5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nJob 7:1-4, 6-7
\n1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
\nMark 1:29-39
\nFebruary 5, 2012<\/p>\nToday\u2019s gospel is just 12 verses but it tells us a lot about Jesus.\u00a0 It tells us all the types of actions Jesus did between his baptism and\u00a0the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and Resurrection.<\/p>\n
It also tells us some of the response of the people.\u00a0 For instance, Jesus heals people.\u00a0 When he heals Simon\u2019s mother-in-law, it tells us how in response, she immediately gets up and waits on them.\u00a0 Jesus has healed her and in response she cares for his human needs.<\/p>\n
Of course, as Christians, we shouldn\u2019t just look at the fact that Jesus healed her but ask why?\u00a0 He heals her because he cares about her as a person.<\/p>\n
Then, Jesus drives out demons.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because he cares about the people.\u00a0 Jesus isn\u2019t just about doing miracles.<\/p>\n
After Jesus has healed many people and driven out many demons, what does he do?\u00a0 He goes off to pray.\u00a0 Jesus is a man of prayer.\u00a0 If Jesus, who is the Son of God and the Messiah, takes the time to pray how much more do we need to spend time in pray to seek the Father\u2019s Will?<\/p>\n
While Jesus is praying, Simon and the others come looking for him.\u00a0 He says \u201cLet us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus is a man who preaches his Father\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n
Notice Jesus doesn\u2019t say let us go to the nearby villages so I can do miracles there but rather preach there.\u00a0 Are miracles good things?\u00a0 Is it wonderful that Jesus heals sick people and drives out demons?\u00a0 Absolutely, but that is not all he is.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He does these things because he cares about us.\u00a0 In turn, we should not just think about what Jesus can do for us.\u00a0 We need to reflect on what he teaches us.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who is it that knows truly and fully who Jesus is?\u00a0 It is the demons!\u00a0 We know this because we are told that Jesus did not permit them to speak \u201cbecause they knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why won\u2019t Jesus want people to know who he truly is?\u00a0 Won\u2019t it be better for them to know that he is no mere prophet or miracle worker but the Son of God?<\/p>\n
After all, many of the people who were looking for Jesus just followed him because they were looking for miracles.\u00a0 Some of them might not even have cared who he was if he did a miracle for them.<\/p>\n
Some may have hoped he was the messiah but they had their own expectations of what the messiah would be like and Jesus didn\u2019t meet those expectations.<\/p>\n
In Mark\u2019s Gospel, we call this pattern of Jesus not allowing the demons to tell the people who he really is \u201cThe Messianic Secret.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus wants each person to come to believe in Jesus for themselves.\u00a0 The miracles and exorcisms are meant to help with that but there were other miracle workers then, so the miracles don\u2019t prove Jesus is the Messiah and much more.<\/p>\n
The people only come to know who Jesus is at his Crucifixion and Resurrection.\u00a0 For those who don\u2019t come to fully know Jesus, the Crucifixion is defeat.\u00a0 For those who do, the Crucifixion is victory over death.<\/p>\n
Who is Jesus to you?<\/p>\n
Do you seek Jesus as a miracle worker?\u00a0 Crying out to him in times of illness and despair?\u00a0 Jesus is a miracle worker but he is also much more than that.<\/p>\n
Do you come to Jesus to rid yourself of the \u201cdemons\u201d in your life?\u00a0 Jesus can help but he is much more than that.<\/p>\n
Do you come to Jesus to learn how to pray?\u00a0 Do you just pray for an hour here at church?\u00a0 Do you ever talk to Jesus during the week?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Do you seek Jesus\u2019 advice on how to deal with whatever is going on in your lives?<\/p>\n
Is your faith in Jesus just one part of your life (faith) or do you seek Jesus is all things?<\/p>\n
For instance, when you are making a decision, is your faith in Jesus part of how you determine what is good and bad?<\/p>\n
Jesus wants to be part of our lives when we are sick and when we are healthy.\u00a0 Jesus wants to help us be good moral people.<\/p>\n
Who is Jesus to you and what do you seek from him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is the prepared text for my homily for this past weekend. 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Job 7:1-4, 6-7 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 Mark 1:29-39 February 5, 2012 Today\u2019s gospel is just 12 verses but it tells us a lot about Jesus.\u00a0 It tells us all the types of actions Jesus did …<\/p>\n
Continue reading ‘Who Is Jesus To You and What Do You Seek From Him?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-aO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":671,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}