Have you ever been to a part of town with which you were unfamiliar? Then, trying to find your way you keep returning to the place you started? Our lives can be this way. We can keep running around in circles thinking we are getting somewhere and all we’re doing is deepening the rut that we are stuck in.
The Church always challenges us to get out of the rut. We begin a fresh start by opening the gospel of Mark. We join Jesus as he starts off his mission of evangelization (Mark 1:21-28).
“Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.”
It was the custom to allow a visiting rabbi to step up to the pulpit and say a few words. I wish I could have been there to experience what it was like listening to Jesus teach. The people did not realize that when Jesus spoke to them, it was God himself sending the message. Jesus’ words bore the power and authority of Go. No wonder they were astonished.
Then something even more astonishing happened.
“In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?’ Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud voice came out of him.”
Jesus not only spoke with authority, he also acted with authority. By driving the demon out of the man, Jesus demonstrated that he has power to back up his words. This action was an exclamation point following his teaching.
“All were amazed and asked one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
What a dramatic impact Jesus made when he burst into the public scene. The synagogue had never experienced anything like this. Something new was happening in Israel!
Jesus is entering the synagogue of our lives today. He is ready to make an impact on us, if we let him in and invite him to teach us. What is Jesus saying to me and to you right now? What life-changing message is he giving us? At the same time Jesus is acting in our lives. What is unclean in us–what is not of God—that he commands to leave, so we can be pure vessels worthy to hold the grace of God. Will we allow Jesus to deal with an area of our lives that is keeping us from growing deeper in God?
In our Psalm response (Psalm 8:2-9) today, we read:
“O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name above all the earth! What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him.”
As great and glorious as God is, we are astounded that he pays close attention to us and cares about us so much that he sent his Son to give us a way back to Him. It is out of love that Jesus knocks on the synagogue of our hearts today and brings us a new and motivating message. Are we listening?
We pray again, “Jesus come into my heart in a new way. Let this be a new beginning in my life.”
