Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 29 2025

A Balanced Life

Job’s words remind us how weariness, heaviness of heart, sadness, can sweep over us at times and lodge bone-deep. All of our work seems little more than “drudgery.” Sometimes these feelings are inexplicable; at other times the loss of a loved one, a sudden change in our lives, the discovery of a serious illness can be the cause.

This second half of a day in the life of Jesus shows us his response to those things that weigh people down, whether it is an illness afflicting the loved one of a disciple, or strangers who were ill or possessed by demons. Jesus responds to those brought before him, curing and driving out many demons. He is the compassion of God present to the people who come to him.

Jesus obviously spent the whole day meeting the needs of the people, long into the evening. Then, perhaps he sat up with Simon and Andrew, James and John, talking with them about what had happened, listening to how this coming of the kingdom of God into their world was affecting them. Then he slept.

We are told that he woke early and went off to a deserted place to pray. This must be how he got the strength to go into another day. As Simon says, “Everyone is looking for you”—whether to thank him or to ask for one more favor we don’t know. But Jesus says it is time to move on, to preach and free others from demons.

Consider/Discuss

Consider how important prayer was for Jesus, so he could keep on doing what he understood as his mission in life.
Do you have a balanced life: work and prayer, time with family, friends, and sleep?

Responding to the Word

Lord Jesus, you came to show us the face of your Father, who wishes us to be fully alive in the Spirit. Give us the health we need to do the work you have called us to do. Help us to see clearly what our life needs to be open to you and your Father’s will. Amen.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

Crushed by the torment of his own situation, Job bemoans the harshness of life itself. It is like hard military service, or like the life of a hireling who has nothing to say about the conditions of work, or like the situation of a slave who is totally dependent upon the slaveholder. These metaphors both describe the tribulations of life and express the helplessness that is experienced in it. Job has nowhere to turn. Life seems to be armed against him and there is neither defense nor escape. So many circumstances are beyond human control, and Job feels helpless in the face of it. It is no wonder that he cries out.

Preaching was the reason Paul was called to follow Christ. In his eyes, he deserved no special credit for this, and therefore he had no grounds for boasting. The issue was not if Paul preached, but how he preached. There were times when he waived his right to financial support and he preached free of charge. He seems to have preferred preaching at no cost, for then he would be beholden to no one and would be able to preach the gospel without being concerned about offending his audience. Still, Paul was willing to conform himself to others without compromising the gospel.

The Gospel reading recounts Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus exercises unique authority over the powers of death. The person released from this power then goes about ministering to others. Other healings and exorcisms follow. These two works are connected. The principal message of Jesus’ preach

ing is the long-awaited establishment of the reign of God. However, before God’s reign can take firm root and thrive, the reign of evil must be dislodged and cast out. Jesus’ fame so spreads that he is compelled to flee to a solitary place to pray. The reading ends with a statement that condenses the entire ministry of Jesus into preaching and driving out demons.

Jan 24 2025

We Love This Place, We Love This Moment— But Cannot Stay

It is early morning before the dawn when I get up to write. In my half-asleep state, the mug of hot chocolate warming my hand and the moon shining in the window tell me that the things of earth are good. The place we live is beautiful. I wonder . . . what was Jesus’ experience in the morning, before dawn when he got up to pray?

The sky was dark as he trekked out of town. Scenes from yesterday ran through his head—demons shrieking at the synagogue; Simon’s mother-in-law rising up, the smell of her good bread; Peter, James, and John chortling with laughter—it had been a rich and full day. And then when the sun had gone down and the Sabbath was over, the whole town had come to the door. He still saw the broken and the maimed, the tormented and the needy, so many, so hurting. When he straightened the little girl’s crooked legs, her mother’s face lit up with joy. Human life is good. He could stay. He could do much good here. He loved this earth.

He stopped to sit on a large boulder and fell deeply into prayer. Suddenly, a strong breeze startled his peace. From the other side of the lake the moon rose above the hills: the quiet moon that tugs on the oceans and creates the tides, the ever-moving moon that waxes and wanes and travels across the sky. In that moment, he understood that celestial restlessness: I can love this earth, but I cannot stay.

