The
good news of salvationFifth
Sunday, Job 7:1-4, 6-7; Psalms 147:1-6; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19; Mark 1:29-39
By Sister Betty Jane Lillie
From the beginning of Mark’s
Gospel, there is an emphasis on the purpose of Jesus’ ministry. He came to preach the
Good News of salvation. That message was the motivating force of His preaching (Mark
1:38). Luke’s parallel reads, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of
God . . . for I was sent for this purpose" (Luke 4:43).
Mark’s Gospel moves very rapidly
from the baptism of Jesus and its proclamation of divine favor upon Him to His gathering
disciples and the miracles and the miracles He worked. These mighty works were the
authenticating signs given Jesus by His Father for the validation of His ministry.
People wondered about the identity of
the person who had such power. By hindsight, Christian reflection recognized the works as
signaling the fulfillment of messianic prophecies such as Isaiah 35:5-6. However, Isaiah
had been preaching about a temporal messiah who would be a great leader and bring well
being to the nation. When the monarchy ended with the fall of Judah, hopes for a leader
like David became an enigma until the experience of the followers of Jesus brought them to
believe that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy and was the eternal king whose kingdom would
bring well being to the faithful.
In the early tradition of the Hebrew
Scriptures, there is not a clear teaching about an afterlife, and people found difficulty
with the popular belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to
bad people. In our first reading, we have an instance of Job’s struggle with that
concept because he had been faithful to the Lord, yet he suffered greatly and did not have
a reasonable answer for his misfortune (Job 7:20-32). He saw that human beings have a hard
service on earth, and he believed he would never see good times again (Job 7:6-7).
Throughout his suffering, he struggled with a theology that did not work for him. In the
end, Job was restored by the Lord to well being, but his dilemma was not yet fully
resolved. Job continued to trust the Lord, and he trusted his relationship with Him to
faith.
In the New Testament tradition, we learn
of the afterlife in which those who are faithful to the Lord are requited according to the
merits of their lives. For the Apostle Paul, the preaching ministry was not easy. He
accepted no compensation for his work. His reward was in proclaiming the Gospel free of
charge. He became all things to all people that he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).
What Paul preached was the message of
Jesus, and part of that message was that good people will have a happy eternity, and the
evil will have an unhappy eternity (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29). Paul realized that, and
thus he undertook the work with all its hardships so as to share in the blessings of the
Gospel he preached. He looked for his reward in the eternal kingdom. With the Psalmist, we
praise the Lord who is gracious and understanding to all. He lifts up those who work and
are oppressed, but the wicked he casts down (Psalms 147:1-6).
(Sister Lillie is a member of the
faculty at the Athenaeum of Ohio in Cincinnati.)
