The bookends for the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today take us to the state of sickness of body or heart which afflicts most people at some time. The lament of Job that life is short and consists of hard service without rest is an experience which we understand. The words are perhaps surprising in the mouth of a Biblical "Hero" who we are told is loved by God. The passage from the Gospel of Mark is ,according to Friar Jude Winkler, an account of Jesus first day in Capernaum, Peter's home town, as told to Mark.
Jesus heals many who are sick and casts out demons. The healing actions of God are mystery to us. The question of "who is healed?" is always near. Winkler proposes that God always chooses the most loving option. Between the situations needing healing in the text today we find praise and thanksgiving for the healing action of God in gathering up the outcasts of Israel and binding their wounds. The first letter of Paul to the Corinthians expresses the joy and thanksgiving of Paul to God for the privilege of being able to proclaim the Good News. The enormity of the message and the shortness of time sensed by Paul have formed his strategy that he, like Jesus model, would be all things to all people to bring them in intimate contact with God who offers a journey of love to us which as witnessed by the life of Jesus his disciples and the "Heroes of the Kingdom" may include the days of sickness in body and Spirit as a means to be more of all things to all people
in the hope of bringing joy and restoration recognition of Divine intimacy to all lives.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment