When 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.

Reflection

The evil spirit, sometimes called the angel of death, is around the world so pervasively that you can almost hear the beating of his wings anywhere. He enters into individuals as he did into the man of today's gospel. A gentle man told me that his mother was a witch, so he left her. He further said, when he entered his mother's house, he felt the same evil sensation which he felt when he entered a pornography shop. The evil spirit can enter a nation sowing the seeds of division and feeding on the blood of the innocent victims as he has in Bosnia. The evil one can enter even some of the most astounding modern discoveries such as the Press and TV, so that Pope John Paul II once urged people to "simply shut off' televisions if it glorifies sex and violence and threatens family life. Satan has attacked us all so that all people are in a sense evil and will declare so when occasion is offered. I myself, when I am good, I am very good, but when I am bad I am better.

But history is littered with wars which everybody knew would never happen. Salvation history is no exception. Ever since Satan launched its attack on the human race, God set up his own Kingdom on earth, through his Son Jesus Christ to wage war against evil, which Satan never expected. Jesus possessed the power of the Spirit and had the authority of God. Power without authority always looks dangerous. Authority without power always looks comical. Jesus had both to confront evil. To show that the Kingdom of God is mightier than that of Satan, Jesus in the Gospel rebukes the evil spirit "to be quiet and come away" (Mk 1:25) and he does. Moses, in today's first reading, promised that a new prophet will arise and God will put his words in his mouth. And that was fulfilled in Jesus and hence when Jesus spoke people were spellbound. It is said that Beethoven and Mozart, the greatest of all music composers, by their music lifted up mortals to heaven and brought angels down from heaven. But Jesus by his eloquent preaching did the same: he brought heaven down to earth and lifted earth to heaven.

However, the authority of Jesus appears to be weak today. The evil power seems to be winning, so much so that when choosing between two evils, some people always like to try the one they have never tried before. Jesus asked people to turn the other cheek and to pray for those who harm us. Who does it? Only wars and feuds and permanent grudges remain deep rooted. Jesus spoke of the lilies of the field. Today you can nearly use that passage in a comedy routine. People are proud of their sleepless nights, blood pressures and desperate need for tranquillisers for they consider these as the battle scars and war wounds of a successful businessman. Jesus spoke a lot about forgiveness, but that is a dirty word in the world. Thus his gospel does not seem to be the popular bandwagon, or his new way of thinking the latest fad. But then, this is only the situation for the moment. There will be a day when he will completely overthrow the kingdom of darkness, for he said, "I have not spoken on my own authority. My Father commanded me what I should say" (In 8:28). Hence, applause or no applause, Jesus will continue to fight against the power of evil till it is finally wiped out.

But a King cannot fight his war alone. He needs an army and we are his army. We need first to put on the armour of Christ before we join him in the battle against evil because, on becoming the soldiers of Christ, we do not cease to be the citizens of his Kingdom. If we do, we may wish to be heroes but remain practically zeros. One sure way to put on the armour of Christ is to heed the Lord when he speaks God's words to us during the Eucharist in the readings of Scripture. If we heed his words we can become truthful, for He says, "This is why I was born - to bear witness to the truth" (In 18:37). If we heed his words, he will lead us to freedom, for he said, "If you abide in me, you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (In 8:32). If we heed his words, we will find fulfilment, for he said, "he who drinks of the water I will give, shall never thirst" (In 4: 13). If we heed his words, we will share in the very power of the Spirit, for he said, "he who believes in me will do the work I do, and far greater than these he will do" (In 14:12). And then and then only, each of us in the army of the eternal King will be able to light the candle of goodness, instead of cursing the darkness of evil. To light a candle of goodness and dispel the darkness of evil is a call Jesus gives to each of us whether single or married. Single and married people both receive their vocation from God. Either state is capable of leading to God. Each state carries with it the obligation to bear witness to the love of God. But St Paul also appreciates those who choose to remain single, detached from a partner in order to be attached to God, giving a sign in their lives that this world as we know it is passing away and thus pointing to a higher form of life to which God calls us in Christ. Marriage, argues St Paul, restricts availability to the Lord whereas the single state increases it. Freedom from family responsibilities increases one's availability for the service of God and of the neighbour. "The unmarried man is busy with the Lord's affairs, concerned with pleasing the Lord, but the married man is busy with this world's demands" (1 Cor 7:32). Appreciation of the dignity of being single which facilitates self-sacrificing generosity is sometimes lacking. But to be Christ's messenger of truth and goodness, of justice and love is a vocation of every follower of Christ, whether single or married. Christ no longer has a tongue to tell the story of his love, no hands to feed the multitudes with bread and wine, no feet to go where his lost sheep pine in the desert. He wants to use our tongues, our hands and our feet as his own, to overthrow the kingdom of evil. "How beautiful upon the mountains, are the feet of him that brings good tidings that publishes peace" (Is 52:7).

from HIS WORD LIVES
by VIMA DASAN,S.J
Paulines Publication