ‘doing’ Gospel, for Jesus is constantly working miracles.

Today’s miracle is the third specifically mentioned healing that Jesus performs in Mark’s Gospel. There were many other people that He healed and many demons were cast out by Him but these are mentioned in general (1:32). Interestingly, all these three specifically mentioned miracles   have characters that are unnamed with the exception of Peter’s mother in law who has a ‘relative’ reference.

What is common to all three were that they would have been considered outcasts due to their illness. Not for Jesus, He not only restores them to health but the manner in which He does so is amazing and revolutionary for His time; he took Peter’s mother in law ‘by the hand’ and now a leper is ‘touched’ by Jesus.

The understanding of leprosy at the time of Jesus was not necessarily the same as ours today. Leprosy was used as a general term for any repulsive scaly skin disease such as psoriasis, favus and seborrheic dermatitis. However many who were afflicted with it were treated in the same manner as one with the more advanced case of what we know today to be Hansen’s disease. Touching such a person was out of the question; both out of fear of contracting the disease and for incurring religious ritual penalties.

Considering Jesus to be a Holy man, the leper asks Jesus to ‘make him clean’. The Greek word ‘katharisai’ could be translated as ‘declare me clean’; a ritual task that was reserved by Levitical law to the priest only. Yet here is a leper asking an itinerant Galilean rabbi to perform the task that was to be done by a Jerusalem priest. Jesus was not a renegade or law breaker just for the sake of breaking a law as some have portrayed Him to be. His purpose was clear and drawing unnecessary controversy was not His style. The leper is asked to show himself to the priest in fulfillment of the law of Leviticus 14 and go away quietly.

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Faith

Healing of Peter`s Mother in law, 1660 – Rembrandt

Saved to serve- Wednesday, 1st week in ordinary time- Mark 1: 29-39

Jesus has an eventful day in Capernaum. This little town was established in the 2nd century BC during the Hasmonean period, when a number of new fishing villages sprung up around the lake. It is here that Jesus makes quite an impression in the synagogue with his preaching and the healing of a man with an unclean spirit. Now, along with his four disciples, He makes his way to the home of Simon and Andrew.

It is not clear if Simon’s mother –in-law’s fever was known even to Simon. Did he call Jesus over to heal her or just invite the Master to be a guest and then to his horror discover her to be ill? Fevers were no small illness in the time of Jesus for many of them were fatal.

Having cured a man a few minutes ago, He now cures a woman and the detail is not lost on me. We are told that Peter’s mother-law was ‘taken by the hand and lifted’ and at once she began to serve ‘them’. Her healing is swift and complete. In gratitude, she did not serve only Him but  she serves them. The verb is diakoneo, the same verb Jesus uses to describe the essence of his own ministry in Mark 10:45. It is “to serve” rather than “to be served” that characterizes the Christ of God

Healings are never for our sake. A reading of the miracles of Jesus always point to the greater reality of healing; it is so that God may be glorified. Here the healing has a double dimension; that this unnamed woman would serve God and the community. Her gratitude to God is reflected in her service of all.

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Faith

Making His Mark- Tuesday, 1st week in ordinary time – Mark 1: 21-28

The Gospel of Mark was written in around 64-67 AD, before the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. The Gospel was written in Rome by Mark who is usually portrayed as a companion of Paul or as 1 Peter 5:13 describes him as Peter’s co-worker. Mark wrote the Gospel when the Christians community lived under the threat of persecution.

Mark is the first of the Gospel writers to pen down an orderly account of Jesus’ ministry in what is a geographical-theological structure. The first part of the Gospel describes Jesus’ activity in Galilee and beyond and the second part of the Gospel focuses on Jerusalem and the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. The theological aspect of the outline highlights his authority (exousia)

The Gospel of today focuses on Jesus’ authority. It is the question of this authority, which forms the opening of His ministry in today’s Gospel and is revealed by Jesus in His work and word.  It is this authority that will be rejected by His own people and cause misunderstandings even among his disciples. It is the nature of this authority that Jesus will clarify on the way to Jerusalem. It is the consequences of this authority that will be spelt out by Jesus for his followers.  It is this authority that will bring Him in direct confrontation with the Jewish leaders who will reject his authority and put Him to death.

The Gospel of Mark opens with the proclamation of John the Baptist then moves to Jesus’ baptism, his temptations, and the call of the first disciples (four of them) and then the first of the many healings. Today’s pericope takes place in Capernaum, the headquarters of Jesus ministry. It is here on the Sabbath that He teaches with authority, rebukes the unclean spirit with authority and is recognized by the people as a man who speaks and acts with authority unlike the scribes. In the Gospels the scribes are the interpreters and teachers of the Old Testament law and not simply secretaries or clerks.

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Opinion

Do two swallows a summer make?

The news of two families, both dear friends, leaving the Catholic Church sent me into a tizzy. Do I need to hit the spiritual alarm bells? The ‘migration’ from one Church to the other is nothing new; the methods though are always reinvented to sound urgent for one’s salvation.

There are two comments I wish to limit myself to. There are those, including some among the Catholic clergy who play down the issue simply as a matter of ‘merely two swallows’. I suspect that their fear of admitting to this ‘trickling exodus’ would expose their own lack of dealing with the spiritual needs of their congregation. Secondly, there is the congregation who demand for quick, short and perhaps entertaining homilies who fallaciously believe they will get something meaty in ten minutes when in reality all that they get is bones stewed in a pot whose meat has long fallen off leading them to be vulnerable to anti- catholic propaganda.

Let me begin with my ilk; all is certainly not well at home. The window of faith to the Church for most Catholics is the Sunday homily which has become the primary point of communicating the faith and the demand is often that that window be shut in ten minutes. The maxim goes that if you should be brief, be bright and be gone.

Even the Holy Father, Pope Francis has once (to be read in context of his entire homily) thrown his weight behind what he called “short and not boring homilies”. While agreeing with the intention of the Holy Father, I respectfully disagree with his words lest some clergyman use them selectively to their advantage.

It is insulting to the congregation to assume that what they truly desire on a Sunday is faith ‘in short’. The reality behind the growing demand for brief homilies stems from boredom that sets in thanks to those members of the clergy who do not prepare themselves. The truth is that a great homilist can be heard for hours on an end even on a busy Sunday.

What adds to the complexity of this issue is that the content of the homily is catechetical, preachy and moralistic. This is not the intention of the Catholic Church. The failure to ‘break the word of God’ and explain the scriptures is what ails the spiritual nourishment of the faithful. Jokes and anecdotes help but they can’t be a substitute for God’s word which clearly needs to be explained by the homilist.

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