Commentary to the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

The Divine Power in One Man’s Word 

Click the picture to go to the video 

COMMENTARY BY FR FERNADNO ARMELLINI 

Introduction 

Facts and words: they seem contrary to modern people. Word was instead the  materialization of thought for the ancient people. Word was no wind, but a crystallization of feelings and emotions. Word does not only transmit ideas and  information, but communicates a creative or destructive power of the person who  utters it. The idols could cause neither good nor bad, because—it was said—“They  have mouths that cannot speak” (Ps 115:5), while the Lord, with his word creates the  heavens, “for he spoke and so it was” (Ps 33:6,9). 

“The word of God,” which has given shape to the universe and “preserves the earth and the heavens” (2 Pet 3:5-7) has come into the world, “and was made flesh” (Jn 1:14). The word gave sight to the blind, made the dumb speak, the lame walk,  offered food to the hungry, liberty to the captives and joy to the broken-hearted.  The Lord’s word turned the sinner into a disciple, the dishonest tax collector into an  apostle, the chief tax collector into a son of Abraham and a bandit into the first of  the guests at the heavenly banquet. 

Priests, parents and Christian educators often say they are disappointed. They  complain because their gospel-inspired exhortations seem to fall on deaf ears or have a very weak impact. Has the word of the Lord—they ask—lost its efficacy? If it does not change hearts and minds, if it does not make a new world sprout, then it is  not the word of God, but of people. It is easy to misunderstand: many times, preachers preach about themselves and their own convictions, believing that to be the gospel. The good exhortations, warnings dictated by common sense, the wisdom of this world often show themselves useful, but they never work wonders. Miracles  happen only if the announced word is that of the Master.  

To internalize the message, we repeat:
“We do not preach ourselves, but the word of Christ the Lord.” 

===============================================================

First Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 

People have always felt an inner desire to go beyond the limits of space and time to enter the world of God, to know its mysteries and intentions, understand the past and especially to predict future events. They resorted to divination, relied on precognitive dreams, developed rituals to get oracles and to guard against the negative forces from which they felt threatened. Sorcerers, seers, magicians, wizards, astrologers, and  mediators have been present since the earliest times among all peoples.  

In the last few centuries before Christ, even horoscopes appeared. On the one hand, the occult world has an attractive, fascinating, and comforting look. On the other hand, it arouses discomfort because it is an expression of human anguish. One fears what is beyond one’s control.  

Israel is distinguished from other nations for the unconditional rejection of these practices. The condemnation of these practices is transformed into a ferocious  sarcasm against countries that tolerate them and make them their strength (Is 47:12-13). For Israel they are a nonsense because she believes that the Lord guides the history of her people and cannot stand those who doubt his love and care: “You  must not have in your midst anyone who makes his child pass through the fire, or  anyone who practices divination or anyone who consults the stars, who is a sorcerer,  or one who practices enchantments or who consults the spirits, no diviner or one  who asks questions of the dead” (Deut 18:10-11). 

How then to know the will of God and his plans? 

The only valid means is indicated in today’s reading: the recourse to the prophet. Moses describes the features and functions of a prophet that has nothing in  common with the magicians and soothsayers. He is an ordinary man, a brother.  Unlike the king who is chosen by the people, a prophet is directly inspired by God. The Lord communicates his thoughts and plans to him. God entrusts a prophet the  duty to reveal him to the people without adding or subtracting anything (vv. 15,18). Moses is an example of a “prophet.” He has acted as God’s spokesman (v. 16). Faced with the awesome majesty of the Lord, the people were scared and asked that  the word of God be not communicated directly, but transmitted through a mediator.  Moses went up the mountain, met the Lord and heard his voice. He then went down and told the people what he had heard.

A prophet “climbs the mountain,” and assists the “divine council” (Amos 2:7). He lives in constant dialogue with God, assimilates God’s thoughts and feelings. Then he  has the ability and the courage to pass them on to people, even if they are contrary  to human common sense. 

What is a prophet’s authority? 

If he faithfully transmits what God has suggested, his words have the same authority of God. If he preaches his own convictions, then what he teaches does not  have a value superior to that of other people’s reasoning. 

It may also happen that someone may come up to speak in the name of the Lord,  but actually he may be defending the cause of other gods, that is, idols. He—the  reading says—must die, that is, he is doomed to failure. His words will have no  impact; they will be spoken in vain (v. 20). 

