A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (4)

“They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, [Jesus] entered the synagogue and taught…he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was…a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” (Mk. 1.21-24)

     Although, as he began his public career, no human being recognized Jesus as the King, there was a group of beings who knew all too well who he was – the demons of Galilee.  The very presence of Jesus compelled the demons within those people in his vicinity to confess Jesus’ identity (Mk. 1.24-25, 34).  Far from being gratified by this recognition of his true role, Jesus is inconvenienced by the demons’ knowledge of his identity and does all in his power to prevent them spreading the truth about him.  Jesus’ identity is dangerous to himself and to those around him; he has a mission to fulfill in a short lapse of time, and must leverage the element of subterfuge and surprise for as long as possible.  Jesus is “behind enemy lines” and must set the explosive charges of the kingdom of God in as many nooks and crannies of Galilee as he can before his cover is blown and his human adversaries become aware of just how dangerous (to them) is the threat in their midst.  Indeed, Jesus must wage war “in the open” even as he attempts to remain “anonymous”.  Jesus proclaims and embodies the kingdom of God and he is “the stronger man” who plunders the kingdom of Satan (cf. Mk. 3.23-27).

     As the King of Israel, Jesus has a mandate to defend the people of God against her foes; Jesus undertakes the defence of Israel against her true enemy – the age-old Adversary, the Satan (and his legions), the one who had tested the faithfulness of Job and who had accused Israel throughout her history (cf. Zech. 3.1-2).  Jesus’ faithfulness to God gives him authority over all forces of darkness, those powers who seek to co-opt human wills to their dark designs.  Jesus, whose will is perfectly united to that of God (cf. Mk. 14.35-36), is immune to all demonic devices and has authority to compel evil spirits to obey his word (Mk. 1.25-27).

     This first exorcism in the synagogue of Capernaum is how Jesus makes his name as a Liberator.  As soon as the Sabbath ends (at sunset), the entire population of Capernaum gathers around the door of Simon’s house and “entombs” Jesus in the lengthening shadows; Jesus performs healings and exorcisms all night long (Mk. 1.29-34).  The King sets people free from slavery to the forces of darkness, in the dark – both literal and metaphorical.  Sunrise on the first day of the week finds Jesus alone at prayer in a deserted place.  Simon and the others hunt him down, thinking to bring him back into the village, but Jesus leads them away from what is familiar in order to continue his campaign of liberation throughout Galilee (1.35-39).  “Follow me”, Jesus intimates, “and join the cause of the kingdom of freedom”.  The Messiah, as Isaiah had said, is the Prince of Peace (cf. Is. 9.6).  Jesus is bringing the shalom of Yahweh to the people of God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A 40-DAY JOURNEY WITH THE KING: Lenten reflections from Mark’s Gospel (5)

Image
“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean .”   Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean !” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean .   (Mk. 1.40-42)      Along with exorcisms, Jesus performs many healings of various physical ailments in the early chapters of Mark’s Gospel.   Jesus’ first healing is that of Simon’s mother-in-law (1.29-31).   With the restoration of the leper, we begin to understand the meaning of Jesus’ healings (and exorcisms).   The thrice-repeated word “clean” in the above passage reveals what is truly going on when the King restores the members of the people of God to wholeness.   Leprosy rendered its victim “unclean”, i.e., it proscribed that person from participation in the life of the community, of both civil society and the worship/litur...
Read more

The Protestant Reformation - good news?

Image
  The study of Reformation Europe makes many Christians wish that they had lived in the 16th century. Name 1) Some good reasons for not living in the sixteenth century and 2) Some ways in which we can live more deliberately as Christians today because of the events of that century. How should it and how should it not make a difference?    Some good reasons for not living in the 16th century include the climate of religious intolerance and violence.   Religious affiliation and observance were compulsory and imposed on the people by the state, especially it seems, in Protestant countries.   There was no freedom of conscience, except perhaps in England during the reign of Elizabeth, where the windows to people’s souls remained shut to the state, so long as they publicly conformed to the monarch’s religion (as enforced by parliament).   One may have thought that Luther’s appeal to conscience at the Diet of Worms would have inspired a broader and more sensit...
Read more

“Walking the tightrope” (St. Luke’s: Wednesday, August 22nd, 2018: Ez. 34.1-11; Ps. 23; St. Mt. 20.1-16)

Image
Ancient relevance.   Any conscientious catholic who has the habit of watching the news cannot help but notice a direct link between today’s first reading and what is going on in the Church these days.   Last week, a grand jury released a report detailing the results of their 2-year long investigation into dozens of clergymen who had abused upwards of 1,000 children in various dioceses in the state of Pennsylvania.   Every time cases of the abuse of children by priests and religious come to light, we are reminded that we live in a world – and are part of a Church – deeply infected by evil .   And of course, let’s not forget that the line between good and evil runs through each one of us (cf. Solzhenitsyn).   In today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel proclaims an oracle of judgment against the false “shepherds” of God’s “flock”.   Instead of caring for, protecting and nurturing God’s people , Israel’s leaders had exploited the people for their...
Read more