Gospel: Jesus Cleans Man With Unclean Spirit

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time and the Gospel for today's Eucharistic celebration is to be lifted from the narrative of St Mark (tap here to read the complete Mass readings from USCCB).

Today's Gospel reading continues our readings from St Mark and describes what some believe was likely to have been a typical day in Jesus's ministry. Jesus and the disciplies that chose to follow him in previous Gospel readings arrive at Capernaum, a small village in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus teaches in the synagogue on the Sabbath. St Mark reports that the people respond to Jesus' teaching with astonishment, noting Jesus's authority and contrasting it with the Jewish leaders. Early in St Mark's Gospel we already find evidence of the tension that will manifest itself fully in Jerusalem.

After Jesus's preaching, an even more astonishing thing happens. A man possessed with an unclean spirit calls out to Jesus. As we see in this example and throughout the Gospel, the spirits and the demons seem to know Jesus and are often fearful of him. In fact, they seem to understand Jesus's identity better than his disciples. As we will read again and again in St Mark's Gospel, Jesus orders the spirit to be quiet and drives the unclean spirit out of the man. Jesus's ability to heal those possessed by demons is an indication of his power over evil.

In the prescientific age of Jesus's 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 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 apoears to be like these healers, but he heals with unique authority and connects his healing activities with the words of his preachings.

We are missing the point that St Mark is trying to make in this Gospel, however, if we try to explain away the healing work of Jesus. The crowds see in Jesus's cure of the possessed man further affirmation of his authority. Jesus's power to heal gives greater credence to his teachings. Jesus impresses the crowds through his words, which are nanifested with power in his deeds. St Mark's Gospel tells us that because of the authority with which he healed, Jesus's popularity spread throughout all of Galilee.

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