Where is God?

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time A-1

Entrance Antiphon Upon a lofty throne, I saw a man seated, whom a host of angels adore, singing in unison: Behold him, the name of whose empire is eternal.

Collect Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care, O Lord, we pray, that they may see what must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Samuel 31-10.19-20; Psalm 39; Mark 1:29-39

Then going out of the synagogue he came with James and John to the house of Simon and Andrew. Simon's wife's mother lay in a fit of a fever: and immediately they told him of her. Coming to her he lifted her up, taking her by the hand; and immediately the fever left her and she served them. Then when it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill and possessed by devils and the whole town gathered at the door. He healed many who were troubled with various diseases and he cast out many devils, not allowing them to speak because they knew who he was. Rising very early, he went out into a desert place and there he prayed. Simon and those who were with him followed him and when they had found him said to him, “All are looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go into the neighbouring towns and cities, that I may preach there also; for to this purpose have I come.” And he continued preaching in their synagogues and in all of Galilee, casting out devils. (Mark 1:29-39)

Where is God? Our Gospel scene today opens with Jesus effortlessly dealing with the burdens and afflictions of the people. He enters the house of Simon and Andrew and at their request he cures Simon’s mother-in-law of her fever by just taking her hand. She rose and proceeded to wait on them. Then after sunset (when people had finished the day’s work) all who were ill and possessed by devils were brought to him at the door of the house. He healed them and expelled the demons. Early in the morning he rose and went out alone to pray, and Simon and his companions sought him out. They then made, I would suggest, a very significant statement: “All are looking for you.” All wanted him and saw in him the answer for all their needs, as indeed he was. They wanted him to stay with them. With him among them all would be well. Setting aside the issue of their inadequate notion of what our Lord had come to do for them and what they were seeking him for, those words are surely symbolic of the world’s need for Christ. “All are looking for you.” Whether it realizes it or not, the world seeks and needs God and wants God to stay. But where is God? I remember watching a brief debate between a very intelligent Anglican bishop and an atheist. The bishop dealt well with all the atheist’s objections, but one point I remember especially well among his remarks was his answer to the question, who is God? He replied, “God is Jesus.” The bishop’s point was that God can be located and precisely identified in space and time. As St Paul writes, in Christ dwells the fullness of the godhead bodily. All this is to say that the world, without knowing it, seeks and needs the person of Jesus. So the words of Simon and his companions are very potent: “All are looking for you.” They wanted him to stay with them. But what was Christ’s answer? It was that he had to go. He had to move on and leave them for the sake of many others. “For this purpose have I come” that the others too may hear me, know me, and be blessed as a result.

And so Christ moved on “preaching in their synagogues and in all of Galilee, casting out devils” (Mark 1:29-39). He could not stay constantly in the company of particular communities of the children of Israel such as Capernaum. He was constantly moving on. This was a necessary condition of his becoming man. The Incarnation involved dwelling among men as man, but being constantly at a bit of a distance, as it were. He was limited by space and time. He was the treasure of each man, the treasure of his people (though many would not accept this) and the treasure of the world, and yet he had to be moving on for the sake of the others who needed him. “All are looking for you”, but Christ could not stay. If they wanted to be with the Saviour, they had to physically follow him and often vast crowds did follow him. Now, all this changed with his death, his resurrection, his ascension and then the descent of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The risen Christ then remained with each of his disciples while being able to continue to move on. All those looking for him were then able to remain with him. The risen living Jesus now abides within his body the Church and every member of the Church can be with him constantly and in full intimacy. Wherever the Church built on the Apostles with Peter at their head is to be found, there the whole, living, risen and bodily (though unseen) Christ dwells. He is present in the Church’s preaching and teaching and in her Sacraments. When the Church pronounces and teaches the word of God (and here I especially include the teaching of the Pope and Bishops in union with him) there is the unseen Christ present and teaching. Wherever the Mass is celebrated and the Eucharist administered, there is Christ present in his fullness. The person in the state of grace enjoys the presence of Christ dwelling within him, together with that of the Father and the Holy Spirit. All this is to say that while during his earthly life Christ had to move on, now he remains present for each and every believer. He truly is God-with-us. He moves on to others by means of the Church’s witness and missionary work, but he stays with each of us to be our life and our salvation. He had to move on then. He never leaves us now. To the cry, “all are seeking you” he now answers, I am with you forever.

Let us be filled with the thought of the blessing we have in the person of Christ. He is our all, and we can say with Simon Peter, “all are looking for you,” including each of us. His reply to each of us is, I shall stay with you forever as your Saviour and your God. I shall never leave you because I abide to the end in the Church which is my body and of which you are members. I must move on to preach and be with all others, but you I shall never leave. Let us treasure our membership in Christ’s Church, for by the plan of God where the Church is, there is Christ.

(E.J.Tyler)

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