Gospel Reflection Sunday February 4th 2024 – Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

By Fr Brian Maher OMI

Gospel Reflection for Sunday February 4th 2024 | 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Jesus of Nazareth, This is your Life….” … and he is presented with the red book of his life, as all around him relatives and friends applaud. If the TV show ‘This is Your Life’ had been around in the time of Jesus then I am certain his life would have merited inclusion. And if that had happened then today’s Gospel could well have provided the narrative on which it would hang.

In a very real sense, this week’s Gospel encapsulates the life of Jesus. We might properly label it “A day in the life of….”, because that is exactly what it is. Almost without commentary, Mark takes us through a typical day in the life of Jesus – teaching in the synagogue, healing Peter’s mother-in-law, beset by villagers wanting to be healed,  a few short hours of rest, escaping before dawn to pray alone, found by his followers and then moving to another village to start all over again…and again…and again.

I sometimes think, humorously of course, that it is fortunate that Jesus’ active ministry lasted only three years. If it were any longer he would almost certainly have had a major heart attack, or broken down from physical and mental exhaustion!

So what, I ask myself, was his motivation? Why wear himself out walking, talking, healing, eating, sleeping (a little), having to ‘escape’ in order to pray, then starting all over again? For a short while maybe the adrenalin of missionary zeal might carry him, but constantly and without a break….?  Then add to all of that plots to kill him (all four Gospels tell us of more than one plot to kill Jesus), endlessly fending off critics tying to trap him, rejection of his message by many, his closest friends often misunderstanding him, and we find ourselves looking at a man whose motivation was extraordinary.

Today’s Gospel finishes with Jesus saying to his companions, “Let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” I wonder is it possible that his motivation is that simple, “…that is why I came”?

Looking at his lifestyle and actions we can discount personal or political ambition, attention seeking, greed or religious mania as motives. It would seem, then, that what he said just might be the answer; that his motivation came from a strong, constant and developing understanding of himself as ‘coming into the world to reveal the Kingdom of God’.

The opening words of the Gospel, “As soon as they left the synagogue…” seem fairly calm and ‘ordinary’.…but not so! In fact the words refer back to last Sunday’s Gospel where Jesus encounters a possessed man and finds himself in a tense, stressful situation. Jesus and his followers would have left the synagogue with people wondering who they were and questioning what they had seen.

They retreated to Capernaum, the town where the two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John lived. It is also likely that Jesus himself had moved there after he was rejected and nearly killed in Nazareth (Mtt 4:13). Arriving ‘home’, after the stress of the synagogue incident, they find that Peter’s mother-in-law is seriously ill with fever. As a friend of Peter and Andrew’s family, Jesus would have known his in-laws, so it is perfectly understandable that Jesus would want to help if he could.

Evidently Jesus stayed inside Peter’s home for the rest of that day, while word obviously spread that he was there. When the day’s work was over and the village was quiet, Peter’s home became the centre of attention as those who were ill in any way were carried or came themselves to the house seeking a cure.

Saying that the “whole town gathering at the door…” may be an exaggeration but it certainly gives a picture of a noisy, insistent crowd demanding the attention of Jesus. Not for Jesus an evening at home, sharing a glass of wine with his closest friends. No, he responds as he always does, with compassion and patience, healing many and curing all kinds of diseases.

Why do all of this? Simple, because “…that is why I came”!

Finally, after a long and draining day, Jesus finally falls into an exhausted sleep.

Then, we have the lovely picture of Jesus silently getting up and sneaking out of the house to find a quiet place to pray. This image shows us in a graphic way how importantly he viewed his own relationship with the Father.

And then, while he was still at prayer he hears the distant sound of his followers coming to find him.

His thoughts at that moment might not have been exactly charitable – maybe something like, “Can I get no time to myself?…”, “Why can’t they amuse themselves for just one day and let me pray?…”, “Lord, give me strength…and patience to put up with them!…”.

At different times Jesus must have felt stressed, put upon, used, and worn-out. It probably was not always easy to smile and say, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also”. As a slight aside, there are times when I feel huge sympathy for Jesus, and then I wonder if that is something I am allowed to feel. Is it not arrogance for little old me to feel sympathy for Jesus? Might he not laugh and say, “How dare you, little man! Am I not your God?”

