Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 4th February 2024
We know from reading and hearing the gospels that Jesus was much in demand and generally very busy! Once he began his public ministry, he went from place-to-place preaching and teaching. He spoke to and taught the people who came to hear him in the Temple, the local synagogue, by the lake shore and even in the streets. Anywhere that the people gathered, Jesus found the time to speak to them. As well as teaching people, Jesus also went out of his way to heal and cure them. He often sought out the sick; those who needed healing came to him. On one occasion a man who could not walk was lowered down through a roof so that Jesus could touch and heal him! Other times, he stopped and cured people he met as he walked along the road.
We read in this Sunday’s gospel that ‘on leaving the synagogue with James and John he went to the house of Simon and Andrew’. He went there because the mother of Simon and Andrew was sick. We read that he took her by the hand and cured her. There is no doubt that Jesus was an extraordinary and remarkable man! In the gospel last Sunday, we read that he taught the people with authority and that when the people heard him, they said, ‘here is a teaching that is new’. How was Jesus able to give and offer so much of himself to people? He took time off to be alone so that he could rest and pray. He made sure he set time and space aside so he could pray and regain his energy and strength as he proclaimed the Kingdom of God. He took time to be alone when he could be still and silent. When he prayed, he did two things: he talked to God and he listened to God. This helped him to remember and realise where his mission and ministry came from. He never relied on his own strength; he drew strength from God.