Gospel
As we walk with Jesus through His public ministry during the period of Ordinary Time, we find ourselves on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus has just completed His teaching of the parable of the mustard seed. What we will hear today is the first of three miraculous actions:
1) The stilling of the storm (Mark 4:35-40),
2) Exorcizing a demon (Mark 5:1-20), and
3) Healing the sick (Mark 5:21-43).
First Reading
Throughout this entire book, Job has been the victim of one disaster after another. He has lost his children and his possessions, and he has come down with leprosy. Through all this, Job has remained faithful to God.
Why do good things happen to good people? Job, helped by his friends, begins to wonder. Job has always accepted his afflictions as God’s will. One of his friends presents the argument that God does not act arbitrarily, God is giving Job these afflictions because he has rejected God’s warning and thus deserves extreme punishment. God answers by asking “Who and what is Job? Another god, rival to Yahweh? Does Job know the history, how it all started? Was he present at creation?” God does this with unanswerable questions; one of which is our reading for today. The first question (Job 38:4-7) is “Who made the earth?”
The second question (Job 38:8-11), which is today’s reading, is “Who made the sea?” The third question, (Job 38:12-15) is “Who made light?” Notice that these three questions are the reverse order of the order of creation – God is walking us back mentally to see that only He was present at creation.
Second Reading
Saint Paul, having taught the Corinthian people about the heavenly dwelling which awaits all those who die in Christ, now proceeds to explain that this great reward which awaits us all is why he, and the truly committed Christian, has a ministry of reconciliation – a ministry which, through Jesus’ own authority, restores the unity of God’s family. To better understand this message, we will read verses 11 through 21.
