4 February 2024: Mark 1:29-39

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Please read the passage before reading the homily.

My sisters and brothers,

Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and she “waited on them”.  It was not that Jesus wanted a housekeeper.  Rather it was like raising someone from the dead and restoring someone back to society.  In the original language, the verb used for helping the woman up is the same verb used to describe raising someone from the dead.  The purpose of the miracle is not to provide ka housekeeper, but to give the woman an opportunity to serve, to be like a deacon.

Jesus also healed many and drove out many demons.  He did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him. We also know who Jesus is.  From the first words of Mark’s gospel, we are told that the Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

These passages tell us not that Jesus is the Son of God but show us how Jesus is the Son of God.  He raises from the dead, restores people to service, and casts out demons.  This is the kind of Son of God that Jesus is.

Jesus, however, is not just the Son of God for Peter’s household.  He is also Son of God for all the villages and world.

The British royal family trains the heir apparent to serve the country as king.  He is not Son of the Queen or King for his own sake.  He is Son of the King so that he can learn to serve the people.

We elect as President people who can serve the nation rather than themselves, not to make them grandiose.

Jesu is Son of God for healing the sick, for casting our demons, and for dying and rising from the dead to save all people.

We are Christians, baptized into God’s family as God’s own sons and daughters so that we can be like Jesus and do as Jesus did, healing the sick, driving our demons and dying to be raised from the dead in service of God’s plan to save all people.