5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feb.

8, 2015
(Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39)
Sundays first reading is from the book of Job. In a nutshell, Job
asks the (unanswerable) question of why the innocent one suffers. Job
was a righteous man whose family and all of his belongings were
taken away from him in a fabulous personal disaster. One of his
friends suggests that even though Job has been an inspiration for many
people over the years, now that (disaster) comes to you, you are
impatient; when it touches you, you are dismayedReflect now, what
innocent person perished?
Job responds, protesting his innocence of any wrongdoing. He
then reflects on the human condition generally. Are not our days on
earth drudgery? When he says I have been assigned months of misery
and troubled nights have been assigned to me he means that God has
done this to him. He reflects the insomniacs complaint: I am filled
with restlessness until the dawn my life is like the wind. I shall not
see happiness again.
We should only take Job in small does at a time. He could depress
the greatest optimist in the world. His suffering becomes the suffering
of everyone. Woe is Job. Woe are we all. That is Jobs answer to his
present suffering. Job concludes this speech thus: If I sin what do I do
to you, O watcher of mortals? Why have you made me your
target.Why do you not pardon my offense, or take away my guilt?
For soon I shall lie down in the dust; and should you seek me I shall
be gone. Brrrr. He is definitely not on my list of people Id invite to a
party!
At the same time, the questions Job raises afflict us all at various
stages of life. We wonder at times why is all this stuff happening to
me? What did I do to deserve this? How can I get out of this? Why do
I have to bear all this suffering, this sickness, this disease?
That brings us to the Gospel which includes the healing of
Simons mother-in-law, who is mentioned only here in the Gospel. In

fact, she is the only in-law mentioned in the Gospels. We also do not
ever hear of the wives of any of the disciples of Jesus, which is a
curious omission.
The scene of her healing is at Simon and Andrews (they were
brothers) house in Capernaum. Mark says they went straight away into
Simons house after leaving the synagogue. Pilgrims who have been to
the Capernaum ruins on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee
will have noted the remains of a synagogue which appears to have
been a third century AD building. There is also a large house nearby
that has been excavated which was a fifth century Christian church
and was thought to have been erected over Simon Peters house. There
is no proof of that claim, but it was certainly near the synagogue and
many churches were built over significant New Testament sites.
Jesus healed Simons mother-in-law so completely that she got up
and began to wait on them. He healed many and exorcised demons of
various sorts, according to Mark, well into the evening. He seeks
solitude to pray early in the morning, away from crowds and noise. We
might well consider that ourselves when we pray. When Simon and the
others find him he accompanies them elsewhere to preach (about the
kingdom of God): For this purpose I have come. For Jesus his
preaching about the kingdom is accompanied by action like healing or
exorcising demons.
Paul realizes he is under a compulsion to preach the gospel.
Whether he does it willingly or not, it is part of the stewardship with
which he has been entrusted. That is true for all who are called to
preach the gospel.
Fr. Lawrence Hummer