By: FR. Jose “Joesum” Sumampong, Jr.
January 31, 2021
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Year B)
Deuteronomy 18: 15-20 / Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-9
I Cor 7: 32-35 / Mark 1: 21-28
THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD OF JESUS
Word: This Sunday’s gospel opens with this information, Then they came to Capernaum,… (Mk 1:21a). For Mark this plural, almost indefinite, pronoun “they” is most significant. Jesus has just now called four disciples: Simon, Andrew, John and James. He is no longer alone. What Jesus is about to do, just now, is indeed of “Him and His disciples”: it is the work of the Church.
Capernaum! A Harbor. A crossroad city where all races are mixed together. Here are the sailors, the traders, the peasants, the sunburnt faces of the nomads from the neighboring desert, the rags of the beggars and the rich clothes of the Roman Bourgeois, the soldiers, the hated tax collectors, like Matthew. This is the many colored world which Jesus knew and chose.
… and on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue… (Mk 1:21b). And now Jesus had to make a deliberate launching of his campaign. If a man had a message from God to give, the natural place to which he would turn would be the church where God’s people met together. That is precisely what Jesus did. He began his campaign in the synagogue.
Having filmed the group, the camera of Mark shoots a close-up, focused on the obvious leader of the group, a certain “man from Nazareth”, till then a carpenter in a hidden village of the hinterland; the name of this man is Jesus.
Then Mark proceeds to describe a typical day in the life of Jesus and his group, a day in Capernaum, describing four actions that are characteristic of the entire ministry of Jesus and of the Church:
1. Jesus teaches. Three times in the same line, we find the same Greek word: DIDAKE, which means “teaching”.… and on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught (v. 21). The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes (v. 22). Mark does not tell us the contents of this sermon. He already summed it up in four phrase: “This is the 1) time of fulfillment. The 2) kingdom of God is at hand. 3) Repent, and 4) believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). What interests Mark just now is the reaction of the listeners. They were literally attracted.
2. Jesus liberates people from evil spirits. Twenty three times in the New testament, the phrase “unclean spirit” is mentioned. But, here, the word “unclean” has not the sexual connotation which is often given it nowadays. The “unclean spirit” is that one that “is opposed to the Holiness of God”. It is very well described here: it torments man, it prevents him from being truly a man. This tormented man is the exact symbol of alienated man, of the possessed man on whom a kind of inhuman force has laid hands and literally enchained him.
3. Jesus heals the sick (cf. Mk 1:29-34).
4. Jesus prays (cf. Mk 1:35).
All this happens within a single day: from one sunrise to the next; from one morning to the next (Mk 1:21-35).
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Order: Today’s gospel is ordering each one of us to ask oneself: how much do I love the words of Jesus—when read or proclaimed—which is at the same time revelation of God? How much time do I spend meditating on the words, the teaching of Jesus? As a Catholic, as a Christian, how do you treasure LIFE ?
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Realities: 1. A Catholic lawyer visited his non-Catholic partner of 20 years, who was dying in a hospital. “Now that you are dying, don’t you think you should embrace the Faith?”
The non-Catholic answered, “If your Faith meant so little to you in life that you never spoke about it during 20 years, then it can mean little at my death.” (Lovasik, SPREADING OF GOOD NEWS)
2. A Hindu went down to the Ganges to pray and saw some sort of large insect floundering around in the water. He decided to keep it from drowning, so he streched out his finger and gave it a chance to hop aboard. Instead, it stung him. It was a scorpion. He tried again, it repeated the painful sting.
Someone nearby was watching and asked the Hindu what he was doing. When he answered, the man said, “You’re wasting your time. A scorpion is no good; it will only sting you.”
The man answered, “It is the scorpion’s nature to sting. It is man’s nature to save.” (Lovasik, MANS NATURE TO SAVE)
3. An Indian told me several years ago in Delhi, “I would become a Christian if I could see one,” and he was looking right at me when he said that. That is one of the greatest sermons I have ever heard preached. People want to see a Christian ….. They are the only Bible many can read …. (Billy Graham, CHRISTIANITY VISIBLE)
4. Most Filipinos have a natural attraction for the Word of God. At Sunday Mass they hear readings from the scriptures. Today, Bible study groups are quite popular, and Bible preachers of all kinds are heard constantly throughout the land. PCP II boasts of “Lay Ministers of the Word” in many Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs). But how well prepared are most Filipino Catholics to respond to the aggressive proselytizing of many fundamentalist sects? (cf. Catechism for Filipino Catholics, no. 1942).
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Direction: O light and desire of all nations, watch over your messengers both by land and by sea. Prosper the works of all your servants to spread the Gospel among the nations. Accompany the word of their testimony concerning your atonement with the demonstration of your spirit and power. Bless our congregations gathered from among the non-believers. Keep them as the apple of your eye. Have mercy on the ancient people of the covenant-the Jews— and deliver them from their blindness. And bring all nations to the saving knowledge of you: “Let the posterity of Israel praise the Lord; let all the nations praise him.” Give your people open doors to preach the Gospel and let them proclaim your praises on earth. (Prayer for the Spread of the Gospel, Moravian Church)