Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 29 2025

A New Day Dawns

Some years ago there was a series of books called A Day in the Life of . . . . Sometimes it was a continent like Africa; sometimes a country like America, the Soviet Union, or Thailand; and sometimes a state like Hawaii or California. One hundred top photographers visually captured the experience of this place in a twenty-four-hour period. In today’s and next Sunday’s Gospels, Mark verbally gives us “A Day in the Life of Jesus, God’s Prophet.”

The first experience of Jesus as one whose word effects what he says occurs in the synagogue. Here Jesus encounters an unclean spirit. The spirit makes the first move, naming Jesus as the Holy One of God. In biblical thought, naming a person gave you some degree of power over that person. Not here. With a few quick words, Jesus asserts his authority: “Quiet! Come out of him!”

How fitting that Jesus’ first public act in the first Gospel to be written down is to free a human being from an evil spirit that has brought him chaos and destruction. This event reveals Jesus as one who came to free us from all that oppresses and beats us down. This liberation continues to be the work of all who follow Jesus.

We don’t hear much about evil spirits these days, but can anyone deny their presence in our world? Consider the murder, mutilation, rape, and torture that have taken place in eastern Congo alone for the last twelve years with an estimated death toll of 6.9 million. Change is impossible without God’s help.

Consider/Discuss

Do you believe evil spirits continue to dwell in the human heart? • Does this mean we are not responsible but that “the devil makes us do it”?
Does this Gospel offer any hope to people today in the face of so much suffering and death in the world?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you are revealed as one who has the power to cast out evil spirits who take up residence in our hearts. May your liberating word free us from all that brings harm, and may we work to bring your healing spirit to touch our world. Amen.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

Moses is not normally thought of as a prophet, but today’s reading clearly states that he is. In fact, he is considered the prophet par excellence. He received the word of the Lord in the form of the Law, and he acted as God’s voice, prom ulgating this Law to the community. He promised that God would not leave the people without a mediator. Rather, just as God chose him to be a prophet, so another will be raised up. This promise of a future prophet led people down through the centuries to wonder whether or not particular individuals might in fact be this promised prophet.

Some today maintain that Paul is opposed to marriage. Though here he seems to prefer the unmarried state, it is because he believes that the endtime is fast approaching, and he wants the Corinthians to be free from the kind of anxieties that accompany marriage. The real contrast that he draws is between commitment to the Lord and over-involvement in the things of this world. Paul knew that those involved in the things of the world can be very committed to the Lord, and those committed to the Lord can possess a very shallow spirituality. He is more concerned with the quality of commitment than with the particular state of life.

The man in the synagogue had an unclean spirit that caused him severe physical suffering. The people of the time believed that evil spirits roamed the world and caused havoc whenever and wherever they could. Such an afflicted person should have been removed from a holy place like a synagogue. However, Jesus does not dismiss the man; instead, he casts out the evil spirit. Just as the people were astonished by the teaching of Jesus, so they are amazed at his power over the evil spirit. Jesus may have been able to silence the spirit, but his fame as a teacher and an exorcist spread throughout Galilee.

Jan 24 2025

What’s Your Viewpoint?

I have a seminarian friend from southern Texas. We were walking together across the Notre Dame campus for midday Mass on a cold winter day. As we turned the corner, I headed toward the sidewalk in the sun. He walked toward the sidewalk in the shade. We laughed. That sparked a rich conversation. Being from Michigan, for me the sun is always a friend. I can never get enough sunshine. Growing up in Texas, for him the sun is intolerably hot. He instinctively seeks shade. The sun: friend or foe?

Our God: accessible or inaccessible? The Israelites in Deuteronomy found the voice of the great I AM to be too bright; they asked not to see that fire again lest they die. The unclean spirit in today’s Gospel shrieked in terror at the presence of Jesus. He was all too aware of the radiance of God present in their midst.

We believe that God speaks always and everywhere. But is the Almighty One unbearably hot and out of reach? Infinitely yes. The One who created the universe is far beyond our capacity to bear.

