Hebrews 2:14-18; Psalm 104; Mark 1:29-39
Having told us that Christ is the true Son of God and is God himself, the author of the first reading now tells us that Christ is also human. It was not the angels who needed to be redeemed but men and women and so Christ was born of human flesh and became one like us. Only by being one of us could he plead on our behalf and understand our struggles. There are a number of important points in today’s Gospel. The first is that Jesus cured people of their illnesses no matter what their complaint was. This shows how tremendous his power was. Secondly, he went away from the crowd so that he himself could pray. Even though he too was God he still prayed to the Father, he still spoke to the Father whenever he could and in private. Thirdly, he did not keep the message and his healing powers for those who were his friends but wanted to travel as far as possible to spread the Good News as far as possible. The challenge for us today is to realise that Jesus was human like one of us and being human he knows our weaknesses. When we acknowledge this then we can pray to him knowing that he will listen to us and answer us. We must also realise that we too have a duty to spread the Good News wherever we may go.
Having told us that Christ is the true Son of God and is God himself, the author of the first reading now tells us that Christ is also human. It was not the angels who needed to be redeemed but men and women and so Christ was born of human flesh and became one like us. Only by being one of us could he plead on our behalf and understand our struggles. There are a number of important points in today’s Gospel. The first is that Jesus cured people of their illnesses no matter what their complaint was. This shows how tremendous his power was. Secondly, he went away from the crowd so that he himself could pray. Even though he too was God he still prayed to the Father, he still spoke to the Father whenever he could and in private. Thirdly, he did not keep the message and his healing powers for those who were his friends but wanted to travel as far as possible to spread the Good News as far as possible. The challenge for us today is to realise that Jesus was human like one of us and being human he knows our weaknesses. When we acknowledge this then we can pray to him knowing that he will listen to us and answer us. We must also realise that we too have a duty to spread the Good News wherever we may go.