Even today people feel the need to penetrate the mysteries of God’s world. As  before, they are tempted to resort to sedatives, prophetic surrogates: the magicians,  the seances... 

That’s not how one meets God. One does not sneak into God’s world like thieves  passing through secret crevices. The Lord wants to reveal himself, wants to direct his  word to people and does so through the prophets.  

Moses wished that all members of his people were prophets, that people are  able to perceive the voice of God, as it happened to him (Num 11:29). The Acts of  the Apostles affirm that, with the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, all the  disciples have become “prophets” (Acts 2:17-18). Every Christian, enlightened by the  gospel, is able to discern the will of God and to communicate it to others. 

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 

In Israel, as in all ancient peoples, unmarried or childless men and women were not esteemed. They were considered abnormal or victims of some evil spells. They were looked  down because they caused the  interruption of life received from their fathers and weakened the family and the tribe. “Be fruitful and increase in number” (Gen 1:28) is the first commandment that God has imposed on man. The rabbis had recorded it andfor this they argued that the duty of procreation was so important. If a couple had no children, the husband was required to divorce his wife to obtain an offspring by another woman. 

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul has revolutionized this mentality: he praises the celibate life and does so in fervent terms as to give the impression that he devalues the institution of marriage. 

He begins with an observation: it is true—he recognizes—that marriage is good  and holy. However, there is a risk that married people let themselves be absorbed by the cares of this world, to such an extent as to overshadow or even undermine the  union with the Lord. “He who is married has a divided heart, is anxious about the things of the world, how to please his wife. The unmarried person is completely free  to devote himself to the Lord” (vv. 32-34). 

He is not saying that the celibate is better than the one who marries, nor, even  less, that conjugal love and the exercise of sexuality estrange one from God. He simply says that the state of virgins is not only admirable as that of the married ones,  but puts those who live it, in a mature way, in a favorable condition to remain united  to the Lord. Those who do not have their own family have a free heart to devote  themselves entirely to God and to all the brethren. 

Additionally, the condition of the celibates is also a witness to married people of  the community. It reminds everyone that marriage belongs to the realities of this  world. It is not the ultimate condition but is transient, destined to go. In the future  world all will be like the angels of God. They will neither marry nor be married. 

Paul refers to virginity lived as a gift, as a joyful willingness to serve the kingdom  of God and the brethren. “Virginity” that estranges one from people is false.  Authentic virginity does not distance one from the brethren nor does it make oneself  sad. On the contrary, it opens one’s heart to love without limits, pushes one to get  closer to them. 

Gospel: Mark 1:21-28 

After the call of the first four disciples (Mk 1:16-20), Jesus fixes his residence in Capernaum, which becomes “his city” (Mt 9:1). He is a guest at Peter’s family that owns a house along the lake, a few steps from the synagogue. He begins to teach andto perform healings. The first healing that is told in the Gospel of Mark is notchosen at random. In Mark’intention, it constitutes the synthesis of the whole work of Jesus in favor of people. 

It is Saturday and people go to the synagogue to pray and to hear the reading and explanation of the word of God. There is a rabbi who organizes the meeting. Every adult Jew may attend orbe invited to read and comment on the scriptures. To give a homily is quite simple: it is enough to recall the explanations given by the great rabbisto that particular biblical text. To venture one’s own interpretation is risky because one can be seen as presumptuous. Jesus, as is customary, joins his people and is willing to do the readings. The first reading is taken from the book of the law, that is, the first five books of the Bible,  and the second is from the prophets. Whoever reads the second, if he likes, can also do the homily. Jesus, taking advantage of the climate of meditation and prayer that  is created, introduces his message, with a highly appreciated speech: unlike the scribes, he speaks with authority (Mk 

1:21-22). Probably the admiration of  the people depends on the fact that he does not just repeat what has been said before him. He does a free and original comment on the sacred text. 

A dramatic episode happens after the homily. A man “possessed by an unclean spirit,” until then has remained calm and quiet in a corner. He has not caused any disruption to the  

participants in the celebration. He has left them to pray, sing and listen. At some point, he begins to rail against Jesus. Who  is this obsessed person? 

