Homily:
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) Mary Ann Wiesemann-Mills, OP
February 5/6, 2000
Readings: Job 7:1-4, 6-7, 1
Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39
Job is in crisis. A just and upright man, one who
loves God as sincerely as he knows how, is suddenly faced with a chain of events that have
totally turned his life around.
Consider Job. He has been the proud father of
seven sons and three daughters. He has owned a large estate which included 7000 sheep,
3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, and a great number of servants. He has been in
superb health, enjoying the benefits reaped from his investment in life.
And then, his livestock is stolen.
His children swept away in a storm.
He himself is afflicted with a painful skin
disease.
Understandably, Job is in the depths of pain,
physically and emotionally. He is enmeshed in the experience of the question of human
existence and suffering.
Yet the book of Job is not so much an explanation
of the problem of human suffering. Job is more a reflection on what to do when our
theology-our image of
God and of human life-no longer fit our
experience. Job laments loudly about this, seeking to find the living God in the midst of
his changed circumstance.
Paul is speaking out of a "damned if you do,
damned of you don't" situation. His own behavior has come under criticism at Corinth.
He is not living as the other apostles. His life, of his own choosing, is more restricted.
Some of the Corinthians interpret Paul's non-use of certain rights as evidence that he is
a true apostle.
Paul walks straight into the situation, seeking
out the Living God present in the turmoil. He listens for that response which will be the
most life producing.
With conviction, Paul states, "Although I am
not bound to anyone, I made myself the slave of all so as to win over as many as
possible."
Jesus spends a full day of ministry in the town
of Capernaum. There are so many to reach. He remains with these people long after sunset.
Rising early, he goes off to a lonely place to talk about these immediate past events with
his Abba. Jesus leaves his prayer with a new understanding. There is to be a change in
plans.
Although there are still many in Capernaum he has
not personally reached, the seed of the Good News has been sown. Other towns, other
persons await his time and presence.
The truth at the heart of each of these readings
is that we are made for Growth into fullness of life. We live with a God who will not
leave us alone on this account. God is consistently at the core of our lives urging us on
toward growth. This God alternately whispers or clamors for our attention. This God of
love uses every event and all opportunities to bring us more and more to life in every
sense of that word.
Job, Paul, Jesus-all three face a major altering
of their lives. Their lives assure us that it is not so much the events of life which
matter as it is the Living, Loving God enfleshed and encountered in the events.
Fundamental to religious living is conversion.
Simply put, conversion is a slow growing into wholeness. A process ordained by God to be
rooted in the fabric and rhythm of our lives. Conversion is the experience of blindness
changing to seeing. The experience of a heart of stone being transformed into a heart of
flesh. The experience of un-freedom gradually leading to the freedom of the daughters and
the sons of God.
But this growth only happens when we are willing
to face and embrace this change of plans;
-this illness or disability;
-this break-up of a marriage;
-this loss of a relationship;
-this argument and anger;
-this dealing with the hardships of winter
weather;
-these issues confronting the Church at this
time.
God will be encountered only in whatever is
currently the fabric of our lives. To try to circumvent or run away from or blot out who
we are now in the circum-stances where we are now is to circumvent, run away from or blot
out God.
Job, Paul, Jesus all turned to the God living in
the midst of their chaotic lives. February is a good month to focus on the ordinariness of
our lives. Time drags-Spring is slow in coming. People snap-the cold and the dreariness
make us bone-weary. Things don't work well-cars don't start and snowblowers break down.
Can God be alive and well in the February times of our lives?
Our God is a God of all seasons. A God who is
here for the long haul. February eventually yields to the thawing of March which yields to
the greening of April.
So, too, in the embrace of God, the Februariness
of our lives yield March thawing and most surely an April greening into new life.
