Why Would God Do This?
Jan. 11: Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Should you listen to Jesus? You’d think that’d be an easy question, buuuuuut… wait ‘til you get to the twist ending of today’s Gospel.
But let’s begin with the first reading…
Reading I
1 Sm 4:1-11
The Philistines gathered for an attack on Israel. Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek. The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel. After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield. When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said “Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the Lord from Shiloh that it may go into battle among us and save us from the grasp of our enemies.”
So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God. When the ark of the LORD arrived in the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded. The Philistines, hearing the noise of shouting, asked, “What can this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?”
On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were frightened. They said, “Gods have come to their camp.”
They said also, “Woe to us! This has never happened before. Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with various plagues and with pestilence. Take courage and be manly, Philistines; otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they were your slaves. So fight manfully!”
The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; every man fled to his own tent. It was a disastrous defeat, in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.
As Israel is going to war with the Philistia, interestingly, it is the Philistines who respect God1 more. They fear the presence of God on the opposing side spells their doom.
But they’re wrong. It’s not God that the Israelites bring out, but the symbol of God. God isn’t a statue, or an icon, or even an Ark of the Covenant. Those are things that help us focus on God, who is in actuality infinite and beyond understanding.
God isn’t with the Israelites because of their sinful ways. They can’t force Him to be with them just by possessing the Ark. Imagine thinking you can control God that way.
Ark or no ark, the Israelites lose the battles because God is not with them.
Responsorial Psalm
44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Yet now you have cast us off and put us in disgrace,
and you go not forth with our armies.
You have let us be driven back by our foes;
those who hated us plundered us at will.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
You made us the reproach of our neighbors,
the mockery and the scorn of those around us.
You made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Why do you hide your face,
forgetting our woe and our oppression?
For our souls are bowed down to the dust,
our bodies are pressed to the earth.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Both defeat and victory are in God’s hands. The enemies of Israel don’t really deserve credit. So, instead of striking out against those enemies, the psalmist cries out to God to understand what went wrong.
Alleluia
Mt 4:23
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is just a line from the Gospel! It’s like a one-line trailer for an upcoming feature attraction.
Gospel
Mk 1:40-45
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
“If it be your will” is something we can attach to the end of any intercessory prayer. God can do anything in his infinite power, but in his infinite wisdom, he may choose not to, for reasons beyond our understanding.
Jesus does will the leper clean, but of course, healing isn’t enough. The poor man was an outcast from society; he needed to be seen by the priests to be clean before he could re-enter normal life.
So Jesus gives him two instructions: tell the priests, but don’t tell anyone else. I think this latter instruction shows us, once again, that Jesus was fully human. He had pity for the leper, but he also doesn’t want to be swarmed by crowds everywhere he goes.
Of course, he knew there was no way the former leper would be able to keep it to himself. Jesus eventually became a literal kind of outsider himself, only rather than people avoiding him, like the leper, they wouldn’t leave him alone!
But despite all this, Jesus still cleansed the leper. He did the right thing, knowing the negative consequences to his comfort and well-being.
Was the leper wrong to “publicize the whole matter”? In a sense, yes. The Son of God told him not to do something, and he did it anyway. But it wasn’t out of obstinance, or a hard heart, like the author of Hebrews warns against. In fact, just the opposite: it was because of joy! He was so happy to have encountered Christ, he wanted to share the good news!
I think any parent, teacher, or mentor of the young could identify with Jesus’ feelings at that moment. Mildly annoyed, but also pleased with the enthusiasm and joy of someone telling everyone about their new discovery.
Still, I hope the leper later apologized for this mild sin against Jesus’ convenience.
Although, being pantheists, they mistakenly believe the God of Israel is only one of many.