This Sunday, January 29, 2012 is the 4th Sunday in Ordinary time and our Gospel is taken from the Gospel of Mark. In the said Gospel, Jesus spoke with Authority when he entered the synagogue and drove out an unclean spirit from a man, to the skepticism of the Pharisees. The first reading meanwhile is in the same vein with the Gospel with regards to the authority which God has given to Jesus in the Gospel. The First reading. taken from Deuteronomy speaks about God’s giving of authority to the prophets in behalf of him and in his name. He likewise warned that anyone whom he has not authorized to  speak his words shall die. The Second reading however speaks of the anxieties of a married man and woman compared to the anxieties of unmarried men and women; that is the married person is preoccupied with things of this world while the unmarried person is preoccupied only with God. The Psalm for this Sunday is taken from Psalm 95. Our Gospel Commentary for this sunday is from St. Jerome, doctor of the church and translator of the bible. Our Gospel Commentary is from the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation in the person of Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB.

FIRST READING

“A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen. This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘This was well said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him. If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it. But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.’ - Deuteronomy 18:15-20

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; cry out to the rock of our salvation.
Let us greet him with a song of praise, joyfully sing out our psalms.
Enter, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For this is our God, whose people we are, God’s well-tended flock. Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the desert.
There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works. - Psalm 95:1-2.6-7.8-9

SECOND READING

I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction. - 1 Corinthians 7:32-35

HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO SAINT MARK

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee. - Mark 1:21-28

GOSPEL COMMENTARY

“What is this? A new teaching”
by Saint Jerome (347-420), priest, translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church

«The unclean spirit convulsed him with a loud cry.» This was his way of expressing his distress: by convulsing him. Since he could not ruin the man’s soul, the devil wrought his anger on his body. Besides, these physical manifestations were the only means he had to show that he was coming out. When the spirit of purity makes his presence known, the spirit of impurity beats a retreat…

«All were amazed and asked one another: «What is this?» Let us look at the Acts of the Apostles and the signs given by the first prophets. What did Pharaoh’s magicians say when confronted by Moses’ marvellous deeds? «This is the finger of God» (Ex 8,15). It was Moses who carried them out but it was the power of another they recognised. Later on the apostles performed further marvels: «In the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk!» (Acts 3,6); «Paul… said to the spirit: ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of this woman’» (Acts 16,18). Jesus’ name is always used. Here, however, what does he himself say? «Come out of this man» without any further precision. It is in his own name that he orders the spirit to come out. «All were amazed and asked one another: ‘What is this? A new teaching.’» Now, in itself, the expulsion of the demon had nothing new about it: Hebrew exorcists were doing the same thing at that time. But what does Jesus say? What is this new teaching? And where is the novelty? It is that he gives the command to the unclean spirits by his own authority, referring to no one else. He himself gives the order; he does not speak in another’s name but by his own authority.

GOSPEL REFLECTION

Speaking the Word of God with authority
by Father Thomas Rosica

At the beginning of Mark’s story of the Son of God, we read of the calling of the first disciples (1:16-20) and the confrontation with evil (1:21-28). The calling, influenced by the compelling calls of the prophets (e.g., Isaiah 6:1-13; Jeremiah 1:14-19), is a model of discipleship. Jesus is not a solitary prophet but one who calls companions “to be with him” (Mark 3:14); he enters the lives of four people engaged in their ordinary occupations, simply says, “Follow me” (Mark 1:17), and they immediately leave everything to follow him.

The story of Jesus in the Capernaum synagogue inaugurates the first day of his ministry which consists of exorcisms and healings. The story reflects contemporary Jewish thought that the coming of God’s kingdom would mark the defeat of evil, which is personified in an array of demons and unclean spirits. Jesus’ word is so powerful that people abandon their occupations and follow him, and even demonic powers are powerless before it. Jesus summons people to a change of heart, to take a new look at their lives and put their trust in the good news. This is not simply a story from the past, but one that continues to speak powerfully and prophetically to people today.

On this Fourth Sunday of Ordinary time, both the first reading (Deuteronomy 18:15-20) and the Gospel (Mark 1:21-28) raise the issue of the authority of those who speak the Word of God. Authentic prophets taught with authority because God put his own words into their mouths. In the first reading, Moses tells the people that God will send a prophet from the line of the Israelites. God commands everyone to listen to this prophet, whom we come to recognize as Jesus.

Jesus astonishes the people in the Capernaum synagogue with his teaching and authority. He taught with authority because he is the living Word of God. We are all witnesses to this living Word who is Jesus. We have no authority of our own; we simply proclaim his Word. Each member of the Church, by virtue of baptism and confirmation, has a prophetic role, and echoes the Word of God himself, both by words and example. We must walk our talk!

Authentic prophets were strident opponents of the status quo. They recognized and felt the injustice that kings and priests and false prophets wanted to whitewash. They shared the groans of the oppressed poor, of widows, orphans and the dispossessed, and articulated those groans in cries of woe. They denounced the system, but denounced a system in which they were often enmeshed. They experienced deeply what was wrong with that system, and did everything they could to bring about change from within the system.

Authentic prophets spoke the truth face-to-face with power, to powerful men and women whom the prophets knew intimately, frequently from their own position of power. And often, the prophets were in the employ of those whom they challenged!

Finally, I offer a word on our own “prophetic” efforts to bring about change in the Church. I will be forever grateful to the late Jesuit Cardinal Avery Dulles for having instilled these ideas in my mind and heart years ago. The then Father Dulles said that reformers ought to speak prophetically. This may well be true, provided that the nature of prophecy be correctly understood. Father said that St. Thomas Aquinas made an essential distinction between prophecy as it functioned in the Old Testament and as it functions within the Church. The ancient prophets were sent for two purposes: “To establish the faith and to rectify behaviour.” In our day, Father Dulles continued, “the faith is already founded, because the things promised of old have been fulfilled in Christ. But prophecy which has as its goal to rectify behaviour neither ceases nor will ever cease.”

How do we speak the Word of God with authority today? How do we use our authority to further the Kingdom of God? How are our words, gestures, messages and lives prophetic today, in the Church and in the world? (source: Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation)