THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – January 29, 2012
The Book of Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 7:32-35
The Holy Gospel according to Mark 1:21-28
The fascination with fortunetellers and psychic readers is not new. That interest escalates in times of uncertainty. People do not want the experience of being in the dark, hearing sounds, and wondering what is going on out there. Won’t someone please turn on the lights? Someone, please tell us what is happening. As understandable as anxiety is, the role of the prophet in Scripture is misunderstood if we think he is a seer who tells people with specificity what tomorrow holds.
The prophet in Hebrew Scriptures is one who speaks what God wants the people to hear. The prophetic onus is tremendous. No wonder some of the major prophets protested their unworthiness when they felt summoned to the task. No wonder some of them fled in terror hoping their calling would change. Fidelity to the vocation will not necessarily result in the prophet’s being heard or the message heeded. Hear Jeremiah’s anguished cries as he sinks into the mud of the cistern where he has been cast because of his unpopular message. Think of Jonah last week as he fumed in the whale’s belly. Of course he was disappointed because the Ninavites heard Jonah’s prophecy and repented. Jonah had hoped to see their destruction by God’s wrath.
Prophecy is something faith communities need in order to be reminded lest the way be lost. Or, once lost, to help them find the way back. Taken as a whole, what is the prophetic message? Through the Prophet, God says: Let me be your God. You be my people. Foreigners will know and marvel at our relationship unlike that between any other nation and their gods when they see you following my ways.
Ah, as Shakespeare says, there just might lay the rub. Every prophetic message is a call to conversion, to a change of life. No one ever said that conversion would be easy. It always involves dying and rising, dying to one way of life and rising to another. Or, conversion necessitates going deeper into the faith life being lived and responding more completely.
There are two ways to hear this Sunday’s first reading. It is assumed by those in Moses’ audience that hearing God directly would be too intense, just as would be the experience of looking on the face of God. They knew that no one cane see the face of God and live – no one, that is, but Moses. The Israelites did not argue that point. At the same time there is the desire to know the mind of God. The Lord said to Moses; I will raise up for (the Israelites) 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. There will be others like Moses who will speak to the people on God’s behalf. That is another way of saying that God’s presence among the people will be evidenced by the veracity of the message. So many times, succinctly put, that message will be: Remain faithful. Come back to me with all your heart. At other times there will be prophetic warnings regarding the implications of infidelity. If the people abandon God’s ways, their strength will be sapped. Destruction and bondage could follow if they do not give up the ways of pagans. But even should they be enslaved, the Prophet will remind the people that God is faithful and one day God will bring them back and restore their city. There will always be forgiveness and ready reconciliation.
Some hear in the promise to raise up for them a prophet the Messianic Promise. Christians believe that promise is fulfilled in Jesus. Mark says it quite clearly at the outset of his Gospel: Here begins the gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is the one who shall tell the people all that God commands him since his will is always to do the bidding of the One who sent him.
So it is that at the beginning of his ministry in Mark, Jesus observes Sabbath and enters the synagogue. He teaches and gives for the first time in the Gospel prophetic utterance. Two words dominate the moment. Authority. Astonished. The first describes the manner with which Jesus taught. There was the professorial about him, a depth of understanding conveyed, but in such a way that those who heard could also understand. The second word, astonished, describes the people’s reaction. Astonished. Amazed. Both words are used interchangeably in the Gospels and convey the picture of people standing with mouths agape in reaction to what they hear or see. Neither word implies belief. Throughout the Gospel two quite distinct groups will follow after Jesus. Disciples are those who have made their decision about Jesus. Crowds are those who may well be astonished but are unable to commit.
All the more important that we pay attention to the reaction of the unclean spirit Jesus casts out of the possessed man in the synagogue. The spirit cries 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! The evil spirit recognizes the authority and from where it comes. That is beyond what the crowd has perceived. And Jesus commands the spirit to be silent. It will not be Evil’s witness that will convince the people who Jesus is, but the words he speaks and the works he does. Quiet! Come out of him!
So, today’s Gospel concludes with people marveling about what they have seen, the astonishing authority with which Jesus has acted and his new teaching. But to what does it all point? What does this mean? The people of the synagogue, the witnesses, will tell others the story and help spread Jesus reputation. It will take the rest of the story, the rest of the journey with Jesus, for the mystery to be revealed and for faith to begin. Because even those who early on call themselves disciples will have to let go of what they thought they understood, let go of their assumptions about the promised Messiah, and watch him die. Ah, but then there will be the Third Day.
And so, we hear the proclamation. What will be its impact on our lives? We must ponder, noshing, if you will, taking the Word into our hearts. We live in the light of that Third Day. About that we don’t have to wonder. That is why the completion of the Liturgy of the Word for us is always a transition. We move from the Table of the Word to the Table of the Eucharist, there to enter into Mystery and be transformed, as is the bread and wine, by the invoking of the Spirit. It is not for us to be astonished or amazed. Having shared the meal and been deepened in faith and transformed into Christ’s Body, it will be for us to go out and continue the prophecy through ministry. Some may be astonished at the love being poured out. Others, though, will see and recognize the source of the power of the works. And seeing, they will come to believe with us. And the prophecy goes on.
Sincerely,
Didymus