In Jesus’ time, people did not have the scientific knowledge we possess today.  They knew nothing of microbes, bacteria, and hormonal imbalances. They attributed epilepsy, neuroses and all mental illnesses to mysterious and uncontrollable forces,  to evil spirits; the “possessed” people were considered impure, because they were  considered bearers of death. 

All religions of antiquity knew the practice of exorcism to free a person from these unclean spirits. They resorted to rites and gestures that often bordered on  magic. They pronounced detesting or cursing formulas and invoked the names of  famous people, believed to be capable of communicating a positive force. 

Jesus’ exorcisms differ so radically from those of the surrounding environment.  However, in the way of speaking, he adapts the prevailing mentality and interacts with the disease by resorting to cultural categories of his time. He speaks, like  everyone, of “evil spirits” and “demons.” 

Let’s get back to the story of the man “possessed by unclean spirit.” He stayed  outside the synagogue as the liturgy began. He was already there, and seemed very quiet. At some point, however, something clicked in him and he exploded in curses. 

To understand what happened, the split personality of this man should be noted. He was not a master of himself. There were forces of death that dominated him to the point of destroying him. They spoke in his name and reduced him to a state of complete dehumanization. 

Before the arrival of Jesus, there was peace and quiet in the synagogue and that was fine to all. They were resigned to the fact that the obsessed person remained at the mercy of the forces of evil. It was enough that he did not bother and remained quiet without disturbing them. 

When Jesus arrives, this balance cannot continue. The presence of Christ is  irreconcilable with the “devil,” the forces of evil. The two are rivals; they cannot  stand each other and they end up attacking each other. In fact, the “devil” opens the  hostilities (it is always those who feel weaker that attack). He realized that “the strong man” who can destroy his kingdom has arrived (Mt 12:29).  

Frightened, he screamed two questions: “What do you want with us? Have you come to destroy us?” The plural pronoun, used by the “unclean spirit” is not surprising because the forces that keep man awayfrom God and life are many. The powers that feel threatened by the presence and words of Christ are many.  

Jesus does not answer him with curses or magic gestures, as the exorcists of his time used to do. He gives two strict orders: “Be silent, and come out of this man!” The “unclean spirit” obeys him and all those present are amazed. They realize that a prophet who  announces a “new doctrine” is in their midst. His word has God’s power in it; it has  “authority”, that is, it accomplishes what he says.  

Let us now go beyond the pure matter of record. 

The situation of the “possessed” person represents the condition of those who  have not yet met Christ and, therefore, are still at the mercy of hostile,  uncontrollable forces that destroy them. Demonic forces are impulses of hatred, selfish withdrawal, injustice and violence, greed of money, and will to dominate... 

They are “demons” who make themselves masters and want to be left alone.  They command, speak, demanding action and, when they do not cause major  damage, people are likely to leave them in peace. They do not care about the inhuman conditions of those who are dominated. 

Jesus, instead, is a liberator. He enters into conflict with this negative reality because he knows he can count on his “strong” and effective word. We can reasonably assume that it was not the first time that the possessed  person took part in the liturgy of the synagogue. Therefore, he had often heard the  reading of the Bible and the respective homily. Yet his condition had not changed,  not because the word of God is ineffective, but because, with their discussions and misinterpretations, the rabbis had sapped it. They had made the word lose her healing power. They had made her incapable of driving out “demons.” When Jesus appears, everything changes. A miraculous transformation of the  man is fulfilled, because Jesus speaks “with authority” and the reaction of the  possessed is violent. The evil does not passively accept the order, resists and begins  to cry because it wants to perpetuate its control over his victim. 

This struggle is the rebellion of the forces of evil, demons that are in a person, in society, in the ideologies, even religious and civil institutions. They dominate and when they are harassed, they rebel. 

In the possessed person who stayed good up to the clash with Christ, we can grasp the ability not only of the scribes, but also of many Christians, to appease the  protagonist of evil. They compromise with power, yield to the spirit of the world and  hypocrisy, and reduce religion to rituals observed at the expense of the substance of the gospel. As long as they persist in the Christian community and in the church, the  evil one is silent and lets things continue. When a prophetic voice rises or an  authentic witness of faith shows up, the door opens to changes and transformation.  

A preaching that does not cast out demons, leaving things as they are, that does  not change the person and the world, is not the word of Jesus.