4 EPIPHANY - B - 18 MARK 1. 21-28
“….and when the Sabbath came,
he entered the synagogue and taught.”
Last week’s gospel introduced
us to Jesus’ first sermon and the calling of the local fishermen, Peter and
Andrew, James and John to be his disciples. All of which took place in the
region of Galilee. In today’s gospel, we find Jesus teaching in the synagogue
at Capernaum.
Capernaum was on the NW shore
of the Sea of Galilee. It was situated on the great trade route to Damascus and
was a center for customs. Jesus would later call Matthew from his position of
collecting taxes from this same customhouse to be one of his disciples. There
was also a Roman garrison quartered in the town.
Each time I read this passage
or think about it I am reminded of the occasion where I found myself standing
on the remains of the mosaic floor where the first century synagogue once
stood. It was here, St. Mark says in today’s gospel, that Jesus exercised a
demon or unclean spirit from one who heard him teach about God and the coming
kingdom.
It is strange that a possessed
man would be present within the synagogue precincts. Stranger yet that it
always seems to be the enemies of God that recognize Jesus as the Holy One of
God while those that should appear to be blinded to his true identity.
Of all the places, I visited
in the Holy Land where it was said that Jesus was supposed to have
approximately been, the ruins of the synagogue in Capernaum, I believe, are the
closest I came to being where Jesus had actually once stood. It was an awesome
experience.
Jesus’ teaching astonished
his listeners that day, but the man with an unclean spirit interrupted his
teaching. The unclean spirit speaking through the man identified Jesus as the
Holy One of God. Jesus commanded him to be silent and then cast him out.
The very first event of Jesus’
ministry, as Mark presents it, is one that expresses his authority. True it was
Jesus’ teaching with authority that had astonished those who were present that
day, but it was his authority to cast out the unclean spirit that literally
amazed them.
He had come to preach and
teach about God and the coming kingdom, according to Mark, but it was his power
over the kingdom of Satan, demonstrated in the synagogue at Capernaum, that
caused his fame to spread. He cast out the demon and in doing so restored the
man to wholeness.
The first miracle, if you
will, in Jesus’ pubic ministry signifies that Satan’s power over the world has
come to an end. The kingdom of darkness has been shattered by the kingdom of
light and with it the dominion of God has broken into human history. Belief in
demons was widespread in the time of Jesus. If he could cast out demons, what
else could he do?
No wonder, then, as Jesus
began to travel about preaching and teaching, the people who were sick,
diseased, or possessed flocked to be touched by him, or were brought, and in
some cases, even carried by relatives or friends in the hope that they too
might be healed and made whole.
This short gospel reading
centers on Jesus’ authority. Not as the scribes, in terms of teaching, Mark
records, or the prophets of old who taught in the third person, “thus saith the
Lord.” Nor as the legal experts of the day who quoted the opinions of eminent
Rabbis as a basis of authority as to what might be legally done or what might
not. Christ taught in the first person.
He spoke as having authority
from God to enunciate and enforce the principles that underlay the law, and to
carry them on into a new expression and a more complete correspondence with the
will of God in the coming kingdom. Christ’s authority over the kingdom of
darkness was guaranteed by the submission of the unclean spirit.
Moreover, it did not take
long for the news of what he had said and done in the synagogue at Capernaum to
reach the authorities in Jerusalem. How do we see Jesus? How do we recognize
him? The demon, as well as the authorities in Jerusalem saw him as a threat. Do
we?
For those whose lives had
become a total nightmare, however, whose personalities seemed to be taken over
by alien powers, Jesus was seen as their savior and redeemer. These folk seemed
to have a kind of inside track on recognizing him, knowing who he was and what
he had come to do.
He had come to stop the
nightmares, to rescue people, both nations and individuals, from the destructive
forces that enslaved them. Therefore, whether it was a shrieking demon, a woman
with fever, a leper, or whatever disease, sickness, mental, physical, or
spiritual people suffered from, Jesus dealt with them all with the same gentle
but deeply effective authority.
We all have nightmares. We
all become beside ourselves through frustration and anger that can easily
change our personalities. We all find ourselves at wits end. We all conclude
from time to time that we find ourselves in circumstances that we feel
powerless over. When we do, we can not see the light of hope, only darkness and
despair.
Is it then that we recognize
Jesus as our savior and redeemer? It is only in time of need that we turn to
Him and call his name. Is it only when we need rescuing that we recognize him
as the one who saves? Jesus came to save us from our nightmares and our
feelings of hopelessness and despair. He came to heal us and make us whole. In
essence, Jesus came to give us life.
Moreover, He has the
authority and the power to do so. It is God’s will that we live the new life to
which we have been called; to step from the darkness into the light, and like
the man once possessed in the synagogue at Capernaum come to know who Jesus is
and why He came. For it is through the merits of His life, death, and
resurrection that the way to eternal life has been opened to us.
It is in our acknowledging
him as the Holy One of God that we discover that we have been rescued from a
life of sin and death. It is when we live a life of faith based on our love of
God that we discover our true identity and to whom we ultimately belong.
Today’s gospel reading, as
short as it is, is how Mark begins to tell us both about how Jesus became so
popular so quickly and of how the course of his public career pointed
inexorably to its dramatic conclusion. On the cross, Christ completed the
healing work he began that day in the synagogue in Capernaum and the world has
never been the same. Thanks be to God. AMEN+
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