Homily 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 8th February, 2015
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Jesus responded to need. Jesus had the most indescribable compassion for everyone he met; but his vision, the vitality of his message and the urgency of his preaching dictated his priorities and responses…….. and sometimes led to surprising results…. As we see in the Gospel today.
Jesus, in the gospel this weekend, is fascinating. Jesus travels the countryside preaching his message of the Kingdom of God, and enormous crowds of people gather. He teaches them, he heals them, he releases their burdens…. one gets a sense of a sea of need…. a vast, continuous, endless line of people seeking help, searching for hope, reaching out for a helping hand. Jesus responds to this…. what is to be done…….so much.
Then, we hear that he rises very, very early, and goes off to a lonely place to pray…..to connect…. To re-focus….. to re-energise.
The crowds continue to search for him, his disciples search for him and inform him that everyone is looking for him…..The needs of these crowds are most certainly real… and they are urgent…. and immediate….. Yet, Jesus informs them that the message of his gospel is absolutely vital….. of the highest importance……. and so, he tells his disciples that they must move on, they must continue his preaching in other places too……// Jesus, aware of the many urgent demands of the crowds… chooses to move one… to keep going on his journey…. because “vital” overrides “urgent”…. “important” overrides “pressing”.
He leaves behind crowds of people still looking for healing, peace and hope….but he does not abandon them….his message… his presence for a short time has already brought the seeds of that hope taking root there…. in each of those crowds in the places Jesus visited……. so many of them will take this message and run with it……. as Jesus message spreads to other communities… those people pick up his message and consolidate it….. nurture it………the Spirit builds on it (in and through the people who hear and respond to this)….. // and meanwhile…..Jesus must spread that message wider…. but it must have been heartbreaking that he couldn’t alone have touched and transformed each and every person Jesus met individually… but there was no time.. and his mission was urgent, vital, time was short// and his mission was on-going……
Thank goodness for this message….. There is still so much to be done….// so much need….// so much to do, so little time to do it, the harvest is plentiful, the labourers are few……..// there is no time but the present…… // there are crowds with similar needs in the next town Jesus will visit… and the town after that…..
[Saint Paul can be inspiring, but his text today…(the second reading)…… : - “I shall be all things to all people…”. “(which has been the mantra of so many priests and so many who work in public ministry)….. sadly, it is also a recipe for a nervous breakdown……… as we try to respond to every request, every need…. To be “one thing for one person”…. And quite “another thing for the other”………// caution here is needed…………. and our Master, the Lord Jesus, managed to show us great example in this…. He didn’t fall for this trap…….]
This gospel shows the importance of action…. Of….“don’t just stand there do something….”
But this gospel also shows us the importance of prayer…… connectedness to our relationship with God…… that we take time out…. take a step back…. and see the big picture…… to connect to the source and the power and the reason behind all our efforts and actions….. This part of Jesus message… is the counter-point to the first…. it is saying: “don’t just do something…. STAND THERE”……
Its reassuring to us…. There is still so much to be done… so much we can do…. so little time to do it….. never enough hours in the day, //…days in the year….. // we do what we can…// and keep our eyes on the big picture…. and draw strength, inspiration and vision from our time-out with God…. to focus our energy… direct our resources and …. lead us through the “busy-ness” of our days with its many possibilities and needs….. we can’t do everything… we are all too aware of our limitations…. so we ask the Lord to help us do some things well.
Lord, (in this), help us to know what is urgent… help us to know what is vital….. give us the strength to leave behind even the urgent, when the vital calls us…….. help us to know the difference…….
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REFERENCES:
· FR. PAUL W. KELLY
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