Friends, the Gospel of Mark is a fascinating literary work. St. Mark seems to write in a breathless, staccato, even primitive manner, but the deeper you look, the more his Gospel appears iconic. He presents scene after scene in a very concentrated way, telling us some rather deep truths about the faith. Our Gospel for today from the first chapter is a good example of this. We see on clear display here what Pope Benedict described as the three essential tasks of the Church: it worships God, it serves the poor, and it evangelizes.
Watch Pray, Serve, Evangelize - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon Here
GOSPEL
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:29–39
Friends, in the Gospel of Mark today, we see Jesus in action. We are reading from the section of Mark’s first chapter that gives us a sort of “day in the life” of Jesus. And it is quite a day! Our Gospel opens just after the dramatic expulsion of a demon in the Capernaum synagogue. After entering the house of Simon, Jesus cures Peter’s mother-in-law.
Notice that he takes her by the hand and brings her to her feet so that she can be of service. What does sickness do to us? It draws us in around ourselves. Once she is cured, Simon’s mother-in-law commences to serve, to be for the other. Then the entire town comes to his door. He spends the whole evening curing presumably hundreds who were variously afflicted.
Mark presents Jesus as a healer, soter, which just means “the bearer of the salus” or health. In him, divinity and humanity have come together; in him, the divine life and divine power are breaking through. God’s deepest intentions appear—what God plans for us in the kingdom to come is now historically anticipated.