January 19, 2023 – January 19, 2023 – Mark 3:7-12
In sharp contrast to the previous Gospel passages about the conflict with the religious leaders who wanted to destroy Him, in today’s we see the enormous power of Jesus’ attraction to ordinary people who came not only from Galilee, where Jesus lived and worked, but also from Jerusalem and south from Judea, across the Jordan River and even from Gentile regions such as Tyre and Sidon. They came because of all they had heard about Jesus and what He was doing, they came, not for spiritual healing, but physical healing. Certainly, it is permissible to ask God’s help for material needs as well. But our greatest need is not material, but spiritual. However, while so many people want material help, very few want the spiritual help that God gives us in Jesus Christ.
It is important for us to recognize that the miracles of Jesus Christ were to demonstrate his divinity, a divinity that is fundamental to People came to Jesus not to hear the Word but to be healed, because they saw in Jesus the only chance to overcome evil. The moving scene of the crowds thronging around Jesus brings to mind the crowds of migrants thronging along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in search of a different living condition. Good intentions and legitimate hopes are often intertwined with deception and illusions. Jesus came not only to heal the diseases that consume the body, but above all to proclaim a Word that opens man to grace and enables him to find a new communion with God. Jesus understands those people, does not push them away with annoyance, on the contrary he welcomes them with love, allows them to approach and touch him (3:10).
He asks, however, the disciples to make a boat available to him, not only to avoid being crushed, as the evangelist notes (3:9) but also to be able to better communicate the Word that changes human hearts. This is the specific ministry of the Church that can and must respond to the many material needs, but without forgetting that only the encounter with Jesus can free man from the chains of evil. Today we ask for the grace to touch the Body of Jesus with faith to receive that life which has no end.
For good workers…
– The boat is the Church to which Jesus left the task of continuing to care for the needy and suffering crowds, of proclaiming to them the message of salvation so that, each one, they may make the essential transition from member of the crowd to disciple. The world does not need sympathizers, but God’s children who can roll up their sleeves to make the world a better place.
– Jesus knew that people were not ready for the revelation of his identity. Their attitudes were still largely superficial. They came for their immediate needs and not as true followers, to get, not to give or share.
P JOBY KAVUNGAL RCJ