Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Jb 7:1-4, 6-7
Ps 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23
Mk 1:29-39

When disasters—personal or communal—occur in our world, it's likely that religious people will be asked: What does God have to do with this? Hello, I'm Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the "Sunday Soundbite" for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

This 90-second soundbite can't hope to answer that question, but perhaps today's Sunday readings can help. In the first reading, we hear from that Biblical expert on suffering—Job. It's a short description of Job's—and humankind's—miserable condition. If we read more of the Book of Job, we discover that it doesn't try to resolve the question of human suffering either. Rather it ends by bringing us face-to-face with the very mystery of God. With Job, we're invited to turn ourselves over to God and to trust in God's infinite wisdom and care for us.

The Gospel personalizes that invitation. Mark depicts Jesus embarked on a journey that again and again brings him face-to-face with evil: manifested in the sin and suffering, sickness and death Jesus encounters in the world. Each time, he proves himself master over evil, the one who brings God's forgiveness, the healer of human suffering. Eventually, he conquers death itself on the Cross.

What does God have to do with human suffering? The best answer I know is God's answer, Jesus himself—the only answer we need.

Scripture:

•Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of hirelings? He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages. (Job 7:1,2)

•He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

•I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. (1 Corinthians 9:19)

•He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them. (Mark 1:31)

Reflection:

•What is Jesus’ mission?

•What is Paul’s mission?

•What is your mission?

This is crucial: we must be converted—and we must continue to be converted! We must let the Holy Spirit change our lives! We must respond to Jesus Christ. And we must be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit who will continue to convert as we follow Christ. If our faith is alive, it will be aroused again and again as we mature as disciples.