Cycle: B Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalms 95:1-2,6-9; I Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28
Once upon a time a government surveyor brought his equipment to a farm, called on the farmer, and asked permission to go into one of the fields and take readings. The farmer objected, fearing that the survey was the first step toward construction of a highway through his land. "I will not give you permission to go into my fields," said the farmer. Whereupon, the surveyor produced an official government document which authorized him to do the survey. "I have the authority," he said, "to enter any field in the entire country to take necessary readings." Faced with such authority, the farmer opened the gate and allowed the surveyor to enter the field. The farmer then went to the far end of the field and opened another gate, through which one of his fiercest bulls came charging. Seeing the bull, the surveyor dropped his equipment and began to run for his life. And he could hear the farmer triumphantly shouting after him,"Show him the paper, show him your authority."
In the Greek, the word for "authority" is "exousia." The word for "power" is "dunamis." Authority and power have different meanings, as the unfortunate surveyor discovered at the sight of the raging bull. In today's Gospel Lesson, Jesus reminds us that, in terms of our salvation -- where we our going with our lives and what we ought to do about it -- He speaks to us with authority and He empowers us, both.
Mark tells us that Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath "as one who had authority," and that His listeners were "astonished at His teaching" (Mk. 1:22). Then, "A man with an unclean spirit 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'" (Mk. 1:23,24).
This incident should not surprise us when we consider that Jesus was speaking with such authority and force that His words would hit home -- really jolt his listeners into realizing that they were being asked to turn their lives upside down.
"What have You to do with us? Have you come to destroy us?" We don't have to be under the influence of some alien spirit in order to respond in this way to Jesus' call to New Life. This is the experience, to some degree, of every one of us when we really listen to the Lord's Message. Hearing this Gospel story, we may be inclined to dismiss this man's cry as the lunatic ravings of an unbalanced fanatic. But the fact is that the man in the Gospel Story got the point. He was jolted by the Word of God. He realized his attitude and approach to life was being called into question. He realized that Jesus was indeed calling for the destruction of his old ways.
A small town newspaper's "Religion Column" included the story of a local minister who had been preaching Sunday after Sunday for two years to an empty Church. Before that, there were three members in the congregation. But two died and the third moved away. Nevertheless, each Sunday for two years, the minister went into the pulpit, looked out at the uninterrupted rows of empty pews and preached the Message of Jesus Christ as he understood it. At one point during this period he decided to turn off the sound system because some of the neighbors were complaining about the noise. When he was asked if he didn't feel a little foolish preaching to empty pews week after week, he replied, "No. I don't ever feel foolish. I'm just taking it one Sunday at a time, waiting for someone to come in and listen to the Word."
That is the problem which all serious preachers face week after week: "Is there anyone out there who realizes that the Word of God being preached is a call to turn his or her life upside down? Or am I preaching, in effect, to empty pews? Is there anyone out there who is so astonished by the Word of God spoken through Jesus that he or she feels compelled to cry out, 'I know You are the Holy One of God ... I know You are my Lord and Savior'?"
The question is, "Are we really listening, or is the Word being proclaimed, in effect, to empty pews?" The man in today's Gospel is tormented by an "unclean spirit." But Jesus possesses the authority and the power to impose silence on the unclean spirit and commands it to go out of the man.
The man in this Gospel story serves as a witness to Christ's Presence in the world. If the Kingdom of God is at hand, then the "unclean" diabolical forces are overthrown, and the world is ruled by a new Wisdom, a new Authority, a new Power.
There is the story of a man who asked the question, "What is the devil?" Before anyone could reply, the man supplied his own answer. "The devil," he said, "is not a huge monster with horns and a harpoon tail and a wicked glitter in his eye. No, the devil is inertia, doing nothing, following the lines of least resistance." The definition might not satisfy many theologians, but it makes the point: When Jesus asks us to turn our lives upside down by following His example of radical love, and we respond by following the lines of least resistance, we're in the devil's corner.
Through His life and through His death, Jesus teaches us that Love is all. Through His Resurrection, Jesus empowers us to live accordingly.
Love is all! Jesus taught this truth with such authority as to jolt us, to astonish us, to turn us upside down. But is anybody listening?
