5th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jesus’s Mission to Order the Disorder

In today's Gospel we continue to hear of the very beginnings of Jesus's public ministry according to St. Mark. Last week we heard about his first miracle--excising a demon from a man in the synagogue. Today we hear of the second, which immediately follows the first: Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law of her fever. Word of these miracles travels very fast, because, by the end of that very same day, "the whole town" is gathered by Simon's door in order to be healed or delivered by Jesus. This work of healing and restoring that is a trademark of Jesus's public ministry -- bringing order to the disorder -- is exactly the work of the Church. Through the Sacraments Jesus continues to order the disorder: But now not only in Galilee and Judea but throughout the whole world.