Tuesday, First Week in Ordinary Time
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
First Week in Ordinary Time
Heb 2:5-12/Mk 1:21-28 (Lectionary #306)
In Mark’s Gospel, the first thing that the four men who followed Jesus saw him do was to “enter the synagogue and teach.” And the people who heard him “were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
What was your first experience of Jesus (besides being called by him at Baptism)? When you were taught your religion, were you aware you were learning from Jesus himself? Were you “astounded at his teaching”? Or did you just take it for granted?
What would it be like not to have anyone who could teach us about God and life “as one having authority”? What if all we had were the opinions of other people, even the wisest, or the worldview of our civilization, of our particular culture? Have you ever thought of what it would be like not to have any “revelation” from God such as we find in the Bible? What if we had no Church to interpret the Bible “as one having authority,” but just had to pick and choose among the opinions of the Scripture scholars, the “scribes”?
The authority of Jesus was confirmed by his act of setting free “a man with an unclean spirit.” As the demon was driven out it cried, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God!” It felt threatened.
Is there any “unclean spirit” in you that feels threatened by Jesus? Or do you feel relieved and hopeful that he has the power — and the desire — to free you from anything that holds you back from the fullness of life and joy? And do you connect that power to free you with the fact he teaches “as one having authority”? Are you eager to know what Jesus says about everything? Do you accept it as “good news” that he has come to earth as “the Way, the Truth and the Life”? Or do you sometimes believe you will find more life by following your own way (which is really guided by your culture’s perception of truth)?
Think of how you would feel if God were not present in the Scriptures and in the Church, teaching “as one having authority”? Do you really appreciate the “good news” that he is? How do you show you do?
Initiative: Take another look at the way Jesus teaches us to live. Is there really anything he says that you don’t recognize as good and life-enhancing?
Comments