4th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)

January 20,2006

by Reverend Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

One stormy night at sea, a large battleship saw a light in the distance that was directly on its course. The captain of the ship had a radio message sent out: “Bear 10 degrees South.” The reply was received, “No, you must bear 10 degrees North.” The captain grew furious and called on the radio himself and yelled, I am a Captain in the United States Navy and I am ordering you to bear 10 degrees South. Who are you and what is your rank?” He heard the feeble answer, “This is Seaman 1^st Class Scott, Sir, and you must bear 10 degrees North.” The captain barked back, “I am on the bridge of a battleship and I am telling you to bear 10 degrees South.” In reply the captain heard, “I am in a lighthouse and you had better bear 10 degrees North.” 

There are two aspects to any statement that is made: who is speaking and what is being said. 

In Jesus’ time any learned Jewish man could teach in the synagogue. But those who taught did so by supporting their teachings with quotes from other authorities and from scripture, as did the Scribes and the Pharisees. Their authority for teaching was rooted in their knowledge of, and their dependence on the Law of Moses. 

The gospel today tells us that Jesus goes to a synagogue in Capernaum with 4 of his disciples and teaches the people. The people are astonished at his teaching, and they say to one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority.” 

What separated Jesus from the Scribes and Pharisees of the Synagogue was that Jesus taught with personal authority. His authority was independent of the Law. Jesus’ authority came vertically from God and not horizontally through the Law. Up until that time, the prophets sent by God to teach the Israelites, had spoken with delegated authority, and would preface their words with: “Thus says the Lord, God.” When Jesus spoke, however, he needed no other authorities to support his teaching. He was “authority incarnate” - the Word of God made flesh. When he spoke, God spoke.  

Accordingly, the possessed man Jesus encounters in the synagogue calls Jesus the “Holy One of God” who has come to destroy the spirits of evil. Then, at Jesus’ command, the evil spirit is cast out of the man and he is healed. It was thus that the people in the synagogue were amazed at the power and authority that Jesus possessed; his actions testified to His authority. 

It is with this healing, this act of power, done out of compassion for the needs of another, that Jesus begins his public life. This cure of the demon possessed man (who cries out: “Have you come to destroy us?”) represents the beginning of the messianic age when the power of Satan’s kingdom will at last be destroyed.  Although Jesus enters a world in which Satan reigns, he teaches with the authority of God, and with compassion casts out evil spirits that hold people in bondage and fear. Christ’s mission, begun here, will not be completed until the end, as scripture tells us, “when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power…and the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 

Jesus called disciples to be with him as he began his mission at Capernaum; now he calls us to be with him as he continues his mission in the cities and towns in which we live. The Spirit descends upon each of us at our baptism, and a voice from heaven says to each of us, “You are my beloved.”  We, like Christ, himself, will often be tempted by Satan not to believe these words when the power of evil seems to be invincible. We will also be tempted to use power and authority, not with Christ’s compassion in service to others, but to advance our own reign, rather than, God’s reign. 

Later in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus talks about authentic Christian discipleship. Two of the disciples who were with Jesus at Capernaum (James and John) seem to have assumed that discipleship means enjoying positions of power, for they ask Jesus to sit one on his left, and one on his right, in his kingdom. In response Jesus summoned all his disciples and explained his concept of power. He said that among the Gentiles, rulers make their authority felt and lord it over the people. But he made it clear to them, that among his disciples, whoever wishes to be great must be the servant of all. It was this concept of power that led Jesus to teach, to cast out demons, to cure illnesses, and finally to give himself up to death on a cross through the supreme power of love. “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

Let us pray then in the words of today’s psalm: “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.’”