Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Casting out the demons from the man in the Synagogue in Capernaum is the first cure Mark recounts as Jesus begins his ministry. Do you suspect there is a message here? I do! Jesus serves notice that the days of darkness are over. While the people in the synagogue may not have realized that at the time, they were quick to realize this event as a sign of Jesus’ authority.
Today our world is still plagued by demons seemingly have imbedded themselves into the fabric of our daily lives. Unfortunately they are just as real and destructive and pathetic today as they were in Jesus’ time. We know them by the fruit of their works: hunger, poverty, war, ignorance, their empty promises and lying tongues, the division and chaos that we see around us. They continue to raise havoc with many of our brothers and sisters, keeping them wrapped up in fear and seizing them with a perpetual sense of hopelessness.
Mark wastes no time telling of Jesus miraculous power as He liberates a man bound up and tormented by some terrible affliction described only as “an unclean spirit”. Whatever that condition was, it sounds horrible. What people saw, what made them marvel was that Jesus had amazing power and that He used that power for the well-being of one of His neighbors who was longsuffering. They ask the question, “What is this, a new teaching with authority?” Yes, it is, one that we continue to spread nearly 2,000 years later. It is the quintessential teaching not only of one man’s liberation; it is our story too, of our struggle to get free from all that imprisons us, from all that has hardened our hearts and blinded us to the sorrows and sufferings of those around us. It is a new teaching which calls us to be like the Master, to imitate Him by helping others break free from whatever shackles them, diminishes their dignity and self-worth, exploits their labor, or impoverishes them.
How do we who claim to be disciples of Jesus respond to the evils we witness as we go about our daily activities? Does the evil we see or experience motivate us to action or to prayer? Are we minimalists, adhering to the practice of attending Mass once on week on Sunday, dropping our envelope in the collection basket and getting our ticket punched? Or, do we go above and beyond the minimum by engaging in the corporal works of mercy – you remember them, don’t you? … feeding the hungry; giving drink to the thirsty; clothing the naked; sheltering the homeless; visiting the sick; ransoming the captive, burying the dead on the corporal side. Or, perhaps we prefer helping others on their spiritual journey by teaching them our faith, counseling them through their doubts; warning them they have wondered of the straight and narrow; bearing wrongs patiently; forgiving offences willingly; comforting the afflicted; praying for the living and the dead. St. Thomas Aquinas regarded the works of mercy as various forms of almsgiving. Furthermore, he considered these works to be a duty, an obligation we owe to one another predicated on the golden rule to do to others, as we would have them due to us.
There are many ways in which followers of Jesus can respond in a positive way to the evils we see and experience in our daily life. What is important is that we do something to respond to the many faces of evil in our world. Doing nothing is not an option! We know the scriptures. We know what Jesus asks of us. AND, we know the consequences of choosing to turn our heads. We find them spelled out clearly in Matthew 25:41: “Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, in everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you covered me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit me", etc.
It is easy to be overwhelmed with all the evil that we see or personally experience on a daily basis. It is easy to think that there is nothing we can do to change it… that the problem is too big and we don’t have the means to stop it. That way of thinking perpetuates the work of the devil. Apathy, indifference, inactivity, feelings of hopelessness, inadequacy, or that we are too old, or too young and similar thoughts on our part tip the scales even more in favor of the evil one. There is a saying that we should call to mind should such thinking enter our minds… “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” As friends of Jesus nothing could be more truthful. Christ is the light of the world who came to chase away the darkness, the chaos, the division and chaos and the evil in the world. By His life and His ministry, by His Death and Resurrection, He set the example that we are to be lights to those around us too, to cast away the darkness and to resist the evils in our world, little by little, each and every day. May we always be faithful in following his example and true to His Word.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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