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Performing Redemption2/4/2024 Performing Redemption
Homily for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B Cycle Presented at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Albany, NY There are many stories in the New Testament about the healing miracles performed by Jesus. The evangelist Mark uses these episodes to describe Jesus exercising his messianic ministry; a redeemer who had definitive authority over anything having to do with evil spirits, sickness, oppression, and death. Some believe Jesus cured people from whatever afflicted them. The word “cure” is in the gospel we just heard. We all long for miraculous cures for cancer, dementia, Sickle Cell Anemia, and other diseases that plague our minds and bodies. But did Jesus actually cure people or did he heal them? In the Bible healing is different from curing. When Jesus healed people it was not just about fixing things in the moment — making them see, walk, feel better, rise up again. No, the purpose of those actions was to inspire the healed person and those who witnessed the act to transform their lives, to follow Jesus, to become healers of humanity themselves. In the Bible healing is a long transformative process, one geared to bring about the kingdom of God on earth through acts of loving kindness. In today’s gospel, once Peter’s mother-in-law was healed from her fiery fever, she started offering hospitality to others in the room. Jesus does not tell us why suffering exists. However, he does show us how to deal with it. As the long awaited “eschatological prophet” [1] it was his vocation to heal humanity from pain and, in doing so, deliver people from oppressive regimes — what Paul calls the powers and principalities. That’s the political message of the gospels that has been entrusted to all Christians. Through his miracles Jesus revealed a time, an end-time, when all people would experience freedom from illness, disease, oppression, persecution. We refer to that time as eternal life. But who can wait that long? Jesus was slowly fulfilling the promise of liberty from dictators, power mongers, greedy financiers. It would be a time when justice is the hallmark of every country and institution. Jesus of Nazareth performed those redemptive acts before his execution on a cross. Proclaiming freedom was a costly mission for him. His antagonists were suspicious of his words and actions. They wanted to get rid of him. What does it cost you and me to be followers of Christ, healers of humanity? The author, Murphy Davis, a tireless advocate for homeless people and incarcerated persons on death row, once wrote that we cannot just go with the flow. To do so, she wrote, is to “give silent assent to the realities of war, oppression, violence, crushing poverty, mass imprisonment, executions, [and] the destruction of the earth.” When she was alive Murphy Davis urged her colleagues and others to make good use of their time on earth to “perform redemption.” [2] But every healing process takes so much time. Addicts overcoming addictions, unemployed persons hunting for a job, hungry people waiting in line at food pantries and soup kitchens, incarcerated persons spending time in correction facilities, immigrants reaching across borders — all these persons know what it means to be resilient and steadfast as they search for inner peace and sustenance. In the worldview of the gospel physical illness is no less a mark of the evil spirits in the world. There is continuity between the healing that took place in the house of Peter and the exorcism in the synagogue in last week’s gospel. [3] So too there is continuity between these ancient biblical stories and our own modern lives. Our world order is off track. Of course, we can choose to ignore the facts about inequality, climate change, and looming threats to freedoms but these factors are eroding lives of millions of young and old people. The story about Job is our story. Job’s life was turned upside down and he began to think he would never see happiness again. This tale is commonplace today. Life is a terrible drudgery for people all across the cultural, educational, financial spectrum — people who are afraid, lonely, poor, disoriented. Yet here we are. We gather in this holy place to be sustained by one another in a ritual sacrament to remember who the Christ was, what he did and why he died. We also remember and believe in being raised up again like he was. Our faith is not just in the mission, passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. Our faith and our hope rests with all of us, each of us. Our love for one another, family, friends, and strangers alike, should stir in us a desire to be proactive working for peace, justice, reconciliation among all peoples. The psalmist says God heals the broken hearted. God does that through us. Our passion for doing good is the same that Jesus had for healing the world. He showed up to dispel evil spirits and evil doers. Now it is time for us to do what we’ve been called to do — “perform redemption.” ------ 1. Eschatology is a study concerning the final things, such as death and the destiny of humanity. 2. Murphy Davis, “It’s about time,” Hospitality 28, no. 9 (October 2009) 9-10 in Jennifer McBride, Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel (Fortress Press: Minneapolis) 2017, 102 3. Byrne, Brendan. A Costly Freedom: A Theological Reading of Mark’s Gospel. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press) 2008, 46
Tom Wilkey
2/5/2024 05:12:43 pm
Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful and meaningful homilies which I share with a number of people.
Jacqueline Shea
2/5/2024 10:22:31 pm
Thankyou for sending me the homily from Saturday. As always, your homily is awesome . Jackie S.
BILL HALLIGAN III
2/6/2024 03:32:47 pm
Dick . . . Thanks mush for sharing your homily. I value them and miss hearing them. I also miss discussing them and other theological/spiritual matters with you. Stay well and continue to serve the lucky people at St. Vincent's. Comments are closed.
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