Gospel: Mark: 1: 29-39

 

The Gospel describes a typical day with Jesus. He is in Capernaum, on a Sabbath, and after taking part in the liturgy in the synagogue, Jesus continues the celebration in Peter’s house, in an intimate atmosphere. 

 

When sunset comes, Jesus continues his ministry going throughout Galilee. These events may help to hold attention on the journey Jesus took: from the synagogue to the house, to the desert and to all the villages in Galilee. The Gospel presents sequences that are historical and let know what Jesus did and also reveal the great mystery of the salvation by Christ that upsets life. 

 

Jesus leaves the synagogue to enter Peter’s house, which becomes the brilliant centre of his saving action. He enters the bedroom. In the Gospel, we realize that Jesus leads us on a journey of salvation from the synagogue to the Church. 

 

Mark, as well as Luke, insist much on the bond that Jesus quickly establishes with the synagogue, which becomes the privileged and sacred starting point of his revelation, the place for teaching, and the place of healing. 

 

This double action of Jesus becomes the bridge over which one goes to the new house of God, house of prayer and healing for all peoples, that is, the Church.

 

The fever is a sign of sin, as the etymology of the Greek word itself says, fever is like a fire that flares inside and consumes negatively, attacking all inner energies rendering incapable. 

 

St. Mark observes and notes Jesus’ gestures. Quickly he goes in, he approaches, takes the hand, raises. These are terms typical of the resurrection.  

We dwell on the verbs or the particular gestures of Jesus that are repeated in many of these circumstances. Jesus is the Lord, He who heals because He himself has taken on himself our infirmity, our sins.

 

The Evangelist also emphasizes the passing of the time, the coming of the night, that is, sunset and then the morning still immersed in darkness. And St. Mark insists on darkness. 

 

The theme of darkness runs in the Holy Scripture, from the very first verses. Darkness is followed by the new light of salvation and of meeting with God, for this reason in John’s Gospel, Jesus says of himself that he is the light of the world. Thus "let there be light" is an eternal word that God ceaselessly pronounces and that reaches every human being in every situation. 

 

St. Paul encourages us to choice a very strong interior journey when he invites us: "the night is almost over, it will be daylight soon”, so anticipating the firm affirmation of the Apocalypse: “it will never be night again and they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them”.

 

This powerful and beautiful expression reminds of the manuscript of St. Therese of the Child Jesus where she says that the shining footsteps of Jesus are spread in the pages of the Gospel. 

 

Finally we pause on the last verses and note the verbs of motion, of action: "Let us go elsewhere, so that I can proclaim the message there too, because that is why I came.".  In which word, He manifests the mystery of His "emptying himself," the commitment of our “emptying ourselves”: He delivered himself willingly to his passion to teach us to deliver our life to the passionate love of God. 

 

Mary our mother, who generated by the Holy Spirit the Word of Life of God, may guide our footsteps in the Church’s path with perseverant fidelity and enthusiastic and mature joy.