Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 95 : 1-2.6-7abc.7d-9,
I Corinthians 7:32-35,
Mark 1:21b-28 Full Readings
Saint John BoscoThe Teaching Authority of Jesus
Dear Brethren, in today's first reading, we see the promise of God to the Israelites that he will raise a prophet like Moses from among them. God indeed fulfilled his promise and the Gospels and all the New Testament show that this prophet is Jesus, who is regarded as New Moses and whom we see him teaching with authority in the Gospel today.
Moses was the messenger who gave the Law to Israel on Mount Sinai. In their difficult and lonely journey of forty years through the desert, he was their leader. It was his legal decisions on cases presented to him which formed Israel. His prayers gave them manna in the desert, water from the rock and protection from their enemies. Israel remembered him ever afterwards as the founder of their people. In the Book of Deuteronomy, the last of the five books of the Law, God had promised that he would raise up another leader, a Second Moses. At the time of Jesus God’s final messenger, who would put everything to rights, was thought of in these terms. This is why Matthew especially represents Jesus in these terms: just like Moses, he was persecuted at birth by the king, and later had to flee into exile until his persecutor was dead. He taught his Sermon on the Mount just as Moses gave the Law on the mountain. He gave bread in the desert just as Moses had done. So in today's Gospel as Jesus taught ‘with authority’ in the synagogue at Capernaum, he was seen as acting like Moses, the teacher.
Jesus was preaching with authority, the authority which has never been seen in the whole of Israel with any Rabbi. He showed his authority in his words and deeds. Today we see the authority of Jesus' words as he commands the devil which possessed a man to get out of him. The devil surprisingly recognises him as the Holy One of God, but this was not a genuine confession; it was a way of defending itself.
His word was different from those of all other Rabbis and prophets who have existed before. When the Rabbis taught, they supported their statements with quotes from other authorities. The prophets spoke with delegated authority - "Thus says the Lord." When Jesus spoke he needed no authorities to back up his statements. Jesus does not need any other authority, he teaches, ‘I say to you…’ He seems to be the master even of the Law. But it is God’s Law. Only God has authority over it, so who does he think he is?
He is God incarnate, God among us, when Jesus speaks, it is God speaking, when he does it is God working, he is none other than God. He is the teacher comparable to Moses, who is to come into the world, the teacher prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 18.15, 18.Then, to confirm his authoritative teaching he shows his authority by overcoming the dreaded unclean spirit, wringing from it the sniveling protest, ‘Have you come to destroy us?’ and the acknowledgement that he has a special link with God. Do you believe in the power of the Word of Jesus that it can change your whole life.
Why did Jesus rebuke the devil from confessing him as the Holy One of God? Jesus is indeed the Holy one of God, whom God has set as ruler over everything, after He had made Jesus for a moment lower than Angels, but through his suffering, Jesus was made the Lord of all. However, Jesus knew that the devil's confession was not a genuine one but a way of defending itself and also to show some authority over him. When some knows you, he at least has some authority over you. Jesus rebuked the devil because it had no authority over him nor over the man it was possessing. The devil's confession was also without love, it did not believe in Jesus nor even love him, though it confessed him as Holy One of God. Confessing without charity and love is nothing more than being the devil.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) remarked that "faith is mighty, but without love it profits nothing. The devils confessed Christ, but lacking charity it availed nothing. They said, 'What have we to do with you' (Mark 1:24)? They confessed a sort of faith, but without love. Hence they were devils."
Faith is powerful, but without love it profits nothing (1 Corinthians 13). Scripture tells us that true faith works through love (Galatians 5:6) and abounds in hope (Romans 15:13). Our faith is made perfect in love because love orients us to the supreme good which is God himself as well as the good of our neighbor who is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26,27).
St Paul in the second reading argues those who can manage to be celibate to do so, so that their faith in Jesus is not divided and taken by the world. However, even those who are married, can have undivided faith in Jesus, provided he is the centre of their families. Is your faith in Jesus strong or it is that of confessing Jesus by lips like the devil we see in the Gospel today?
Reflect today on the power in the Word of Jesus? Do you believe that the word of Jesus can change your life? Is your faith backed up by the love of Jesus that it will produce fruits in your life not like that of the devil? Pray for the Holy Spirit to increase your faith in Jesus.
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus, your word is power and life. May I never doubt your love and mercy, and the power of your word that sets us free, and brings healing and restoration to body, mind, heart, and spirit. Amen
Be blessed
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