CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTRIPETAL MISSIONS

Science can teach us spirituality too. In Newtonian mechanics, centripetal and centrifugal forces are two different kinds of forces experienced by a rotating object. While the centripetal force pulls the object toward the centre of the circle, the centrifugal force seems to push it away from the centre. These scientific terminologies are employed in missiology to explain two unique movements in the spirituality of mission: 1. the centripetal mission: a sacred magnetism that draws the Church to reinvent its own identity which is centred on God; 2. the centrifugal mission: a force that pushes the Church to move towards the margins and peripheries that await God’s presence. George W. Peters, in his 1972 classic A Biblical Theology of Missions, argued that mission in the Old Testament is essentially centripetal (all the nations are drawn to Israel), while the New Testament missions are centrifugal (the Church is sent to proclaim the Good News and baptise). 

Today’s Gospel, however, proposes a different perspective. In contrast to Peters’ view, we discern the centrifugal and centripetal forces equally and simultaneously in action in Mark’s summary of Jesus’ typical working day:

1. The Centrifugal Mission: Jesus leaves the synagogue, visits Peter’s house and heals his mother-in-law, welcomes “the whole town gathered at the door” for healing and exorcisms and then proceeds to carry out this mission “throughout the whole of Galilee”. 2. The Centripetal mission: At the end of an exhausting day of teaching, healing, and exorcism, Jesus leaves the city and withdraws to a deserted place to pray in solitude and silence. The Son of God needs a moment for himself with His Father, to refocus, reenergize, and enter a space of interiority for reflection and contemplation. This centripetal mission of prayerful withdrawal helps Jesus recentre his identity in His Father and proceed to minister to “everyone looking for him”. The centripetal mission is experienced here as a need, a right, and a vital necessity.

2. The centrifugal dimension of Jesus’ mission confronts three main forces that plague humanity.

a. Jesus’ preaching ministry confronts ignorance of God: 

To those burdened by the heavy yoke of the law, rituals, and rubrics, Jesus preaches the Good News that God is our Father. The preaching ministry of Jesus carried out in the synagogues, homes of his hosts, hills, beaches, and marketplaces become moments of God’s revelation. Paul, in the second reading, views his own preaching ministry as a participation in this centrifugal mission of Jesus. He writes, “For an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it!”

b. Jesus’ healing ministry defies the forces of death: 

Curiously, certain terms used in the narrative of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law evoke the resurrection and resuscitation episodes. She ‘lay’ sick with a fever just as Jesus was ‘laid’ in a new tomb hewn out of a rock (Matthew 27:60); the widow’s son at Nain lay on a bier (Luke 7:14); the daughter of Jairus in a room before a flute-playing crowd (Matthew 9:23), and Lazarus ‘lays’ in the tomb for four days (John 11:34). The gospel does not say that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Instead, it notes that he “approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up”, expressions that recur in the of resurrection and resuscitation episodes. What does this mean? The healing ministry of Jesus is a prelude to the resurrection and it confronts the forces of death in the numerous sick gathered at his door and throughout the path of his mission in Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, and beyond.

c. Jesus’ exorcism ministry resists the challenges of oppression: 

Many, who were deemed to be possessed by demons, were brought to him and he drove out many demons. With the advancements in modern science and biblical exegesis, we know that some of these ‘possessions’ could well have been psychological issues that are now treated with psychotropic drugs and therapy sessions. However, the liberating exorcism ministry still has its relevance in our collective fight against powers that oppress humankind. Job represents these invisible faces asserting with him, “I am filled with restlessness until the dawn”, “My days come to an end without hope”, and “I shall not see happiness again”. Driving out the demons of oppression involves comforting those facing the challenges of mental health, job-life balance, relationship crises, etc.,

            In short, when the centrifugal force of Jesus’ mission intervenes in someone’s existence, it enables them to move from death to life. Jesus’ Centripetal mission reveals, resurrects, and liberates: This triple focus on revelation, resurrection, and liberation is central also to Jesus’ centripetal mission. He withdraws early in the morning to a deserted place to tune in to God’s permanent revelation, to welcome new life, and to enlarge the scope of his liberation ministry mission so he can say, “Let us go on to the nearby villages.. for this purpose have I come”. His ‘me’ time with His father continues to reveal God’s plan for Him, revitalise him with divine life, and liberate him from idols of publicity and the vain glory promised by ‘everyone looking for him”. May our participation in the centripetal and centrifugal dimensions of the Church’s mission continue to reveal God, resurrect life, and liberate humanity.