Gospel: Mark 1:21-28

 

This Sunday’s Gospel passage presents Jesus who, with his small community of disciples, enters Capernaum, the city where Peter lived and which was the largest city in Galilee.

 

Jesus went straight to the Synagogue and began to teach. This reminds us of the primacy of the Word of God, the Word to be listened to, the Word to be received, and the Word to be proclaimed. 

 

Jesus does not delay proclaiming the Gospel, does not think first about the necessary logistics of his small community, does not tarry over the organization. His primary concern is to communicate the Word of God with the power of the Holy Spirit. And the people in the Synagogue were astonished, because Jesus “taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes”.

 

What does “with authority” mean? It means that in the human words of Jesus, the power of the Word of God could be felt, the authority of God, who is the inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures. And one of the characteristics of the Word of God is that He does what He says. For the Word of God corresponds to his will. 

 

The Word of God corresponds to the truth; it is united to his will and fulfills what He says. Indeed, Jesus, after preaching, immediately demonstrates his authority by freeing a man, in the Synagogue, who was possessed by a demon. 

The very divine authority of Christ provoked the reaction of Satan, hidden in that man; Jesus, in his turn, immediately recognized the voice of the evil one and “rebuked him... ‘Be silent, and come out of him’”. With the power of his word alone, Jesus frees the person from the evil one. And once again those present were amazed. The Word of God has the power to astonish us.

 

The Gospel is the word of life: it does not oppress, it frees those who are slaves to the many evil spirits of this world: the spirit of vanity, attachment to money, pride... The Gospel changes the heart, changes life. The Gospel is capable of changing people! 

 

Therefore it is the task of Christians to spread the redeeming power throughout the world, becoming missionaries and heralds of the Word of God. This is also suggested by today’s passage which closes with a missionary perspective, saying: “his fame” — the fame of Jesus — “spread everywhere, throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee” (v. 28). The new doctrine of Jesus is what the Church takes to the world, along with the effective signs of His presence: the authoritative teaching and the liberating action of the Son of God become words of salvation and gestures expressing the love of the missionary Church. 

 

Let us invoke the motherly intercession of the Virgin Mary, she who received the Word and conceived Him for the world, for all mankind. She teaches us to be assiduous listeners and authoritative proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus.