5th Sunday Year B RISEN LORD FREES TO SERVE Allan I. Moss OMI www.sjti.ac.za/resources_homily.htm First Reading : Job 7:1-4, 6-7. Response : “Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted ” (Ps. 146:3). Responsorial Psalm : Psalm 146:1-6. Second Reading : I Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23. Gospel : Mark 1:29-39. We read of a day in the life of our Lord with his apostles in Capernaum (Mk.1:21-39). What is your day like with the Risen Lord? What can we offer to the Lord each day of our lives?

“My God, accept my heart this day And make it wholly Thine, That I from Thee no more may stray, No more from Thee decline. ” (Catherine Rowett)

What is a day worth without the Lord? For Job, it is meaningless. “Man’s life on earth ” can be “no better than hired drudgery ” (Job 7: 1). Realizing his nothingness Job calls to God: “Remember my life even if it is but a breath ” (7:7). The one who confidently serves, “praises the Lord who heals the broken-hearted ” (Ps. 146:3). God raises us up and strengthens us to do his will and in serving him and our neighbour. See how “the Lord raises the lowly ” (Ps. 146:6), to share and to serve. We see this in Jesus, the divine healer, raising Simon’s mother-in-law. He “took her by the hand and helped her up. And the fever left her ” (Mk.1:31). And when she was healed and strengthened by the Lord, “she began to wait on them ” (Mk.1:31). God raises us to help him in serving others. We are graced to grace others. St. Paul, says, “I have made myself the slave of everyone ” (I Cor. 9:19) and even “punished if I do not preach the Good News ” (I Cor. 9:16). Paul declares his mission as having “made myself all things to all men ” (I Cor. 9:22).

“Let ev’ry thought, and work, and word, To Thee be ever giv’n; Then life shall be Thy service, Lord, And death the gate of heaven. ”

Our model is Jesus, the divine healer, who comes not to be served but to serve. (Gospel) This happens today in Word and Sacrament. (Liturgy) Although Jesus did miraculous healing, his main mission is to preach the Gospel. (Teaching) See a day in the life of our Lord: “Early in the morning, he went to a lonely place and prayed ” (Mk.1:35). “At evening, they brought to him all who were sick…a nd he cured many ” (Mk.1:34). Can this be the model of our lifestyle: prayer and service? (Witness) FOR THE CHILDREN A day in the life of Jesus who works and prays, ora et labora, consists in healing of the mother-in-law of Simon and the service she gives. Jesus is in our midst today. See how he touches, healing us today and how we are sent to serve.

See Jesus as someone who is always there to help us. Why is he called the Divine Healer? We show our time for Jesus by the way we pray and by the way we help and serve others. FOR TEENAGERS: (Shared Christian Praxis) My Present Action : Recall moments of healing in your life or healing of others. Your Story and Vision : What does it mean to you? Any change of attitude? Church’s Story : Reflect upon the Church’s experience of the divine Healer. Church’s and Your Story : Compare healing actions in the Church to your experience.

How much are you in need of spiritual healing? Yours and Church’s Vision : Have a vision of healing and of building the Kingdom of God. RCIA

Once delivered from the grip of illness and strengthened by the Lord, we like Simon’s mother-in-law, must consecrate our energies to serve God and neighbour. The Catechism reminds us that “by living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of God, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. They do not for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they fulfill them with uprightness, patience and love” (CCC. 2046).

LIFE EXPERIENCE I reminisce on an early missionary experience at Emaphephetheni, in the Valley of a 1000 Hills. I was saying Mass when suddenly the congregation gasped. I looked up and beheld a strange sight in the aisle. A wild-looking old woman dressed in skins was waving a shoba (tail of a beast). More tails were tied to her hair. She was prancing around, rolling her eyeballs. I sensed an evil force disrupting our liturgy. I felt a greater force move me to come down from the altar and approach her. She leapt high screaming and then turning around and fled out of the church. I calmly went back to the altar and finished the liturgy. I did not know who she was but the people knew her as a powerful isangoma (medium or witchdoctor). It was only when I got home did the reality hit me about what happened. What surprised me most, was not the dramatic behaviour of the isangoma but the way I had reacted. This experience, many years later, helped throw some light on my understanding of certain Jewish mystics, such as the Zohar and Kabbalah, who speak of evil forces around us in contrast to the good forces that strengthen and guide us, such as “Gabriel, prince of Strength, and Michael, prince of Lovingkindness, defeating the power of evil”1 as does the Messiah who ultimately conquers all. 1 THE EARLY KABBALAH . Edit. Joseph Dan. Translation by Ronald C. Kiener . Paulist Press, N.Y. 1986. p.181.

