Obligations

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Book of Job is the first book of what Scripture scholars call “Wisdom Literature.” Job’s story is obviously a parable, an extended parable. It begins with a scene from God’s heavenly throne room where all the angels have gathered before the Lord. Surprisingly, the Satan is among those who have gathered. (You might be asking yourselves why I use the definite article before the word Satan. Although we refer to the devil as Satan, that is not his name. The Hebrew word Satan means obstacle which is a very good description of who or what the devil is.)

God asks the Satan where he has been. The devil responds that he has been roaming and patrolling the earth. Following this response, God asks the devil if he has noticed Job. God describes Job as “blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil.” The devil responds by saying that Job is good because God has blessed him with many children, large herds of sheep and oxen, and a rather lavish lifestyle. At that, the devil puts God to the test. Take away all that he has. Then we will see if Job remains upright and a God-fearing man. God gives the devil permission to do that, and when he does, he is surprised to see that Job remains a good and upright man. Then the devil pushes a little harder and tests God by asking God to take away Job’s health. God allows the devil to do this and soon Job finds himself covered with boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. He still is an upright and good man.

The words that we hear in today’s first reading are taken from Job’s lamentation. He refers to himself as a hireling, a slave, whose life is a drudgery and miserable. However, he still clings to his faith in God and does not sin by cursing God for his situation.

The purpose of this rather long book of the Wisdom Literature is to describe the human situation; the existence and condition of any human person in the world is very fragile – more fragile than most of us in prolonged positions in a rich society are willing to admit. When misfortune strikes, it is seldom possible to explain why – why it should have happened to this good person and not to some evidently guilty party. Moreover, when suffering invades one’s life from many directions, it is easy enough to become very depressed and to question the meaning of life in tones of despair.

The important part of this reading is that it stops there. It does not quickly skip forward to Job’s vindication by God, the end of his sufferings and his reinstatement as a powerful and respected patriarch. This reading simply states the human situation from its gloomiest angle in powerful poetry. There are so many people in the world who must recognize their own situation described in it – the starving people of the world, the victims of warfare and violence, those who have been incarcerated as political prisoners, the wretchedly and permanently poor even in our own country.

St. Paul also uses the word “slave” when describing himself in his First Letter to the Corinthians. He has been sent by God to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. When he converted to Christianity, he did not think that this would be his fate. He had been looking forward to the mission of preaching to his fellow Jews and convincing them that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Notice, however, that St. Paul does not express his chagrin at this mission. He reminds himself and his readers that preaching the Gospel is not his choice but an obligation that he has toward God. Even though he had been one of the most ardent persecutors of those who followed the way of Jesus, God had chosen him, even though his past has been a long history of sin.

St. Paul’s reading is followed by a selection from the Gospel of St. Mark, a colorful and a quite specific human interest story. Jesus is invited to preach in the synagogue, and he has left the people of Capernaum astounded by his preaching. This is followed by a short example of Jesus’ ability to heal as he takes Simon’s mother-in-law by the hand and cures her of a fever. When the people of Capernaum hear of Jesus’ healing power, they crowd around the door of Simon’s home asking Jesus to heal the sick and to expel the demons of the townspeople.

Stop for a moment and ask yourselves whether Jesus was looking for this kind of response because of his intervention in the life of Simon’s mother-in-law. It was, after all, the Sabbath, a day of rest, a day on which people spend time with their families. In a sense, Jesus is depicted as a person under an obligation. He has come to do the work of his Father, a mission that he did not choose but which he accepted in obedience to his Father.

How many times do we think of our lives of faith as an obligation? How many times have we asked ourselves whether attendance at Sunday Mass is really necessary? How many times have we asked ourselves if we really must confess our sins to a priest and accept his absolution? We do these things because this is what Catholics do, it is our obligation, our way of giving thanks to God for what God has done for us. The life of faith is not something we chose. Most of us were initiated into the faith by our parents who brought us to the baptismal font and promised that they would bring their children up in the faith.

Those who bemoan the obligations that are placed upon us because of our faith, usually say that they simply don’t get anything out of it. In fact, we are not here to get something out of our Mass. We are here to give thanks to the God who has blessed us with so much. To fail to do so would be the height of ingratitude. We are not the starving of the world; we are not to the victims of war and violence; we are not imprisoned for our political beliefs; we are not the wretchedly and permanently poor. This is all an accident of our birth. We are fortunate in our many blessings, just as Job was fortunate in his life. Therefore, like Job, we are obliged to give God thanks for our situation even in our suffering or pain. God has not promised us a life free of suffering and pain. All that God has promised us is to live among us through any pain and suffering that may come our way.