Dt 18:15-20
1 Cor 7:32-35
Mk 1:21-28

Belief

The gospel for this Sunday shows us Jesus teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. It is clear that the people respond to Jesus’ teaching with astonishment. They see Jesus as one who teaches with authority and they contrast his teaching with the teaching of the scribes.

Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he 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!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

After Jesus’ preaching, a man possessed with an unclean spirit calls out to Jesus. In Mark’s Gospel, the spirits and demons seem to know Jesus’ true identity and are often fearful of him. Jesus orders the spirit to be quiet as they call him the Holy One of God because he is not ready to make his true identity known. He then drives the unclean spirit out of the man. Healing those possessed by demons shows Jesus’ power over evil. (In Jesus’ time, possession by unclean spirits may have been a way to describe what today we might call mental illness, a physical condition or disease.)    

One line in the gospel calls for deep reflection. ”I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” The demons or evil spirits are aware of who Jesus really is – the Holy One of God. The question is, do we, you and I, really know the true identity of Jesus and believe that truth? We have been taught, and have read in the gospels, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Are they just stories or have we come to know the person of Jesus, who out of love, came to be one of us, died for us and wants to spend eternity with us? In other words, do we have a deep, personal relationship with Jesus? Are we willing to deepen that relationship?

At the end of this first month of a new year, we can still make a resolution to deepen our knowledge of and commitment to the Holy One who loves each of us completely. One way to do this is to read a chapter from Mark’s gospel each week, to reflect on it and pray with it. In sixteen weeks, if taken seriously, you will know Jesus on a deeper level, and be closer to him than you are today. It is worth the time and the effort to deepen our love relationship with the one who always loves us. 

In what ways can I deepen my belief in and commitment to the Holy One who loves me?

How willing am I to take the time and make the effort to deepen my relationship with God?