Sunday, February 4, 2024

FIFTH ORDINARY SUNDAY

(Job 7:1-4.6-7; I Corinthians 9:16-19.22-23; Mark 1:29-39)

The book of Job has attracted attention for millennia. Its fame is so extensive that people who never read the Bible know its main character. Having “the patience of Job” marks an individual as a person who has suffered fools without complaint. Job endures the loss of his fortune, his children, and his health without knowing why. His friends tell him that he must have done something unjust. But Job knows that he has always treated everyone well.

Today's reading gives a glimpse of Job's suffering. It mentions three kinds of suffering people: the soldier, who has to fight to support himself; the day laborer, who waits until the end of the day to receive a meager salary; and the slave, who at the end of the day only receives the shadows that allow him to rest. Job's life has proven worse than these. He cannot rest at night because his sores cause him to toss and turn while he tries to sleep.

Job represents all humans who suffer; that is, all men and women. In his apostolic letter Salvifici doloris Pope Saint John Paul II reflects on suffering. He says that along with physical pain, there is “pain of the soul,” which is also burdensome, but more complicated and less understood. Examples of this second type of suffering include maladies as diverse as the death of one's own children, the unfaithfulness of friends, and the remorse of one's own conscience. In each case, John Paul says, suffering provokes the question: why do I have to suffer?

Saint John Paul along with Saint Paul says that it is human sin that causes suffering. In other words, suffering is the punishment due to human guilt for sin. However, he recognizes that it is not true that an individual's suffering is a consequence of his own fault. Sometimes, we suffer even though we have not done anything wrong. However, this suffering can benefit us as an opportunity to reconsider our lives in the face of the greatness of God.

God's goodness goes beyond giving us a lesson.  Saint John Paul says that out of love for humanity God sent his own Son into the world to free humans from evil. Jesus delivers people from evil by curing the sick, feeding multitudes, casting out demons, teaching, and even raising the dead. But there is an evil even more pernicious than these which Jesus also addresses. This is the “definitive evil,” the loss of eternal life. Jesus achieves victory over this evil by embracing death on the cross although he was free from all guilt. God the Father could forgive all men and women by seeing us in communion with his Son.

It is not that Jesus Christ eliminated all human suffering nor that he rescued humans from all forms of death. However, through his resurrection from the dead he has brightened our lives with hope. We can be sure that by following his teachings we will reach life without pain -- eternal life. But this is not all that Jesus has won for us. Saint John Paul teaches that Christ's death on the cross has redeemed suffering itself. Suffering is no longer just an evil that we have to endure because we share in human guilt. Now it is the means by which we participate with Christ in salvation. That is, by our acceptance of suffering with patience and faith we share in the salvation of other people.

In the gospel today we see Jesus defeating evil by curing diseases and expelling demons. It becomes difficult when he cannot rest because of the number of people seeking his help. But this is only a prelude to the suffering that he will endure to free us from evil. Demons are not incapable. Rejected by Jesus, they are going to conspire to do him in. They will have him nailed to the cross. But with a love stronger than death Jesus will vanquish them again. By following him, we too will be victorious over evil.