Reflecting on the Gospels will always raise these kinds of questions for us. Our answers will be shaped by our own personal relationship with God and Jesus, but regardless of our answers, just asking the question is valuable.

So then, what can we learn from this glimpse into an average day in Jesus’ life?

I am certain that human nature today is more or less the same as it was two thousand years ago. On the evolutionary scale two thousand years is as a drop of water added to the ocean. By searching for clues and sometimes drawing inferences from what we read we can learn quite a bit.

For instance, when I look at Jesus saying, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I came…”, I say to myself, “…here is a man who is happy and content within himself. Here is a man who lives life to the full.”  Why do I say that? Because the energy and motivation to keep going while tired and stressed can only be successfully achieved when we are, at a deep level of being, happy and content with what we are doing.

Are there other clues in the Gospels to suggest the same thing?

We read that Jesus was popular and liked. A constantly dour, negative, grim disposition does not win popularity, while a smiling, happy, cheerful disposition does.

We also find Jesus saying to his Apostles, “Let the children come to me and do not stop them…” My experience is that children are attracted by warmth and smiles. If Jesus was liked by children and in turn welcomed them, then surely he was a warm, smiling, welcoming person.

Finally, on many occasions, we encounter Jesus eating and drinking with others. Indeed he is criticised by the followers of John the Baptist for eating and drinking too much! He enjoyed the company of others and interacted comfortably with all people – rich, poor, tax collector, Pharisee, men, women, children, sick, healthy.

Therefore, it is possible to infer that Jesus was a happy and content person, based on his ability to keep going day after day, month after month, year after year, in what was very obviously an exhausting and stressful lifestyle.

There is also something else in this Gospel worth remembering. Jesus needed to pray!

We can so easily imagine Jesus in need of nothing – an actor on the stage of life, having his entries and exits. But not so! The Gospels are very clear that he was often tired, thirsty and hungry. He stayed away from cities and large towns, preferring small towns and villages where he could engage with people at a personal level. This way of preaching, however, involved a lot of walking from one place to another which would leave him dusty, hot and, no doubt, sweaty.

His times of personal prayer are not presented to us as ‘optional’ – to be fitted into his day if there was time. Even if it meant getting up “long before dawn” his commitment to prayer was absolute.

Just like us Jesus had to work at prayer. The story of the temptations of Jesus in the desert describe quite clearly the temptations and distractions which must have frequently disturbed his prayer.

If Jesus had to face temptations and distractions in prayer then the Gospels are equally clear that he experienced some intense moments of prayer when God’s presence was deeply felt by him. The experience described in the Transfiguration and the experience Jesus had at his Baptism in the Jordan both recount peak-moments of prayer.

Anyone who takes prayer seriously will, with absolute certainty, experience moments of darkness and moments of light. Between these two poles will be long periods of what I will call ‘ordinary, routine’ prayer. This prayer can seem dry and barren, stretching ahead to infinity with little to see or feel. We will be tempted to give-up and maybe find something more fruitful to do, convincing ourselves that God appreciates our work more than our silence. Endless seeking for highs and perpetual fear of lows lead us to a situation where we miss the gentle voice of God speaking to us in the breeze.

Jesus, it seems to me, fully experienced the highs and the lows of every Spiritual journey. When tempted in the desert he finally shouted, “Get behind me, Satan!” and he moved on. When on the mountain and encouraged by Peter to stay there, he said, “Let us go back down, for there are other towns and villages I must visit.”

Instead, Jesus forced himself to get up “…long before dawn” in order to keep the channels of communications between himself and the Father open.

If Jesus, faced with stress and exhaustion could say, “ “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I came…”, then he could only do so based on many long hours of simply sitting and waiting.

Let me give the last word to Teresa of Avila, a saint and mystic of the 16th century. She dedicated her entire life, not just to praying, but to reflecting on the nature of prayer – asking herself: What are we actually doing when we pray? Listen to what she said: “… It is not important whether we are delighted with consolation or tortured by dryness and desolation during prayer. What is important is the desire we have to be alone with God and talk with God.”

I feel certain that Jesus would have said exactly this of his early morning prayer.

I also feel certain that when we experience darkness or dryness in our prayer, Jesus would smile and gently say, “Yeah, tell me about it…!!!”

Many thanks,

Brian.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

He cast out devils and cured many who were suffering from disease