Homily For Thursday Second Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 18th January, 2024

Readings: 1Sam. 18:6-9,19:1-7; Ps. 56; Mark 3:7-12

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

AND THEY WERE CROWDING FORWARD TO TOCH JESUS

Today in our Gospel, Mark gave us a summary of the activity of Jesus in the midst of people who came from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumaea and even from the pagan region of Tyre and Sidon. Telling us that Jesus is really concerned about the struggles of humanity and wishes to set us free from the shackles of the devil. 

So, as Jesus heals the people and performs great works, most people wish to see him and to touch him. The people were so numerous that Jesus himself was concerned with the danger of being crushed by the multitude.

 

Thus he asked disciples to have a boat ready for him so that the crowd would not crush him for they were crowding forward to touch him. And from the boat, he spoke to them and healed the sick, and set free those possessed especially the excluded and the marginalized who came to him with their ailments. Those who were not accepted in the society of the time were accepted by Jesus. The power of evil which causes great fear in people where overcome by Jesus, so we do not need to be afraid of Satan anymore.

 

Dear friends, Jesus wishes to set us free from sickness and the forces and manipulations of the evil ones. He desires to be with us as we struggle every day to overcome the forces of evil in our families, society and the world at large. Therefore, we should not be afraid to stand firm against the manipulations of the devil, because Jesus will not abandon us in this battle of life.

 

This is evident in our first reading today in the case of David and King Saul. For out of jealousy for what the women attribute to David as a way of praising God for the victory he gave them through David, Saul has a hatred for David to the point of planning to kill him. This should not be our disposition rather we should learn to appreciate what God has accomplished through other people and not behave like Saul who became jealous of David.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we struggle every day to do your will, may your presence be felt in our midst through Christ our Lord. Do have a blessed day.