Rising Above…
Scripture:
Mark 1:29-39,
1 Corinthians 9:16-19,
1 Corinthians 9:22-23.
Reflection
My dear sisters and brothers,
We have the text from the Gospel according to Saint Mark (Mark 1:29-39) for our reflection today.
“On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.
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,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Rising very early before dawn, he left
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues,
preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.”
Today, we reflect on the theme: Rising Above…
There are three parts in today’s Gospel text.
1. Self to Community…
2. Being Sick to Being Healthy… &
3. Popularity to Purpose.
These three parts elaborately give us how to rise above from our own selfish life to community life.
In other words, we rise above from humanness to divineness.
And Jesus our Master, prepares a way for us all.
Let us look into the every part to change our selves so that we can become a worthy disciple of Christ Jesus in the world wherever we live.
1. Self to Community:
‘On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.’
What we read in the first part of the Gospel text is that ‘Jesus enters the house of Simon and Andrew’.
Where does Jesus come from?
Jesus on leaving the synagogue, enters the house of Simon and Andrew.
According to me, ‘on leaving the synagogue’, means that Jesus comes after ‘his prayer’ and enters the house of Simon and Andrew.
It is the house, which belongs to Simon and Andrew.
But, we read further: ‘Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever’.
There are few points, I would like to clarify before we proceed to reflect further.
She is Simon’s mother-in-law.
It means Simon is married.
And she is sick with a fever.
The American Dictionary defines ‘Fever’ as: ‘a condition in which the body’s temperature is higher than usual, esp. as a sign of illness’.
We take a meaning that fever is a sign of illness.
It is not an illness itself.
Therefore, Simon’s mother-in-law is not really sick with a fever.
It is a sign of disappoint.
It is a sign of complaint.
It is a sign of anger.
It is a sign of crisis.
It is a sign of problem.
It is a sign of pain.
It is a sign of difficulty.
Particularly, we notice that she is not in her house.
She is in Simon’s house.
Why does she come here?
She comes to see her daughter.
Daughter (Simon’s wife) complains about Simon.
And mother-in-law is in disappointed with Simon.
She is in anger with Simon.
She has a complaint about Simon.
She has a crisis with Simon’s way of life.
Why does she have a problem with Simon, her son-in-law?
Simon has left everything and followed Jesus.
She thinks that he is not bothered about his family after started to follow Jesus.
She heard from her daughter that he does not care about his family welfare like other husbands to their wives and fathers to their children.
At this time, Jesus enters the house of Simon.
They immediately told him about her.
Who are they?
May be Simon and Andrew.
Now, let us rewrite the sentence.
Simon and Andrew immediately told Jesus about Simon’s mother-in-law.
Why does it immediately?
It is an urgent for Simon to address this issue in his family.
It disturbs his life as follower of Jesus and his family.
Simon wants to address this issue so that he can be at peace doing what God wants in his life.
So, Simon invites Jesus to his house.
What does Jesus do?
Jesus approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Jesus approached.
Jesus goes near her.
Synonymously, we can say that Jesus encounters her personally.
And then Jesus seizes her and holds her firmly.
After this encounter, she experiences Jesus personally.
It is a personal experience with Jesus that seizes her and holds her life firmly.
Now, she understand Simon why Simon follows Jesus.
There is no more sign of illness in her.
After her personal encounter with Jesus, she rises up from her selfish motif.
(‘Help up’ means: ‘to help someone rise up from something’.)
She understand Simon and his purpose in following Jesus.
She could not rise above (‘self’) before she could encounter Jesus, but now she could rise above after she encounters Jesus personally.
Yes, dear sisters and brothers,
She rises above from self to community.
What does she do after rising from self?
Then the fever left her and ‘she waited on them’.
She serves ‘them’.
‘Them’: It is plural.
She serves the community.
She rises above from ‘self to community’.
We all are selfish when we do not encounter Jesus in our lives.
The experience of Jesus, transforms us and makes us to rise above from self to community.
This is a sign of those who belong to Jesus.
