Embracing Jesus’ Mission Model!

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

1 Sam 3:1-10,19-20; Mk 1:29-39

Today’s Gospel can be understood through four different themes. 

1.Healed to Serve: Jesus heals the mother-in-law of Peter in the first part of the Gospel. We read that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a fever. Jesus ‘came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.’ The healing we receive from Jesus is not to stay stuck in passive inactivity. It is a call to movement. It is a call to service. The mother-in-law of Peter becomes the perfect symbol of what happens or should happen when we experience healing from Jesus. 

2. Kingdom in Action: Jesus gives us a model for preaching the Kingdom of God. Indeed, Jesus makes a verbal proclamation about God’s Kingdom. However, his proclamation is given concrete shape through his healing mission. People who were sick and possessed experienced Jesus’ healing and understood what the Kingdom would look like in day-to-day life. The form that the Kingdom of God would assume is exemplified in Jesus’ liberative and healing mission. ‘Jesus’ is not a word; it is an action that others witness and praise God.  

3. Strength from Prayerful Communion: The power and authority that people witnessed in Jesus came from his communion with his Father. Jesus lets us see clearly that such radical communion with his Father is the backbone of his mission. Jesus’ spirituality enabled people to witness the Heavenly Father in Jesus. To be a Christian is to help others find Christ in us. 

4. Mission as Enlarging the Tent: Jesus is thirsty for spreading God’s Kingdom. Jesus means to enlarge the tent without any disparity. Broadening the horizons would mean that we get rid of our bias and prejudice and accept and treat everyone as equals in the name of Jesus. In widening his mission, Jesus was radically inclusive and showed no partiality. How open are we to the idea of ‘enlarging the tent’ and what is our plan to actualize it? 

Let us beseech God’s grace to embrace Jesus’ mission model! 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar