INTRODUCTION
Jesus is the expected prophet.
The first reading announces the coming of a prophet after Moses who will lead the people of God to the promised land. Mark responds to the expectations of the new Israel by affirming in the Gospel that God has finally fulfilled his promise of old not just through Christ but in Christ. He presents Jesus as one who distinguished Himself from the prophets that preceeded Him and rabbis of His time by using his own authority and knowledge as God to teach, empower, liberate, and heal others. In this way, He became what He preached and what is being preached.
In the second reading, St. Paul presents a “new doctrine”: the value attributed to virginity as an expression of love for God and the service to the brethren. In a more comprehensive way, the apostle insists that the only way to testify the presence of God in ones life is through undivided service rendered to Him. Nothing therefore should take the place of God in the life of a Christian.
FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Moments of separation (especially separation by death) often come with such a bitter sensation. The thing that weighs heavily on the heart is not the fact of dying, rather the thought of not going to see the person anymore in this life. At this point the human mind finds it difficult to settle with the present as a result of the continuous replay of the beautiful memories of the past.
The first reading tells of how Moses hinted his people about his imminent death. Perceiving this, the people were terrified because they were about to lose the person who led them out of Egypt and through thick and thin moments of difficulties in the wilderness, and about to lead them into the Promised Land. The thought of losing a great prophet who had been keeping them informed of Yahweh’s will equally filled their minds. Probably, someone might have asked: “If this man dies, how would we find out what God wanted of us? Moses himself might have also thought of what would become of the people and their relationship with Yahweh, knowing how stubborn they proved to be.
Yahweh was aware of the all these preoccupations and did not hesitate to respond to Moses that He will heed the people’s request and “raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and … put My words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.”
Moses had set up a theocratic society for the Israelites as he had been instructed to do by God. This society had various officers to regulate the civil and religious life of the people, e.g., judges, kings, priests and prophets. Today’s reading tells us that a true prophet would speak with authority because it would be God Who spoke through him. The text was first seen as promising that there would be a line of prophets to interpret previous revelations by God and to add some new ones for each generation. After the return from the Babylonian exile (c. 538 B. C.), the Jewish priests began to interpret this text of Deuteronomy as referring to one individual, namely the Messiah who was to come. The New Testament followed this interpretation and saw these words of dying Moses, “a prophet like me,” verified in Christ (Acts 3:22; 7:37). These verses therefore, have been chosen for today’s first reading because they refer to Jesus, the “preacher with authority,” mentioned in today’s Gospel.
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
St. Paul and most of the early Christians believed, or strongly hoped, that the end of this world and the second coming of Christ were imminent. For this reason, many Christians in Corinth thought they should not enter into marriage, lest marriage should interfere with their whole-hearted service of God in preparation for the second coming of Jesus. As a good Jew, Paul presumed that a different set of circumstances always demanded a different prophet with a different word. Hence, St. Paul exercised his God-given authority as the Apostle to the Gentiles to teach people that marriage is a holy state ordained by God and that it is a life-long partnership according to the teaching of the Lord (see Mt. 5:32; 19:3-9). Further, Paul recommended the life of celibacy he himself had chosen to the non-married only if they felt they could live such a life. The advantage of celibacy, as Paul explained, was that celibates would have the freedom to serve God fully with the fewest earthly cares and worries.(fr Anthony Kadavil).
GOSPEL: Mark 1: 21-28
Synagogue is a Greek name for “place of assembly”. However, during the period of the Second Temple (post babylonian exile–538 BC…), the word synagogue was used more in the congregation and not just the building.
In the days of Jesus, synagogues were constructed virtually in every city and town of any importance in Palestine and outside Palestine, wherever the Jewish community could count up to minyan (ten) adult men, a number required to offer prayers in a community. The routine synagogue activities comprised of three elements: daily services, Sabbath services and festival services. The worships are mainly centred on reading of Scripture and an exposition of it.
Today’s Gospel passage locates Jesus in the Synagogue. Mark tells not only of how those present in the synagogue admired his teaching but also their testimony about the authority behind his teaching (1:21-22 and 1:27-28). This means that Jesus explained the Scriptures with complete confidence. It was not so difficult for the people to perceive the difference between Him and their rabbis because He was self-referencing unlike the rabbis who usually quote authorities or experts to back up their teachings.
The insertion of the deliverance of the man possessed by the unclean spirit in the text signals Mark intention to demonstrate that the authority of Jesus is all encompassing.
The deliverance of the man was a huge shock to everyone. It kept them wondering about the extraordinary nature of Jesus because in the ancient Biblical world everyone feared evil spirits and demonic possession. People believed that demonic possession was the cause of certain sicknesses and deformities such as leprosy, lameness, paralysis, etc. Thus, people rarely associated themselves with persons having such types of health conditions.
Today, the encounter of the man with Jesus and eventually the expulsion of the evil spirit from him is Mark’s way of inaugurating the presence of the Messiah–the One who has come to set His people free from the clutches of any form of slavery. The evangelist tells of how evil spirit could not withstand the presence of Jesus. He felt threatened and exclaimed: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?“ Yet in his subtle nature, he immediately thought of gaining Jesus’ confidence by proclaiming his distinctive personality: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Jesus did not waste time to grab his tricks and immediately ordered him to speak no more and come out of his host: “Be silent, and come out of him!” The unclean spirit obeyed instantly and came out without bargaining.
