V Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – February 7, 2021 Jesus Christ: Bringing God’s power and salvation into the mix of humanity Job 7: 1-4, 6-7 / Psalm 147 / I Corinthians 9: 16-19, 22-23 / Mark 1: 29-39
Would you think of Jesus as a superhero? Is that accurate? Perhaps, but superheroes are those who possess great, superhuman powers and intelligence who make their impact felt by overwhelming force which separates them from the rest. Christ is eternal and the Son of the Most High God, but he’s much more than a superhero. Jesus Christ is all-powerful and does great and miraculous things, but he chooses to make his impact felt in the lives of each person and on a level close to us. His power does not separate him from us, but serves to bring us closer to God. Today’s Gospel reading from the first chapter of Mark shows Jesus in the midst of the people, in the mix of a suffering and needy humanity. Such is the purpose of the Incarnation. The people flock to Jesus and pursue him. Even his personal prayer time in a deserted place is interrupted. It seems he can’t ever escape. Not just in that moment, but throughout his earthly sojourn. He heals and cures people miraculously; he drives out demons. Jesus seems to go non-stop. One of my favorite spiritual writers, Padre Segundo Galilea, writes that the ministry of Jesus is characterized more by a series of interruptions and constant demands and requests being made of him and not by a precisely laid and organized out plan. As we read in the Gospels, Jesus does not go around with all sort of plans, he doesn’t even seem to make them. Recall how he sends out his apostles 2 by 2 instructing them to take “nothing for the journey but a walking stick” (Mark 6: 8a). The people keep coming and Jesus keeps giving. That is his approach. The Lord Jesus exemplifies true freedom. He is about another plan: his Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation. To consider Jesus as a superhero is to not fully understand his identity and purpose. True, his life is marked by constant movement and good and supernatural works. However, that is not because of some secret and superhuman strength, but because his love is inexhaustible, because he loves without limits, to the end. Christ brings us closer to God, but he also brings God closer to us. He goes in search of the lost sheep and he also waits quietly for us. The Lord Jesus does both because he wants us to feel at home in his presence. There might be moments and places when and where we would rather God not be around, that he not look upon us or be near us. Christ is God’s answer to such thoughts, to such fear and shame. In Jesus Christ, God finds time for us and is available. In him, God comes into our “mix” and, sometimes, mess. Whether you call out to Christ and seek him or he comes looking for you, it is all the same; he is there. Christ brings us closer to God, but he also brings God closer to us. Love keeps the Lord Jesus ever present, ever available. Through him, with him and in him, let us find our way. Christ is at home in our presence and with us; may others find welcome, too.