God promised to send a prophet from among the Israelites’ own to do the talking, someone not so dazzling, someone easier to hear. Jesus of Nazareth came to the synagogue to proclaim that the kingdom of God is here, that God is near. And the people listened to him. This prophet seemed trustworthy: he was one like them.

Can we walk in the light of Jesus? Intimately, yes. The One who created the universe has become one like us.

Is our God like the brilliant sun to make us seek the shade? Is our God like a friendly sun to encourage us to walk in the light? Yes and yes. Hallelujah!

Consider/Discuss

How might our experience of the sun affect our perception of God? Talk to someone from another climate and discuss that question with him/her.
A core marketing principle is that people listen most carefully to people who are like them. That sense of kinship is why folks pay attention to witnesses. In what way can you witness both to the infinity and intimacy of God to someone who is similar to you?

Living and Praying with the Word

Divine Majesty, you are grander than we could ever imagine. We shrink from your voice; we are not worthy to be in your Presence. We bow in worship, for you are the great I AM. Let us not take your splendor blithely, indifferently. Yet you have become one like us. We can turn to you. You want to be near us. Please, come sit with us. Warm our hearts. Let us be close to you.

Jan 24 2025

Scripture Study for

One of the challenges facing a society in which prophets communicate God’s will is knowing who is a real prophet—and who is not. Just because someone claims to speak for God does not mean that person is authentic. Moses was, of course, the first of the prophets, and here he acknowledges the need for someone to speak to Israel, but also sees the problem of knowing to whom one can listen. The importance of the role of prophet and the seriousness of pretending to be one (or even mistakenly thinking one is a prophet) is highlighted by the punishment of death prescribed. It is no small thing to mislead God’s people or to presume to speak for God without authority!

Paul continues to advise the Corinthians how to conduct themselves as the present world passes away, through marriage, the heart of the social structure. Given that the world is “passing away,” should people get married? Paul’s advice: if you are now married, stay married. But if you are not married, do not marry (unless, of course, it will prevent you from sinning; see 7:36). Marriage is not bad in itself, but it does impose restrictions on husband and wife, who cannot devote themselves entirely to God; they are both “anxious about the things of the world.” Paul would like them to be able to focus entirely on “the Lord without distraction.”

The story of the exorcism of the demon is framed by reference to Jesus’ teaching. The people are already “astonished” at his teaching, or rather that he teaches “as one having authority.” There is something different about the source of his teaching, which comes from him and not from someone else. This authority is then confirmed by the exorcism. Once again, the crowds express amazement and refer to his “new teaching with authority.” We see here the close connection between Jesus’ words and his actions, both of which point to the power and good news of the kingdom of God, which Jesus has come to announce in word and to inaugurate in deed.

Jan 14 2025

Getting into the Kingdom

Billy Collins’ poem “The Afterlife” proposes that when we die, we will all go to the place where we always expected to go. And so, some will end up in the light, others before a judge; some will be singing in the choir, others seated around a food-filled table. He concludes somewhat wistfully, saying that the rest will just end up in their coffins, wishing they could return to do things they never did.

Matthew’s Gospel has a lot to say about the kingdom of heaven, beginning with the Beatitudes, which can be thought of as “Be-Attitudes,” ways of being in the world now that will get you into the world yet to come. They are not the usual rungs on the ladder to success that call for calculation, competition, and caring little for anyone other than oneself.

Being poor in spirit, mourning, being meek, hungering and thirsting for justice (God’s, not the usual brand meted out in our world), showing mercy, being clean of heart, making peace, and putting up with persecution—this can sound like an eight-step program for being losers in the world.

But to those who chose to walk these ways, Jesus declares, “Blessed are they,” and promises that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). Or, as Paul puts it, God chooses the nobodies to work on, with, and through. It’s enough to make you search out another kingdom. Only there you might not end up being blessed, just wishing you could return to do things you never did—but should have.

Consider/Discuss

What is your notion of the kingdom of heaven?
To which of the groups Jesus names do you feel most akin? Which are least related to your life?
Which quality do you hear Jesus inviting you to take up?

Responding to the Word

We pray that we may become seekers of the kingdom of heaven now and learn the wisdom of God that was embodied in Jesus, a wisdom that will bring us to share in the “righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” that are to be found by living in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30).