Friends, the first reading from Deuteronomy today is of signal importance. Moses, speaking to the people before they enter the Promised Land, says, “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.” These words haunted the mind of Israel. Moses was the supreme authority; there was no figure in the Old Testament more important. Who could be greater than Moses? We find the answer in the Gospel: Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God, who speaks on his own authority.
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GOSPEL
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:21–28
Friends, in today’s Gospel, we hear that Jesus came to Capernaum and entered the synagogue on a Sabbath, where he began to teach. Then it says that the “people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” The ordinary teachers would have appealed to their own teachers and authorities, and finally to Moses and the Torah, which were unassailable.
Now, what would prevent people from saying that he was just crazy? Well, watch what happens next. Into the synagogue there rushes a man with “an unclean spirit.” And he knows who Jesus is: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
But then Jesus demonstrates his authority: “‘Quiet! Come out of him!’ The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.” The claim to God’s own authority is now ratified by showing power over the spiritual realm.
And now they—and we—have to make a decision. Are we with him or are we against him? If he is who he says he is and who he demonstrates himself to be, then we have to give our lives to him.