The idea of exorcism (driving out demons or evil spirits) is a very important and essential part of Jesus’ ministry; although the driving out of evil spirits did not begin with Him. We have some deposits of stories about exorcism in few pages of the Old Testament: The deliverance of Saul from the evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:14-23) and the deliverance of Sarah from Asmodeus, the spirit of lust (Tobit 8:1-3).
In the New Testament, exorcism took a different perspective. It became an integral part of evangelization and a ministry of salvation (Matthew 9:32-34; 12:22-32; Mark 1:21-27; 3:14-30; 5:1-20; 6:7; 7:24-30; 9:17-29; 16:17; Acts 5:16; 8:7; 19:12).
Exorcism is also part of the Church’ ministry of which the directives and authorization are given by the local Ordinary (Code of Canon Law 1172, § 1 & 2).
In any case, it seems that to talk about spirits and demons today appears primitive and makes us uncomfortable. We prefer to speak of poverty and mental illness as the causes of bizarre behavior. We also hesitate to use the word evil, which sounds judgmental, and look to medical science to deliver us from our demons. But science in itself in the guise to help is equally demonizing human society. The reliance on human science at the expense of God has given the devil an upper hand in manipulating societal laws and policies. Today, we have numerous easy ways of eliminating human lives facilitated by the boom of science. Our world is truly in need of exorcism. In any case, the evangelist Mark assures us today that no matter how evil may roar, we have Christ who alone has the power to silence it. Thus the passage of the Gospel is both a testimony of what our God in Jesus can do as well as a catechesis for us to hook up to Jesus who fights our battles.
LIFE MESSAGE
1) WE NEED JESUS FOR LIBERATION
Jesus did not use his authority and Divine power to rule and control people. He came to set people free. Hence, let us approach Jesus with trusting Faith so that he may free us from the evil spirits that keep us from praying and prevent us from loving and sharing our blessings with others, as well as from all the “evil spirits” of fear, compulsions, selfishness, anger, resentment and hostility. “I have come that they may have life, life in abundance” (Jn 10:10). So Jesus should be a source of liberation for us. May Jesus free us from all those spirits which make us deaf, dumb, blind, lame, and paralyzed, physically and spiritually. Through Word and Sacrament, Jesus brings that power to us and says the same words to the demons in our life, “Be gone!” — not just once but as often as we need to hear them, until finally, we are free from these demons entirely. Christ has power over any demon, so whether those demons be addictions, heartaches, secret sins — whatever our chains may be — Christ can set us free and longs to do so.
2) LET’S ALLOW GOD-GIVEN AUTHORITY TO BUILD UP LIVES
No doubt we can think back to people who have made a lasting impression on our lives – either for good or bad. Perhaps it was a grandparent, an uncle, or a parent, who loved us and cared for us. Perhaps it was a Sunday school teacher who encouraged us in our Faith and exerted a positive impact on our lives. Perhaps we remember the kindness as well as the firm discipline that a schoolteacher gave us. On the other hand, there may be people in our past whom we remember with pain and discomfort. Are children learning something from us as parents that will stand them in good stead for the future? We want our children to grow into strong, wise, confident, capable, mature adults. But we want more than that. We want them to grow in their Faith, to accept Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior. We want children to see in us the love of Jesus and how our Christian Faith affects our lives. A good question for parents, teachers and all of us is: “In what way am I helping the children I know grow in wonder at Jesus and his love for them?” When God’s Word and God’s ways are taught and spoken about with authority – with conviction – our children (and others) will see in them, with amazement, God’s love for them in His Son Jesus. (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
3) WE NEED TEACHERS WHO MAKE PROPER USE OF AUTHORITY
Teachers are such a special set of people because their profession places them at the first scale of professional careers. Every specialization requires a teacher, a guide or an educator. This offers them a powerful tool and possibility to change lives. In other words, they have within their grasp the power over young lives either to hurt them terribly or heal them wonderfully. If some of us must be sincere enough, then we should know that we are deeply indebted to some caring teachers in our past. Although on the other hand, most people today are unable to get over the damage done to them by some cruel or inhumane experiences they had with their teachers in the past. Today, Mark presents Jesus to us in the synagogue at Capernaum as an admired teacher. Let us note: They never called him “Reverend,” or “Father,” or “Priest.” They called him “Rabbi,” which means “teacher.” Hence we are all called to be good teachers starting from our homes and then in our parishes and schools. We’ve got the obligation to mould young lives in the right way. But the truth is that we have all failed the young people. Parents have failed in their duties of raising their children in a Christian morals. The governments continue to destroy the future generations through some demonic policies. Priests and pastors have not been of good examples to the young so as to encourage the boom of vocation. The society at large is a place of diffusion of lifestyles that are destroying the young people. We all must take responsibility today by using our various positions of authority to mould young lives in the right way.
PRAYER
Grant o Lord that we your children may never lose sight of our call to be witnesses of your love to the world by way of preaching the Gospel and by our lives, so that the clouds of evil that enshroud human society may give way through the authority of your Godhead presence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son and our brother who lives and reigns with You in communion with the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
