5th Sunday in Ordinary time – Year B
“Everybody is looking for you” (Mk 1:29-39):
Being busy - restless or engaged?
The contemporary culture forces us to be busy. The more you are urbanised, the more you are likely to be busy. We keep inventing machines to save time, and yet we keep complaining all the time: there is no time! Whether our time is spent productively or not, we are simply busy. We are busy checking emails. We are busy talking on the phone. We are busy twittering. When we are not busy, actually we are busy planning how to be busy. Are you a busy person? How do you feel about your busy-ness? Do you feel restless? Or, do you feel engaged?
The gospel passage of today describes the busy schedule of Jesus as his public ministry gathers momentum. The story picks up from where we left him in the gospel text of last Sunday – it was a Sabbath and Jesus was in a synagogue where “he taught them with authority” and cured a man possessed by an unclean spirit. So here is what follows: Jesus leaves the synagogue; enters Peter’s house, cures Simon’s mother-in-law; has a meal there (implied in Mk 1:31: that she served them). Then in the evening he is busy engaging with those who were sick and those who were possessed and the whole town that came to him. This must have happened after sunset, because it was a Sabbath day. It is not clear at what time he went to bed, but he did go to bed. But “long before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.” Simon and his companions go in search of him, when they find him Jesus decides to move on to other towns. Busy? He was indeed. Restless? It doesn’t seem so!
In the first reading of today we hear the lamentations of Job. Poor guy! He is restless. It is not just the loss of his wealth, the loss of his friends and family, not even the sickness that has afflicted him, but his inner condition that really pains him. The reading of today describes his inner turmoil. Job mourns: “Lying in bed I wonder, ‘When will it be day?’ Risen I think, ‘How slowly evening comes?’ (Job 7:4). The words of Job seem to suggest that he actually has all the time in the world. The sands of time seem to run so slow. Yet, internally he is restless.
So are you a busy person? Your busy-ness in itself may not be a problem, but it is your restlessness that you will have to be careful about. That restlessness can deprive us of meaning and hope: “Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle my days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind” (Job 7:6).
How can we give meaning to our busy-ness? How does Jesus handle his busy schedule – even in the gospel story of today? Jesus is busy, alright. But he does not create a picture of being restless, but engaged.
This is what Jesus is busy with. He is busy enhancing the lives of people around him. This becomes the sign of the messianic times. This is how he assures in the Kingdom of God. This is the Good News (Mk 1:14).
In some professions more than others, work itself might involve direct interaction with people. But, may be you are working in a garage eight hours a day turning nuts of cars! May be you are busy with numbers in your accounting department? May be you are on a driving wheel most of your working hours? But are there not people at the receiving end of most of these activities? Besides the ‘clients’, there is perhaps your own family and dear ones.
Why do I do what I do the whole day? One motivation could be that we want to be recognised, to be praised, and to be acclaimed. We want to become popular. But for Jesus, popularity was not on his agenda. In fact, the gospel text of today tells us that after all that he had done by way of curing people and casting out devils, “he would not allow them to speak…” (Mk 1:34). On several occasions in the Gospel of Mark Jesus tells the people he cures not to speak about it. Scripture scholars have called this: “Messianic Secrecy”. But in the light of the theme that we are developing here, we could also say that Jesus did not want a ‘celebrity cult’ around him.
“In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.” Jesus spends quality me-time with God. It is time to relive his Abba-experience (Mk 1:11).
We too need this me-time with God. It is time to re-energise our batteries. Actually, that time of silence and prayer is also a time to enjoy the inner fruits of our work. It is time to purify our intentions. It is time to remind ourselves why we do what we do. Yes, it is for our family, for people around us. But it is actually even more than that.
In the 2nd reading of today, St Paul tells us why he is busy preaching the Good News: “I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me” (1Cor 9:16). He preaches not for praise of others, not for any pay, but the reward is internal – it is “to have a share in the blessings of the gospel” (1Cor 9:23). That is it.
