4 Epiphany, Year B, Jan. 28
Deut. 18:15-20 • Ps. 111
1 Cor. 8:1-13 • Mark 1:21-28
Arriving in Capernaum on the sabbath day, Jesus enters the synagogue and teaches, and though we are told nothing about the content of his preaching, its emotional effect is reported in these familiar words: “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22). To be sure, the scribes had a kind of knowledge and with it exercised a religious and perhaps civil authority. They were among a learned class known for their deep understanding of the law, reasoned argument from traditional sources, and an intense devotion to study. For all that, they in no way matched the sheer power of Jesus. For while they were learned men, Jesus was and is the eternal Son of the Father.
As the Word made flesh, his very words convey authority, and his flesh radiates divine light, which, though hidden for most of his earthly ministry, is revealed on the holy mountain. The Greek word translated authority has as its primary meaning the idea of power. Moreover, the word is composed of a preposition, “out of,” and the noun “substance or being.” So we might say he taught “out of his being or substance.” Being substantially one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he taught with divine and irrefutable power. This power, however, is not an external and brute force. It is the power of divine love, the power to restore, the power to mend a tormented mind. It is the power that makes all things new, which we see in the healing of the man with an unclean spirit.
“Just then there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, ‘What have you do to with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God’” (Mark 1:23-24). Note the use of the plural us. “What have you to do with us?” In a related story, Jesus meets a man with an unclean spirit who lives among tombs, who cries out and bruises himself, and who cannot be restrained. Listen to and picture this interaction. “When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ For [Jesus] had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many’” (Mark 5:6-9).
These two men are a type, an example of a fallen and tormented human race, a condition we can verify with even a brief examination of conscience and even more clearly in moments of silence, especially in the early or late hours of the day. “We are many.” We are not integrated and whole, composed and at peace. We live with inner confusion and conflict, a condition for which there is no earthly help.
Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. The Lord now stands before our lives. In his words and in his radiance and love, he alone makes us whole. He speaks: “Be silent, and come out of him!” (Mark 1:25). Even as I write these words, unclean spirits are driven out from us, and we stand whole and restored.
This healing is not, in this world, once and for all. It is a healing to which we must return again and again as our lives are ever slipping toward disintegration. Within our minds and in our bodies, we are coming apart, falling into multiplicity and torment. So we stand before Jesus again and again, and he, in love, stands before us. In perpetual adoration, we look ever to the one who can heal us.
Look It Up: Psalm 111:6
Think About It: Observe the power of his works in you.