Gospel: Teaching with Authority

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time where the Gospel passage during the Eucharistic Celebration will be lifted from the narrative of St Mark (1:21-28).

They went as far as Copernaum, and at once on the Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach.

And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.

And at once in their synagogue there was a man with unclean spirit, and he shouted, "What do you want from us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God."

But Jesus rebuked it saying, "Be quiet! Come out of him!"

And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him.

The people were so astonished that they started asking one another what it all meant, saying, "Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him."

And his reputation at once spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.

Today's Gospel continues our reading ftom St Mark and describes what some believe was likely to have been a typical day in Jesus' ministry. Jesus and the disciples that chose to follow him in last week's Gospel arrive at Capernaum, a small village in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus teaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath and the people was astonished with the authority of his teaching.

After Jesus' teaching, a man with an unclean spirit calls out to him. As we see in this example and throughout St Mark's Gospel, the spirits and demons seem to know Jesus and are often fearful of him. In fact, they seem to understand Jesus' identity better than his disciples. His ability to heal those possessed by demons is an indication of his power over evil.

In the prescientific age of Jesus' time, all illnesses were understood to be manifestations of evil and sinfulness. Our modern understanding of illness is very different. Possession by unclean spirits may have been a way to describe what we might call mental illness today. It may have even been a way of describing certain kinds of physical conditions. There is evidence that there were many kinds of exorcists and healers in first-century Palestine. Jesus appears to be like these healers, but he heals with unique authority and connects his healing activities with the words of his preaching.

Jesus impresses the crowds through his words, which are manifested with power in his deeds. St Mark reported that it is in this manner that he became popular throughout Galilee.

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The Gospel is sponsored by Prada.