Enjoy God! Stop Using God!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church, Baton Rouge, LA

February 8, 2015

The Synagogue service has just ended, Jesus, together with his friends arrived at Peter’s house. He wanted to enjoy the Sabbath meal with Peter and also to rest. After all, it has been an exciting and also an exhausting day. He needed some rest! But once again, his compassion was appealed to. Simon’s mother-in-law was down with a fever: “They immediately told him about her. He approached her, grasped her hand and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.” 

You know, Jesus has every right to claim the right to rest. After all, he had been in the Synagogue all day dealing with humans and evil spirits. He was exhausted, but his attention was needed. In this situation, he  could have said, “No, I am tired; I need some rest.” Instead he stood up immediately they told him about the ill-health of Simon’s mother-in-law.  On getting to where she lay, Jesus picked her up. That’s what the Lord does for his people. Remember those times you were down, it was the Lord that picked you up. And when you are up, he keeps you up and running. Whenever you are knock down by ill-health, by misfortunes, and by the problems of life, remember to tell Jesus about it. Do not lay there on your bed and grieve about it. Take it to the Lord in prayer. I always say, “If you ask Jesus for a favor in the morning and he doesn’t answer you, seek for it from him again at noon. But if he doesn’t answer you at noon, knock on his door at night. But if after all your asking, seeking and knocking, he still maintains silence, remind him of the promise he made in Matthew 7:7-8. Talk to him day after day and time after time. Do not let up! Do not give up. Do not be tired of talking to him. Two friends in love never get tired of talking to each other.” Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, they informed Jesus about it. Tell the Lord about your own case. 

As soon as Peter’s mother-in-law was healed, she got up and attended to the needs of Jesus and his disciples. Her service was a way of saying, “Thank You!” She did not concern herself with personal things she hasn't been able to do for herself when she was sick. Instead she used her renewed strength and recovered health to attend to the material needs of Jesus and his disciples. She was one of the few persons in the Gospel that showed appreciation for favors and blessings received.

Early in the morning of the next day, Jesus went to a deserted place where he prayed. He loved going to a quiet and deserted place to pray. Do you know why? Because it is in the silence of a deserted place that he can have a more meaningful discussion and conversation with his Father without any interference. A deserted place can offer us silence and serenity. A deserted place can offer us peace and quiet. A deserted place can provide us the ample opportunity to hear God’s voice. In a deserted place, we can speak to God and God in turn can speak to us without any interference or interruption. In a deserted place, we are able to hear God clearer. In today’s noisy world, we can still make our homes “deserted places” by turning off the TV, radio, cell phones, iPad, computers, video games, musical appliances, etc and talk to God. 

As Jesus was praying, Simon and others who had been looking for him found him in a deserted place praying. Instead of joining him in prayer, they distracted him with a message, “Everyone is looking for you.” Yes, everyone is looking for Jesus but not everyone wants him. Everyone is looking for him, but not everyone wants the message that he brings. Everyone is looking for the good things that Jesus offers (miracles, healing, breakthroughs, deliverance, signs and wonders, protection etc.), but not everyone is looking for the goodness that he is. Everyone wants something out of Jesus, but not everyone wants to surrender to him. Everyone is looking for Jesus, but not everyone is looking for him to worship and adore him. They were looking for him to use him just like many people do today. In days of prosperity, very few prayers are said. But in the days of adversity, more and more prayers are said. Some people never prayed when the sun is up but would begin to pray when cold sets in. God, to such persons, is a crisis affair. It’s only when their life is in a mess or when the wind of life begins to blow against them that they remember God. Such people want God to show himself a merciful Father, but never bothered to show themselves obedient sons and daughters. We must go to Jesus in season and out of season; in good health and in ill-health, in prosperity and in poverty. God should not be used. He is not someone to be used in the days of misfortune and then overlooked in times of fortune. God should be loved and enjoyed and not used. St. Augustine made a distinction between enjoyment and use: “Some things are to be enjoyed, others to be used....The things which are to be enjoyed make us blessed. Those things which are to be used sustain us as we move towards blessedness...To enjoy something is to cling to it with love, for its own sake. To use something, however, is to employ it in obtaining that which we love, provided it is worthy of love. The only “thing” to be enjoyed for its own sake is God.”