‘The Early Kabbalah’ is one of the most mysterious books I’ve read. It is a Jewish mysticism which developed from the 12th century onwards, based on the Torah (Law), heikhalot (Temple) and merkavah (divine chariot), all indicative of the Shekinah (Presence of God). It involves a variety of disciplines, even gematria, i.e. use of numbers. It also draws upon certain neo-Platonic and gnostic notions, like divine emanations as seen in the Sefirot (books). It does not interpret the Torah logically but symbologically, revealing mysteries and the struggle between good and evil. The final battle will be fought between Satan and the Messiah. For us, the Messiah is Jesus Christ, our redeemer, who conquered death and raises us up to love and serve God and His children.

LITTLE ANGELINA : “He reminds me of Isadore,” said Angelina, looking at a picture of Artemis Fowl, a talented child hero. Isadore is a cousin of Angelina in Mauritius. Children have a way of seeing likenesses and have imagination. I wonder what the children of Africa make of the pictures of Jesus which are mostly European. The bible says God created man in His own image. It seems man also creates God in his own image, especially according to culture. ‘Zimbila zantabanye,’ a Zulu proverb mean-ing ‘rock rabbits of the same mountain’ see things the same way. Eoin Colfer might call it “confid-

ence based on ignorance,”1 or do we just let “science take the magic out of everything,”2 and left wondering if there still a place for imagination? 1 COLFER Eoin. ARTEMIS FOWL . Puffin Books, London. England. 2002. p.44.

Artemis Fowl, brilliant child detective, discovers that there is a fairy world. He sets to exploit it which is enough to raise anybody’s curiosity, as he delves into fantasy and learns about fairy civilization. He has the genius to achieve his goals. He is however a narrow-minded person, doing only what he wants, regardless of other people’s feelings. He certainly raises Angelina’s interest as he puts the magic back into science. She should question his self-centredness and lack of respect for others. Is she aware that such a prodigy without morality is a dangerous threat to humanity? After all, #he almost started a cross-species war between the human race and the fairy People!2 Perhaps somebody, like Angelina, could show Artemis a greater way for his genius, to be like Christ, seeking not to be served but to serve.

# Homiletic rhetoric : Burlesque metaphor : dramatic use of outlandish exaggeration, often to point of the absurd, e.g. # ‘he almost started a cross-species war between the human race and the fairy People!’ 2 Opus cit. p.94. IMPORTANT WORD: Miracle

The gospel speaks of the miracles of Jesus. He healed the sick, cast out demons and above all preached his Word. Miracles are signs of the Kingdom (Jn.2.11). What really counts is his Word, demanding all our attention, spells out God, His power, tremendous love and our salvation.

Watchword : “And he cured many ” (Mk.1:34). Hebrew: וירפא רבים Vayrape’ rabim. Greek: Και εθευραπευσεν πολλους. Kai etherapeusen pollous. Latin: Et curavit multos.

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EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

152.

ZOSTRIANOS (200-230) Zostrianos is a 3rd century Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. The main sur-viving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library but heavily damaged. Of the 132 pages, only the beginning, ending and approximately 46 pages, are well preserved. The text concerns a vision received by a man named Zostrianos. It explains and enumerates, in great detail, the emanations that the Gnostics said are produced by God. God for them is the true highest God as opposed to the demiurge seen in Gnostic's esoteric cosmology. In likeness to other gnostic literature, Zostri-anos calls upon its readers to "flee from the madness and the bondage of femaleness and choose for yourselves the salvation of maleness. Yo u have not come to suffer; rather you come to escape your bondage. Release yourselves, an d that which has bound you will be dissolved. Save yourselves so that your soul may be saved ." Within the text there are indi-cations that the Sethians had developed ideas of monism, an idea from Neoplatonism which is thought to have become part of Sethianism towards the end of the 3rd century. Personally, when reading the text, which is heavily loaded Gnostically with unChristian notions and philosophical fluff, I wondered how it could be considered even apocryphal, let alone belonging to some sort of genre of early Christian literature. It is seemingly more pagan than anything else. See oversight of content of the text below:

CONTENT OF THE TEXT A. Authorial Ascription [Book] of the glory of the eternally living words [that] I Zostrianos wrote] [ ... ] and Iolaos. I came.... B. Kerygmatic Pronouncement

The God [of] truth lives in very truth [and] knowledge and eternal light! ... C. Zostrianos' Autobiographical Prologue

I. Rejection of Material and Psychic Associatio ns II. Initial This-Worldly Vision of the Perfect Child

.I improved my sinless soul...I strengthened the intellectual [spirit within] and [able to awaken... III. Initial Puzzles concerning the Relationship of the Ideal and Phenomenal Worlds IV. Diligent but Fruitless Attempts to Find Ans wers

Pondering these things.., after custom of my race I offer them up daily to the god of my fathers.. V. This-Worldly Appearance of the Angel of Knowl edge

There stood before me angel of knowledge of eternal light, and he said to me, Zostrianos... D. Zostrianos' Spiritual Ascent through the Aeons I. The Luminous Cloud II. The Atmospheric Realm and the Aeonic Copies III. The Sojourn, Repentance, and Arrival at th e Self-generated Aeons 1. Ascent through the Repentance and Sojourn t o the Self-generated Aeons

