Reading I: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Responsorial Psalm 25: 1-2, 6-7, 7-9
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 71
Reading 1DT 18:15-20
Moses spoke to all the people, saying:
“A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen.
This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb
on the day of the assembly, when you said,
‘Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God,
nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘This was well said.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin,
and will put my words into his mouth;
he shall tell them all that I command him.
Whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name,
I myself will make him answer for it.
But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name
an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak,
or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.’”
Responsorial PsalmPS 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading 21 COR 7:32-35
Brothers and sisters:
I should like you to be free of anxieties.
An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord,
how he may please the Lord.
But a married man is anxious about the things of the world,
how he may please his wife, and he is divided.
An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord,
so that she may be holy in both body and spirit.
A married woman, on the other hand,
is anxious about the things of the world,
how she may please her husband.
I am telling you this for your own benefit,
not to impose a restraint upon you,
but for the sake of propriety
and adherence to the Lord without distraction.
AlleluiaMT 4:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light;
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death,
light has arisen.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 1:21-28
Then they came to Capernaum,
and on the sabbath Jesus 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.
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?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said,
“Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
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Just a glance at the way Mark lays out his gospel. These opening pages introduce his subject step by careful step: John, as the messenger sent ahead to prepare the way; Jeshua baptised by John and anointed with the Spirit. Then into the wilderness of danger where temptation is faced alone - and back, to start proclaiming the good news. First, the choosing of four to start a group of disciples, and 'then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jeshua entered the synagogue and taught.' (Verse 21). Every sentence, every word is chosen and set in place as in a poem, each choice telling, every item fully accounted for. He taught.
What happened, then, when he began to teach?
The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority.
This is the first impact Jeshua had on world history. It happened in a little fishing village on the northern shore of the lake of Genesareth one sabbath morning. Foundations have been uncovered of a building, a synagogue building that could well have been the one... a small building, as you would expect,fairly crowded on the day because word had passed around that this new man had been pointed out by John... Whether they expected much from him or not, they got more than they'd anticipated.
They were puzzled - astonished - stunned. The first impact he made was to cause the people to wonder.
I think these memories from that first day have been finely phrased, tuned and polished to say exactly what the early communities wanted to have in the message, in the Good News. We start with wonder.
Wondering about what? About what he was teaching - but we'll look at that in detail throughout the following chapters. They wondered about something else too. Not just the content, but the style of it, or was it the way it got you knowing what he meant. There was a power in it, rising out of thorough conviction, of deep personal integrity, of total dedication to the truth of what he was teaching. No beating about the bush. No citing opinions of various interpretations of the masters as was the rabbis' way, no emotional sleight of hand to get you in, whether you comprehended or not, the manipulative way of preachers in every age.
He taught with real authority.
We saw it in the court the other day. The magistrate listened well, explained the law and pointed out the path each should follow, but no one was convinced. Then after interval he came back, and the tone was different somehow. Now he spoke with authority in another way. It was not bossy, enforcing the law, saying you have to do this or that, but soft-spoken with gentle conviction. His conviction flowed into us and we were convinced. He spoke with authority, and we were stunned and said to one another as we reached the open air outside: How did he do that? What happened in there? Because the best outcome, the only positive way to go forward had been embraced by all, without anyone getting hurt.
It's the authority of one who knows, who really knows. If Mick, our grimy old mechanic who keeps the town's cars running, says this or that is what's wrong with yours, you don't argue. You might wonder how he could pick it so quick and so sure, but you feel completely at ease because he speaks with authority. He knows your car, as he knows every car in his crowded yard. As he knows every car, pretty well, in the town.
Maybe the GP is puzzled, stunned, that test upon test has not indicated what's ailing you. But finally you get to the hospital and someone comes, after many others, looks at your charts, asks one or two questions, pokes or prods a little, and gives the diagnosis. He knows in an instant because..., because he knows.
It's about author-ship. That's what 'authority' means. Not riding on borrowed opinions, not flying kites on others' wind, not skating lightly over cracked ice, but speaking the truth from the true being that you are.
I wonder what it felt like for Jeshua, at last to be teaching in a synagogue. He knew what he wanted to say. He had long seen the damage being done by teachers who hedged their bets, who canvassed all the opinions and left the audience with no clear path, or just a deadly reiteration of the dead letter of law.
He saw, himself, the living truth for truly living by. His words were very simple. Not like mine here in this, fancy turns of phrase intended hopefully to delight and then enlighten. Beating around the bush a bit to make my readers wonder where is this going. Oh, Jeshua did that a lot, later on, but on that first sabbath morning I think perhaps he talked about (you guessed it) my favourite Greek word: metanoia. Did they first hear it in the synagogue at Capernaum. There were plenty of Greek words around, but no Hebrew one for this.
"We could, you know," I can just imagine him saying, "we could take a fresh look at the old Torah, and find a living god, a loving father, a vibrant new life inviting us. We could see god, who is our saving god, saving us to freedom out of bondage and slavery. Are you free? Do you feel free? If not - Why not?"
How? you wonder. What would it take to be living really free? It would take a 180 degree turn around. From west to east, from south to north, from fear and slavish obeying to trust and joyful loving.
He would have kept it short that first day. You bet he did. No need to hammer home a harsh injunction. It was an open invitation to walk towards an open gate, with the sun rising full of promise.
At the end of this little episode, Mark's Good News repeats again that they were amazed, confounded this time, for this is a new teaching, and with conviction, with a ring of truth about it, a teaching that made sense and gave hope. Simple, aye?
A new teaching with authority.
And even the devils obey him.