FROM THE PULPIT FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B, By Father Benoit Mukamba
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FROM THE PULPIT
FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B
SCRIPTURE: Job 7: 1-4, 6-7; Psalm 147; 1 Corinthians 9: 16-19’ 22-23; Mark 1: 29-39.
REFLECTION: For this purpose have I come.
Fr. Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
The Evangelist Mark tells us the story of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee that started with preaching, healing and driving out demons. But early the following morning Jesus left for a deserted place to pray to his father God. After his communion with God, Jesus refused to indulge in the successes of that day of ministry; he declared the purpose of his coming into the world. He came to preach the good news of the coming kingdom. Jesus did not come to wipe out all sicknesses and free the world of demons. His healing ministry is a testimony of the presence of the divine in the space that Jesus fills. The healings and driving out demons bear witness that God is indeed here and the kingdom has overtaken the world.
A train is a series of railroad cars moved as a unit by a locomotive or by integral motors. In my life I have travelled on all kinds of trains; I remember being on a steam Engine train, diesel train and electric train. Every train is pooled by a locomotive followed by several railroad cars. Freight cars are important and indeed bring better income to the train company than passenger cars. Passenger cars with its hundreds of human souls cannot be underrated in its importance. All in all for the train to make the journey to destination, the locomotive is prior to all the parts of the train. The locomotive creates an integral unit of all the cars by pumping pressure across all the railroad cars forming that train. Compare this example to the various important things or dimensions of your own life. Think about how you prioritize activities of your life. Where do you place the Kingdom of God in the train of your important dimensions of your life? What is the locomotive of your life? For Jesus the Kingdom of God was the locomotive of your entire life on earth.
Jesus prayed a lot and alone. When the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, Jesus said to them when you pray, say this “Our Father who art in heaven, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Here Jesus sets his priority right; he wants his disciples to participate in making the reign of God present on earth as it is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is so fundamental to Jesus that the expression appears 162 times in the New Testament. The Kingdom of God is indeed the keynote of Jesus’ preaching. It is the reign of God on people and their environment. It is a divine invitation to live a life of goodness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rm 14:17).
Following the footsteps of Jesus, Apostle Paul testifies in the second reading that the preaching of the Gospel is an obligation imposed on him and a stewardship that promises recompense. Paul accepted suffering and humiliation for the sake of winning many to the Gospel of Christ. Suffering is no longer a sign of misfortunate and sinfulness but humbling experience in order to accept the gratuitous love of God. It is in such a context that the passage from Job may be well understood.
What does the kingdom look like? Jesus uses various parables that address different dimensions of the reign inviting his listeners to discover the nature and meaning of his father’s reign on earth. The kingdom of God is not a dominion that is far away but a reign that is close at hand. The Kingdom of God calls for fellowship of love and commitment like the example of the disciples. The mission of Christ in which we too share would be better understood as making the Kingdom of God known and experienced in people’s life. Let us pray that God make reign in us so that we may live in justice, love, peace and joy with one another.