2. The First of Five Baptisms in the Name of A utogenes 3. The Second of Five Baptisms in the Name of Autogenes 4. The Third of Five Baptisms in the Name of A utogenes

5. The Fourth of Five Baptisms in the Name of Autogenes 6. Zostrianos Seeks the Single Reality Underly ing the Self-generated Aeons 7. The Revelation of Authrounios a) Authrounios Offers to Explain the Realms Below t he Self-generated Aeons

The great pre-eminence, Authrounios, said to me: "Are you asking about those things through which you have passed?

b) Zostrianos Joins the Aeons He Has Traversed And with him] and [with myself I joined with] [these aeons] that I had [traversed....

c) Authrounios Explains the Origin of the Physical Cosmos and Sophia's Role d) Zostrianos' Response

(1) The Restoration of Sophia And [again he said, "Sophia became] perfect through [the will of] the commander...

(2) The Aeonic Copies and the Illumination o f Souls f) Zostrianos invokes Ephesech, Child of the Child

8. The Revelation of Ephesech I: Baptism and Assimilat ion to the Barbelo Aeon a) The Three Powers of the Invisible Spirit and the Or igin of the Barbelo Aeon

[The Child of the] [Child Ephesech, the Savior, answered] saying, "[Zost]trianos b) Three Baptismal Waters of the Barbelo Aeon, Three P owers of the Invisible Spirit

c) The Generation of Determinate Being: The Barbelo Aeon d) The Receipt of Enlightenment and Stable Being throu gh Baptism e) The Structure of the Barbelo Aeon (1) Autogenes, the Triple Male Child, Protop hanes, and Kalyptos (2) Baptism and the Ascent and Unification o f Souls within the Barbelo Aeon (3) Preservation of Those Who are Worthy by the Glor ies (4) Various Baptisms and Degrees of Knowledg e f) Various Kinds of Souls and their Level of Aeonic Attainment (1) Types of Incarnate Souls (2) Types of Disincarnate Souls in the Sojou rn (3) Types of Disincarnate Souls in the Repen tance; and others 2 [who (4) Types of Disincarnate Souls in the Self- generated Aeons

g) The Relation of the Four Lights and Their Denizens to the Soul's Ascent h) Negative and Positive Prospects for Souls in the Se lf-generated Aeons i) Aeonic Levels and Waters below the Self-generated A eons j) The Triple Male Child and the Three Sub-Aeons of th e Barbelo Aeon k) Five Kinds of Person and their Prospects for Sal vation

(1) Mortality Necessitates Salvation (2) Materialistic Persons with Dead Souls (3) Materialistic Persons with Living Souls (4) Those who Sojourn (5) Those who Repent (6) Those who are Saved 9. Zostrianos' Response to Ephesech's First Re velation IV. Zostrianos Approaches the Aeon of Protophanes

1. Ephesech Departs and Zostrianos Sees the Light-C rown and Seals 2. The Revelation of Yo(u)el a) The Appearance of Yo(u)el b) The Crown and its seals

a) Souls that can be Saved Need Assistance to Escape R eincarnation b) The Glories Enable Salvation c) The Perfect Individuals d) The All-Perfect who are Unified

3. Youel Baptizes Zostrianos in Living Water 4. Zostrianos Sees the Triple Male Child 5. Yo(u)el Administers Zostrianos' Last Baptism V. Zostrianos is Anointed, Enters the Aeon of Proto phanes, and Crowned 1. The Revelation from the Luminaries of th e Barbelo Aeon: Part 1

a) Negative and Positive Predications of the One: b) Victorinus, Adv. Arium 49,9-40; 50,9-10 c) Implications for Salvation

d) The Emergence of the Barbelo Aeon from the Triple-P owered Spirit (1) The Emergence of Barbelo (2) The Emergence of Kalyptos (3) Kalyptos Praises her Source (4) Praise of Barbelo as the Primal Kalyptos b y her Denizens The Kalyptos Aeon

(1) The Contents of the Kalyptos Aeon (2) The Ideal Cosmos of the Kalyptos Aeon a nd the Modes of Non-Being: (3) Barbelo Praises herself and the Invisib le Spirit (4) The Four Luminaries of the Kalyptos Aeo n The Protophanes Aeon (1) Protophanes as the Image of Kalyptos (2) The Four Aeons of the Protophanes Aeon The Autogenes Aeon and its Four Sub-Aeons Conclusion: Those that Reside in Matter e) Zostrianos' Descent from the Aeons and Recording o f the Revelation f) Zostrianos Issues the Call to Awakening g) Colophon The colophon is a cryptogram, “Words of Zoroastros.” However, the preceding lines speak of “Words of Truth of Zostrianos: God of Truth.” It is evidently a typical Sethian treatise with Zostrianos.

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