Sunday Gospel Reflection
They brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons

Introduction:

Preaching the Good News
What are the most important duties of daily life? What crises can upset those duties?

"I need to . . . " Have you ever noticed others define their daily lives by their duties?
Busy schedules pile duty upon duty. Some are important. Some are frivolous. Of course, throw a minor crisis into a busy schedule and find out the true priority of duties.
Illness could be that crisis, for it can break one's focus and challenge one's sense of balance. It can even turn priorities upside down.

Jesus came with one duty: to announce God's Kingdom. Along the way, he healed illness and relationships to advance the Kingdom. He came to set priorities right.

First Reading
Job 7:1-4,6-7

1 "Has not man a hard service upon earth, and are not his days like the days of a hireling?
2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hireling who looks for his wages,
3 so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
...
 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope.
7 "Remember that my life is a breath;my eye will never again see good...."

Second Reading
1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23

16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel.
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.
 ...
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings

Gospel Reading
Mark 1:29-39

29 Immediately leaving from the synagogue, they went into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 The mother-in-law of Simon was lying down, burning (with a fever). Immediately, they told HIM about her.
31 Approaching (her), HE raised her, having held (her) hand. And the fever left her. She served them.
32 Evening came when the sun set. They (kept) bringing HIM everyone having illness and the demon-possessed.
33 The entire city was gathered together at the door.
34 HE healed many very sick with various diseases and threw out many demons. HE was not permitting the demons to speak, because they had known HIM.
35 The (next) morning, while it was still very dark, rising up, HE left and went out to a deserted place. There HE was praying.
36 Simon and those with him tracked HIM down.
37 They found HIM and said to HIM, "Everyone is looking for you."
38 He said to them, "Let us go elsewhere, into the next village, so I might also preach there. For this is the reason I came."
39 He went preaching in their synagogues throughout Galilee, and throwing out demons.

Bible Study

--Mark 1:29-31
In this gospel passage, Jesus first ministered to Simon's mother-in-law. In a male-dominated society of Jesus' time, the place of the woman was that of a servant. In addition, Mark implied Simon's mother-in-law was a widow without other family support, so her place in the family was tenuous. (Remember that a widow without family would be homeless.) This  poor woman did not live with her husband's family or her immediate family, but with her son-in-law's family. Her place in the family was at the bottom of the pecking order. Without health, she could be seen as a burden on the family. And the family could easily dispose of such a "forgettable" person. When Jesus sat the woman up, he did not merely heal her of a fever. He restored her function and place in the family. So he restored her self-esteem.

--Mark 1:32-34
Modern America approaches the sick in different ways. We treat those with diseases or disorders we understood with medicine (like cancer, HIV-AIDS, etc.). We make accommodations to include others with unchangeable conditions into society (the blind, the deaf, and the lame). We only isolate the sick in extreme cases for their safety (ICU in the hospital, for example), or for the safety of society (the psychotic in mental institutions).

The world of Jesus approached the sick as those afflicted by evil spirits that influenced the body and possessed the person. But the spirit world extended beyond the individual. The whole of society was affected. A spirit who possessed one person might extend its influence over others. Only benevolent spirits with greater power could have control over lesser, malevolent spirits. Hence, sickness fell into the realm of faith. If an appeal to divine power (or lesser spirits) could not address the issue, the sick were to be placed outside society to keep evil spirits at a distance. Isolation was far more pronounced in Jesus' time than in modern day America. People were cut off from
family and friends. They had no place in society.

What Jesus did for Simon's mother-in-law, he could do for a village: restore loved ones back to their place in the family and in society. Notice Jesus healed the sick and expelled demons. He took a hands-on approach to situations that formal Judaism kept at arms' length. The ill and the possessed were "unclean" (not "kosher"). They were to live outside normal community life, as homeless. Jesus came to change their ailment and their status. Jesus came not only to make the person whole. He came to restore everyone's place in society. [1:32-34a] Even the spirits who the contemporaries of Jesus believed were at the root of sickness and possession could not overcome the "holy One of God."

--Mark 1:35-38
Actually Jesus was only one of many folk healers. Mark stressed the difference between these healers and Jesus in the power of his word. As we saw last week, Jesus did not need the incantations or the list of names for exorcisms other healers needed. The power of his word, his message, revealed his power. More important, Jesus' word not only healed the person and returned him or her to a proper place in society. His word returned the person to a proper place before God. That was the essence of the Good News. That was the reason for his ministry in Galilee, later in Jerusalem. That was the reason for his death. And that was the power of his resurrection. In a priority of ministry, Jesus came to preach the Good News. As a result of his preaching, the power of his word made people right. Right with God. Right with each other. Right with themselves. In that order.

Meditation/Reflections:

· Please re-read the phrase(s)/sentence(s) that move(s)/touche(s) you and what inner message of the heart is the Spirit whispering to you ?

.  Illness presents us with a choice. To reject God and the hope he brings. Or, to believe. Illness can provoke us to follow the path to spiritual death. Or, it can lead us to forgiveness, healing, and inspiration for others. In other words, illness can bring us and others to God. Illness can evangelize.
   -----Reflect on an illness you have had. How did that illness challenge you? Did it increase your faith? Was the Lord close to you? Or did he feel distant?
        Explain.

. Get right with the Lord. If we listen for the words of the Lord in health or in sickness or in social isolation, he still delivers the same message. When we stand before God as his beloved, we experience healing. The healing may be at different levels and at different times, but we do experience a sense of wholeness. When we get right with the Lord, we get right with others and ourselves.
  -----Last week, you got ready to hear the Lord and feel his healing touch. What happened in the last week to confirm that prayer? How can you pass that prayer onto others this week?

.  How much do I desire for healing? To what extent am I willing to  sacrifice, to change, so that Jesus can heal me?  How can I help Jesus heal others around me?

. When you experience stress and pressure, how do you cope? Suggest several ways we can follow Jesus' example in verse 35.

To live His Word this week.

For Youngters

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, you have all power to heal and to deliver. There is no trouble nor bondage you cannot overcome. Set me free to serve you joyfully and to love and serve others with a generous heart. May nothing hinder me from giving myself wholly to you and to your service.