Our Only Hope (5th Sunday Ordinary B)

“Life is difficult.”  This is the first sentence of Dr. M. Scott Peck’s bestseller, The Road Less Travelled. Life is filled with problems and pain. Many people attempt to avoid problems and suffering instead of dealing with them because most of the time people cannot understand what’s going on. The story of Job, a portion of which is in our first reading (Jb. 7:1-4, 6-7), tackles the seeming meaninglessness of life in the face of unexplainable suffering.  Job speaks: “Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?” (v. 1) “Remember that my life is like a wind; I shall not see happiness again” (v. 7).

Most part of our lives may indeed be without rhyme or reason.  Today you’re doing fine, feeling strong and invincible, relishing at last the confidence of being on the top of the world; but tomorrow you’re suddenly down and out despite the fact that, like Job, you’ve played it fair and square.  Is not life pointless? Both the bestseller, The Road Less Travelled, and the story of Job develop and come to an end with the conviction that there are ways of responsibly facing and resolving our problems and beyond our self-discipline and loving response there is a force which we can’t fully explain but effectively works to bring us to wholeness. Dr. Scott Peck identifies it with grace. The author of Job identifies it with God who restores everything that has been lost.

Only God brings hope to this otherwise unexplainable and pointless struggle we call life.  Today’s gospel reading (Mk. 1: 29-39) presents to us Jesus Christ and his ministry of hope.  The whole town gather around him in search of answers to their various sufferings. Here one can perhaps visualize the crowd that gather during the feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo.  There is just so much pain and suffering among the people.  Maybe out of desperation, they would push and shove just to be near the source of miracles, Jesus Christ, who for them certainly stands for their only hope.

The author's first charcoal painting some time in 1994.

We can bring out and reflect on the three approaches of Jesus in his ministry of hope in today’s gospel—his ministry of healing, praying, and preaching.

Jesus, the Healer.  The gospel depicts Jesus’ healing ministry.  He has gone to the house of Simon’s mother-in-law and cured her of her illness. After sunset, the whole town gathered at the door and he cured many of them of their various diseases and freed many from the possession of the evil spirits. Jesus brings hope to these suffering people through his healing ministry.  He sets them free from both physical and spiritual alienation. He restores what is taken away by the power of sin.

We can extend this ministry of hope. Our sacramental life offers us the sacraments of reconciliation and the anointing of the sick. These are the sacraments of healing that restore our wholeness.  To some extent, each of us shares in Jesus’ healing ministry. We can overcome the spiritual alienation wrought by sin when we learn how to forgive one another.  When we forgive, we heal broken relationships. We can overcome the physical alienation of people suffering from diseases when we truly care for them.  Mother Teresa, for instance, made this her ministry. She didn’t have the miraculous power to cure a terminal illness. But she did have the power of love to make sure that the dying would have their last breath knowing that they were loved and cared for.  Caring is our power to heal the broken-hearted and the physically ill. To forgive and to “caregive” is to bring hope to much of our suffering in life.

Jesus, the Pray-er.  Jesus reveals in this gospel that praying keeps the fire of hope burning.  The suffering and pain He encounters in the life of the people can be overwhelming.  He who ministers can be exhausted and can end up burned out even before he sees all the needs answered. Jesus’ practice of spending time in solitude, in His case early before dawn (v. 35), reveals the source of his sustenance in keeping up hope in the ministry. For Jesus, and for His followers, life only finds its direction, strength, and meaning in God.  Jesus’ solitude is not loneliness. It is intimacy with His Father in heaven. The Father’s will is always Jesus’ point of reference in everything He does.

Life can be burdensome, a drudgery, in Job’s language.  What is the point of all our endeavours in life? What is the meaning of our endless activities? When life is un-reflected, we only see the superficial.  All the happenings are like series of disconnected activities that randomly comes one after the other.  And when life brings suffering, all the more that we fail to see its meaning.  It is the time we spend in silent prayer that offers us a new perspective in life... a new way of seeing... a new meaning.  Again, the text message sent to me by a victim of typhoon Sendong is worth remembering here: “Even in the worst of times, there are a lot of reasons to be thankful for.”  I bet that person draws such a hopeful disposition from her silent moments of prayer. Prayer brings hope. Jesus has shown us that.

Jesus, the Preacher.  “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come” (v. 38), Jesus tells his disciples. It is when the Lord preaches that He enkindles the hope in the hearts of the people; most of them have been downtrodden.  Jesus’ preaching announces the Good News of the reign of God. The God of love reigns! The evil one is cast out. Repent! Believe in the Good News! Jesus’ preaching assures all of us that God has not left us in the hands of the evil one to suffer and rot. He assures us that salvation is ours for God is always a faithful God; He will always be on our side. God is doing just everything to bring back his oppressed people to his fold. In Jesus all these have come to fulfilment.

We can bring hope to the downtrodden.  Every time we proclaim the goodness of God in our lives, we continue the preaching ministry of Jesus.  Whenever we share to others how God has worked marvellous deeds in us, we lift up the spirit of those burdened by life’s misery.  And there are just thousands of them and more. 

Life is difficult. Jesus shows us the way to hope. God is our only hope.