Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Lesson: Jn 7:1-4, 6-7
Epistle: 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel: Mk 1:29-39
“Apostle Paul Preaching on the Ruins” by Giovanni Paolo Pannini (1744)
If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,
for an obligation has been imposed on me,
and woe to me if I do not preach it!
The injunction to preach the Gospel is a familiar one to any Christian who is even half-catechised. It is one of those basic injunctions that nonetheless is of greater importance for those who spiritual life is mature, or at least of significant duration. One rarely has to encourage those who are in their “first fervor” to preach the Gospel: they are generally eager and zealous to so with little encouragement or training. This is such a common phenomenon that the Carmelite doctors identified the impulse to become a spiritual teacher to others as among the most common temptations for beginners in the spiritual life.
By contrast, it is those with long experience in Christian service who most need to hear the above words of Saint Paul from today’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. As a basic part of one’s periodic examen, we should all go back to basics and honestly question ourselves, “Am I preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to my state in life?” If not, then this upcoming season of Lent is an excellent time to rededicate ourselves to that mission in preparation for the great Paschal feast.
As we do so, we should be attentive to the example that Our Lord gives us in today’s Gospel, in order to interrogate ourselves more fully concerning certain temptations or shortcomings that can arise in our preaching itself.
When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Rising very early before dawn, he left
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you."
He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come."
So he went into their synagogues,
preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.
Our Lord’s ministry of preaching and healing often finds him in the town of Capernaum, which functions as a sort of “home base” during his public life. However, despite the warm welcome and devotion of the inhabitants of that village (to say nothing of the comfort of being able to stay in the homes of his disciples), Jesus is not content to remain there in a fixed position. He is constantly on the move, full of the knowledge that He is called, not to preach to one village or even one nation, but that His voice might “go forth through all the earth,” so that the message of the Gospel might be proclaimed “to the utmost bounds of the world.”
For ourselves, the temptation to stay and preach in a single place can be a genuine one, albeit hard to recognize. Our human preference for comfort zones applies just as much to the spiritual life as it does to the other aspects of our existence. Are their places or contexts in which, despite our fruitful preaching in other areas, we are disinclined or unwilling to proclaim the Gospel? Perhaps we are comfortable going deep with our bible study group, but will not even make reference to Sunday observance among our professional colleagues. Maybe we are happy to discuss our faith at work and even congratulate ourselves on our public witness, but we are reluctant to do so among our family members, especially if it might provoke uncomfortable conversations. Maybe it is a question one sphere (an industry, a friend group, an online gaming squad) where we speak, act, or live in a way that is not wholly aligned with Christian discipleship. Whatever the case may be, we should thoroughly examine ourselves for these “other villages” in our lives and seek to extend our preaching to them as well.
These “other villages” might also, or alternately, be the ways in which we preach the Gospel. The ministry of Jesus was multifaceted. He preached the Kingdom, while also healing diseases and casting out demons. For us, it is likely that there is some form of Christian witness that particularly resonates with us. While we ought to recognize any special talents or charisms with which we have been endowed, we also need to remember to proclaim the Gospel in those ways that take us outside of our comfort zones. Someone with a special call to minister to the poor must still live with sobriety and temperance. A priest called to perfect continence must not neglect self-denial when it comes to food or entertainment. A Christian who is “in the world” must still seek regular moments of silence and interior solitude of heart. A university Thomist must know how to pray with the sick and the suffering, and the father of a family must provide his children not only with food and shelter and a good education, but with a living image of the Father of Mercy and Compassion. These “modes of ministry” towards which we might not be naturally inclined, or which require us to stretch and grow in the life of virtue, are places where Our Lord is calling us to preach in His name. Woe to us if we do not answer the call!
All of our preaching, whether in one village or many, will be without fruit if it is not grounded and rooted in prayer. We see in the Gospel that Jesus made time to seek our His Father in solitude and unite Himself to Him to uninterrupted prayer. As we approach Lent and examine with fresh eyes our own preaching of the Gospel, we should heed Christ’s example with the deepest care, and do nothing that does not have its source and culmination in the indwelling Trinity. This is the purpose for which Christ came into the world, and this is the purpose for which He sends us out into it anew.