He sprinted toward Simon as the big fisherman came toward him and shouted, “Come on, let’s go! All of Galilee awaits!” From then on, he focused on his mission. A bigger plan was at work here. He had sensed his earthly end. He could not stay.

Consider/Discuss

Life is good. Sometimes we may want things just to stay as they are. Yet the plan of God is deeper and richer than we can ever imagine. When have you had surprises in your life that led you in a different direction from what you had earlier envisioned?
What would have happened if Jesus had decided to stay and “do good” in Capernaum? How would the history of the world have been changed? Where would you and I be?

Living and Praying with the Word

God of the universe, there are days in this earthly life when we feel Job’s drudgery. We too have troubled nights when we cannot sleep, restless until the dawn. Yet you lift the brokenhearted. You love this earth. We rise again this day to give you praise, for you have created the world to be good. You set the moon in its course. You call the stars by name. Our days here are swift, but our life with you is everlasting.

Jan 24 2025

Scripture Study for

In his first response to the “consolation” of his friends for his terrible suffering, Job expresses not only the suffering caused by his physical pain, but especially the pain of loneliness and confusion. He experiences his friends as undependable (6:15) and cannot fathom the reason for his suffering, which is unexplained and unexplainable. In his misery, he reflects on the “drudgery” of life, the human condition that suffering sometimes renders intolerable. Job’s misfortune is profound and cannot be dismissed, but immersed in it as he is, he is unable to see anything in life but misfortune, “slavery,” and trouble. From Job’s current vantage point, life is only short, painful, and ultimately without hope.

Paul’s comments about preaching the gospel fall within a defense of his rights as an apostle. He points out to the Corinthians that although he has the right to receive recompense for his work (9:1–14), he has not and will not insist on this. If Paul “enjoyed” preaching the gospel, then that would be recompense in itself. But in fact he does not do it because he enjoys it, but because he has been commanded by God—he has been “entrusted with a stewardship.” Paradoxically, the fact that Paul preaches without monetary recompense is itself a recompense, because he knows that this is his to do and by doing it he will receive his “share” in the gospel.

Mark’s Gospel famously moves, especially at the beginning, quickly from one scene to the next, with everything happening “immediately.” This narrative urgency reflects Jesus’ own sense of mission; he is eager to do what he has come to do. The Gospel makes clear that the priority is to proclaim the kingdom of God by healing physical and spiritual ailments. Fever and other illnesses are conquered, as are demons, one after the other in rapid succession. There is no better way to show the power of God at work in the world than freeing people from whatever binds them. Even when Jesus is summoned from prayer he responds immediately and goes forward to continue preaching and healing.

Jan 14 2025

A Little Salt, a Little Light, a Lotta Difference

One of the most common advertising strategies is showing what you can look like after you purchase a certain product or follow a particular program: a more pleasing shape, greater muscle definition, blemish-free skin, silkier hair, and so on. Jesus today offers two images to his disciples, salt and light, indicating what they can be if they follow his teachings. In both instances the benefits go to others.

Salt was important in Jesus’ time for preserving meat and for bringing out the taste of food. Its usefulness depends on its interacting with something else. When it doesn’t interact, it is useless. So, too, if a follower does not live in the world as a child of the kingdom, the world will be bland.

And not only that, but also blind, unable to glimpse God’s presence here and now. The disciples must show themselves to the world as followers of Jesus, rooted like him in the law and the prophets. With so much darkness due to hatred, cruelty, and greed, the disciple who shares bread with the hungry, helps shelter the homeless, clothes the naked, and does not live indifferent to the needs of others, will truly be salt and light.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to hear the Sermon on the Mount, a compilation of teachings that Matthew has collected to give us the program we are to follow so that the world may catch a glimpse now and again of the reign of God.

Consider/Discuss

Do you see ways in which you can bring savor and light to the world?
Do you recognize that Jesus is calling the church as a community of believers to dispel the darkness and gloom?

Responding to the Word

Pray that God will help you to recognize the gifts given to you and your community for the good of others. We also ask God to give us the humility not to feel threatened by the gifts of others, but to rejoice in them and encourage their use.