Gospel Reflection of 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sunday 28th January 2018

This week the readings are all about authority.  In our Gospel of Mark this week, we read about the first public miracle that Jesus performs.  We have to remember that all of the different Gospel writers are telling the same story – the birth, ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.  But they are all telling the story from a slightly different perspective.  Interestingly, you can learn a lot about what each of the Gospel writers want you to take away from their Gospel by looking at the first public act that Jesus does in each.  So, for example, the first public act that Jesus does in the Gospel of Matthew is to give the Sermon on the Mount.  This is because Matthew wants to stress the idea of Jesus as a teacher in his Gospel.  This is one of his major themes.  In Mark, on the other hand, the first public act we see Jesus do is to perform an exorcism.  That is really intense.  And it gives you a sense of what Mark wants you to be thinking about as you read his account of Jesus.  He wants to show Jesus as a man of action, of authority.  He wants to show you Jesus as a spiritual warrior.  Why?  Because the Christian life is hard.  It is a battle.

There is one particular line in today’s Gospel that really sticks out to me.  Jesus comes to a place called Capernaum, which is up near the Sea of Galilee.  He goes to a synagogue there.  He is teaching.  People are shocked that His teaching contains a kind of authority, a power that they had not heard before.  And there He encounters a man possessed by a demon.  And the response of this demon is striking.  He says, ‘I know who you are, the Holy One of God.  Have you come to destroy us?’.  The question ‘Have you come to destroy us?’ is very interesting.  You know, there is a certain experience in the Christian life where we realise that there are parts of our life that we need to give up, things that we need to sacrifice and sometimes it is so hard.  It feels like God wants to destroy us.  There are certain things, people, habits, whatever in our lives that can feel so hard to give up.  We don’t know if we will make it.  But Jesus does not want to destroy US, rather He wants to destroy that which is hurting us or that is holding us back from Him.  And that is exactly what He does when we come to Him.  He can heal us and take away that which is hindering us from living out our lives fully in His love and grace.  We can go to a priest who, because of Jesus Christ, has authority to forgive our sins.  Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel that He is the one in charge and we can find peace and rest in that reality.

So the question that I want to leave you with is this – What is Jesus asking you to give Him?  What battle can He fight for you today?