I don’t know about you, but I found Jesus’ response to Simon in the Gospel today, somewhat strange and even a little perplexing. Jesus had spent the previous day healing an entire town. People suffering from illnesses and demon possessions came to him to be healed.
After going to bed, probably after midnight, like so many of us he rose very early, before dawn to go and pray. Likely, he wasn’t able to spend much time in prayer, for St. Mark tells us how Simon and those who were with him tracked Jesus down and exclaims, “Everyone is looking for you!” No doubt all those people who Jesus had spent hours healing the day before, had friends and family from the surrounding region who wanted to be healed by Jesus too.
And here’s what’s strange. We might have expected Jesus to be a little bit more excited about this. “Wonderful”, he might have said. The ministry seems to be off to a great start. People were healed, more people were asking for more.
Yet, how did Jesus respond when he heard that everyone was looking for him? Did he say, “wonderful, come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you” as he does later in the Gospel? No, he says, let’s get out of here. Let us go to the neighboring town. And then he explains his motive: “let us go, that I may preach, for this reason I have come.”
We are reminded here that the reason Jesus had come was not simply to heal our physical illnesses. This is not to say that his healing miracles were bad. Of course he loved everyone who he had healed, everyone who he had liberated. He loved every single person with the burning love of God.
More than helping to relieve our physical sufferings, He came to proclaim and usher in the kingdom of God, for the forgiveness of sins—to reconcile sinners estranged from God.
Jesus didn’t want people coming to him just because he was a miracle worker. He wanted to give them something more. He wanted the people to come to Him not as the Physician of their mortal bodies, but as the savior of their immortal souls.
This isn’t the only time Jesus has to correct the apostles and to remind them of the real reason for his ministry. Remember, after he had performed the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fed all those thousands of people, they continued to follow him, and he turns to them and says with great candor, “Amen, Amen I say to you, you are looking for me because you ate your fill of the loaves”. They were looking for a Baker: they wanted a free lunch rather than a savior.
All of the miracles of Jesus, though good in themselves, were meant to show people who he was. He was God, in the flesh, come to save them, to bring them healing, not merely of body, but of soul, to feed them not merely with bread of the earth, but food from heaven, not merely to calm physical storms, but the storms of our souls.
Remember when Jesus foretold his Crucifixion and Death, Peter says God forbid, that should never happen to you. And how does Jesus respond? “Get behind me Satan; you are thinking not as God, but man”
Sometimes we like Peter view Jesus on our terms instead of his. We become upset with God when our prayers do not seem to be answered on our terms. God why won’t you find me a job. God why won’t you bring peace to my troubled family. God why won’t you take away my annoying neighbors. God why won’t you relieve my suffering.
In our own day, many come to Jesus as they came to him then, as a miracle worker—someone who might be able to pull some strings with God, so that we can get what we want, as a powerful friend who can provide a quick-fix to some problem we are facing.
I think we are challenged by this Gospel today to really ask ourselves, “why am I here?” Why do I come to Mass? Is it because we are hungering and thirsting for what God really wants to give us? Are we here to try to align our priorities with His? Or align His to ours? Are we here in order to change God’s mind about something? Or to allow him to change ours?
I came across a wonderful article this week titled “My Top Ten Favorite Excuses that People give for not going to Church”. I shared it on my Facebook account if you are interested. One of the excuses listed in the article is the ever-popular “if I walk into a church the roof will fall down”. Honesty, with some people, I’m a little surprised when the roof doesn’t fall down! Higher up on the list is something “Mass is soooooo booooring, I just don’t get anything out of it.”
There is some truth to that. Coming to Mass won’t put more money in the wallet. It probably won’t help you get a job. If you have company coming over this weekend, coming to Mass isn’t going to clean your house. The psychological benefit probably isn’t any greater than getting an extra hour of sleep and exorcising for an hour.
Coming to Mass from an earthly point of view is a waste of time. The football game is more entertaining, the extra hour of sleep is more calming, you don’t have to deal with the whole parking lot situation, and there are more practical things to do. Redoing the kitchen, paying the bills, cleaning the house.
But no amount of house renovations, yard work, sports games can bring us the gift of everlasting life.
“For this reason, have I come,” Jesus says today: to preach the Gospel.
And so we are challenged today to embrace his Gospel more deeply. To allow him to change our minds and hearts, so we like St. Paul may come to say “woe to me, if I do not preach the Gospel” Woe to me if I do not live the Gospel. Woe to me, if I do anything other than for the sake of the Gospel.
Conversion, Growing in faith, growing in holiness, and receiving the gifts God wants to give us often requires a reorientation of our priorities. Mass, daily prayer, scripture reading, study of the catechism: we practice our faith, not just we can turn to Jesus for a miracle, if and when we need one, but that his Gospel may bring our souls to life
Help us Lord to come to you on your terms, to live the Gospel on your terms, bring us to life and strengthen us in holiness on your terms for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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