Simon possesses.
Andrew possesses.
Simon’s mother-in-law possesses.
The entire family possesses now.
Do we encounter Jesus in our every day lives?
What does it happen after our encounter with Jesus in our lives?
2. Being Sick to Being Healthy:
‘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,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.’
The second part of today’s Gospel text, we read that Jesus cures the sick with various diseases and drives out many demons.
Because, people are ill or possessed by demons.
We have many problems, difficulties, financial crisis, pains, separations, love failures, broken marriages in our lives.
It is added my Covid-19, the pandemic for last one year.
The pandemic made us miserable to live our lives with dignity of life.
People died due to hunger.
People commit suicide.
People kill others few penny.
People hate to live.
With all these illnesses and possessed by the demon of hate, we are losing being healthy in Jesus to being sick in demonic circle all the time.
We are not ready to enter the door of Jesus’ heart.
We wait at the door as the whole town was gathered at the door, not able to enter and experience Jesus’ healing.
What is the message that Jesus wants to convey to each one of us?
Jesus has not come to heal the sick and drive out the demons.
Jesus does not want to be understood as a miracle worker alone.
It is not his primary purpose.
He was sent to love the world.
His purpose is to give good news to the poor (Luke 4:18-19).
3. Popularity to Purpose:
‘Rising very early before dawn, he left
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues,
preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.’
‘Everyone is looking for you’ - is the starting point of the third part of our reflection.
The big crowd that came looking for Jesus that morning went home disappointed.
The did not find him.
Why?
Because they were looking for him for the wrong reasons.
They were looking for Jesus to satisfy what they wanted.
They were not interested in what Jesus came to give.
Not that Jesus is not interested in our physical health.
He is.
But, the spiritual welfare must come first.
People experience healing and dispossessed by the demons.
The problem is that they want Jesus for their physical health without healing their inner selves.
He wants us to understand his purpose in the world.
His purpose is to give good news to the poor (Luke 4:18-19).
Jesus comes to proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God.
He invites all humankind to repent and reconcile with God, with one another and with oneself so that God can be the King of our hearts and of our lives.
The sickness, the poverty, the hunger and the suffering exist in our world due to unstable and fanatic states, lack of sharing material gains, desire for more wealth and so on.
These are the sicknesses and the possession of the demons in our world.
They separate us from God, from one another and from oneself.
The purpose of Jesus is to heal this root cause of all our problems (Luke 4:18-19).
This is the good news that Jesus is eager to proclaim.
Are we ready to proclaim the same good news that Jesus proclaimed.
If it is so, we have to become like we read in Saint Paul’s Letter (1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 1 Corinthians 9:22-23):
Brothers and sisters:
If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,
for an obligation has been imposed on me,
and woe to me if I do not preach it!
If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,
but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
What then is my recompense?
That, when I preach,
I offer the gospel free of charge
so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
Although I am free in regard to all,
I have made myself a slave to all
so as to win over as many as possible.
To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak.
I have become all things to all, to save at least some.
All this I do for the sake of the gospel,
so that I too may have a share in it.
It is possible only when we pray and reflect like Jesus everyday in our lives:
‘Rising very early before dawn, he left
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.’
The prayer brings a clarity of thought.
The prayer makes us humble in our attitude like Jesus, who easily moved from the place where everyone was looking for him.
‘He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”’
This is simple way to receive God’s abundant blessings in all areas of our lives, spiritual, physical, material, social, etc.
Let us first make peace with God.
Let us not to be caught with popularity.
Let us be guided by our prayer and communion with Jesus so that we may move ahead with God’s purpose in our lives.
To conclude my reflection, I would like to say that Jesus left the synagogue, went off to a deserted place and went into the synagogue.
It simply invites each one of us to be in communion with Jesus Christ all the time wherever we are or whatever we do or whatever we say.
Let Jesus Christ be our first, let Jesus Christ be our middle, let Jesus Christ be our last.
May we rise above from our self, sick, and popularity to community, health, and purpose.
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
