In Jesus, we see our God made visible

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

As we move further into this liturgical year with our eyes particularly focused on St. Mark’s Gospel, we begin to sense the themes that will be important for Mark’s particular brand of storytelling. Our Gospel this Sunday provides important information about the unique power and authority with which Jesus proclaimed his teaching.

St. Mark recounts that “the people were astonished at [Jesus’] teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22). In this, Mark is presenting Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise recounted in today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18). Jesus teaches with a power all his own, and we quickly learn the source of that power –  this Jesus of Nazareth is the “Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24c). Jesus teaches with such authority because his words are God’s words – when we see and hear Jesus, we are seeing and hearing the Father himself.

To illustrate the extent of Jesus’ power, the Gospel immediately presents a miracle story, the exorcism of the possessed man at Capernaum. Demonic possession was a horrifying burden. Its victims lost complete control of themselves and their actions; they were feared and excluded from society. In demonic possession, the power of evil became too strong for any human authority to overcome.

In the face of this terrible power, Jesus simply uttered the words, “Quiet! Come out of him!” (Mark 1:25), and the demon was expelled, the grip of evil completely undone. In the face of Jesus’ divine authority, Satan was emptied of all his fearsome might.

This miraculous exorcism both gives us a concrete demonstration of Jesus’ authority as well as teaches us how Jesus intends to use it. The power of Jesus, that is, God’s own power revealed to his people, is oriented to the coming fullness of God’s kingdom. By his teaching and miracles, Jesus intended to make plain the true measure of God’s power – “nothing is impossible for God” (Luke 1:37). But this miraculous sign is also a proof of God’s love. In this exorcism, God reaches out to one of his beloved people to restore him to sanity and grace – the burden of evil was lifted from the formerly possessed man; in a sense, this miracle illustrates Jesus’ entire mission – to lift the terrible weight of sin from his people, to restore the pristine goodness that God intended for all his creation before sinfulness so debased our world.

In this text, St. Mark wonderfully sets up the rest of his Gospel. A new presence is introduced, Jesus of Nazareth, who speaks and acts with God’s own power, a power that will be used to uplift his people by removing the shackles of evil. This motive will explain all the rest of Jesus’ activity throughout the Gospel.  We are also reminded of the ultimate reason for following Jesus – we look to him not simply because he was a good fellow, or had a good philosophy of life, or treated people with kindness; we look to Jesus first and foremost because he is the “Holy One of God,” the Lord of Life and Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. We look to Jesus because in him we see our God made visible.

To continue this mission after the conclusion of his earthly ministry, Jesus endowed his disciples, the Church, with his own authority to reveal the will of God and dispel the power of evil. Invested with this authority, the Church fulfills its mission by continuing to teach as he taught and to manifest the practical goodness that he brought into the lives of all he met. The Church gives ongoing effect to the efforts of Jesus as it forms disciples to manifest his teaching and example in the midst of their lives in this world. And the mission of Jesus endures in the Church’s efforts to draw all people to the Lord even when they are weighed down by the power of sin that still, sadly, afflicts our world. Especially through the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation, believers are offered the grace that so powerfully freed the possessed man in today’s Gospel, the grace that empowers them to throw off the shackles of sin and to live in the joyful freedom of daughters and sons of God. As we move to more deeply explore the riches of St. Mark’s Gospel on offer this year, may we strive to embrace and reflect the authentic witness that Jesus continues to offer through his Church.

Msgr. Fell is a Scripture scholar and director, diocesan Office for Priest Personnel.