Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons.” Mk 1:32
Super Bowl Sunday!
This weekend millions will gather around TV-s for the sole purpose of watching a gigantic combat take place. Which team will be the stronger one, the champion? Which team will triumph over all the strategies and schemes the other puts forth?
Fans for each side will spend enormous amounts of time and energy doing all they can to make sure their team – and their team alone! – will be crowned with the glory of victory.
It’s our modern version of the greatest of all battles:
Good vs. Evil.
The passage of Mark’s gospel we read today also has to do with a gigantic battle, only it’s one with eternal ramifications. It’s the clash of the Stronger One vs. the Weaker One, the cosmic forces of Good vs. the cosmic forces of Evil.
God vs. Satan!
It can’t get much more momentous.
And if all this sounds a bit overblown, consider this:
Mark, the gospel writer, makes the initial act of Jesus’ ministry a confrontation, a battle with evil spirits.
Notice that Mark makes no mention of romantic, gorgeous nativity scenes, or blazing stars in the sky, or wise men arriving from afar. The names of Mary and Joseph are never mentioned.
Instead, from the outset of his gospel, Mark portrays Jesus as the Stronger One who triumphs over Satan’s continual attacks.
Why?
Because in that era due to the horrible persecutions of Christians ordered by Emperor Nero, rampant poverty, many illnesses no one could adequately treat, and inexplicable mental disorders that baffled their society, most people firmly believed evil was winning the battle.
Most people viewed Satan as the ultimate ruler of the world – the obvious winner of the Super Bowl of that time.
Mark, then, begins his gospel by getting right to the heart of the matter by emphasizing Jesus’ “mighty deeds” – his miracles.
A leper is cleansed. A man with a withered hand is made whole. A woman with a hemorrhage is restored to normalcy. A “little child” who was deemed dead is brought back to life. A madman is calmed.
All are healed and given a whole new experience of life. The power of Satan has been quashed!
Love conquers hatred. Mercy defeats oppression. Peace wins out over violence.
But, Jesus doesn’t stop there. Now, he turns to us, to you and me. Now, he asks us to take up the mission of performing miracles in our own lives – miracles of forgiveness, miracles of service, miracles of generosity, miracles of peacemaking.
Jesus is telling us in today’s gospel that now it’s our turn – our turn to teach with “authority,” and to heal with the power of grace all those “possessed” by the demons that grip us today in the world we live in.
Now, Jesus tells us, it’s up to us to continue this gigantic battle of all battles:
God vs. Satan.
The ultimate Super Bowl!
Perhaps a prayer composed by St. Francis of Assisi can best summarize our “game plan” as we follow Jesus in God’s quest for victory:
“May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships – so that we may live deep within our hearts. May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people … so that we can do what others claim cannot be done: bring kindness to the poor.
Amen”
Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.
NOTE:
Michele Obama, in her book Becoming, ends her story with these beautiful words that seem so calming in the difficult times we are living in:
“I’m an ordinary person who found herself on an extraordinary journey. In sharing my story, I hope to help create space for other stories and other voices, to widen the pathway for who belongs and why I’ve been lucky enough to get to walk into stone castles, urban classrooms, and Iowa kitchens, just trying to be myself, just trying to connect. For every door that’s been opened to me, I’ve tried to open my door to others. And here is what I have to say, finally:
Let’s invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us. Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the same. It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about where you get yourself in the end. There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become.”
SISTER RACHEL’S QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
