FOURTH SUNDAY OF YEAR "B"

FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR   Cycle B

Mk 1, 21 - 28: Jesus’ Teaching Authority

The story is told of the elderly woman who was ill. Some churchgoing folk came to see her. They sat and chatted with her for a while. They got up to go, and they said: “We sure will be praying for you.” The sick woman replied, “Thanks, but I can do my own praying. But if you really want to help me, you can wash the dishes in my sink and then take out the garbage.”

Today’s Gospel of St. Mark describes not only the opening of the teaching ministry of Jesus but also his first recorded miracle.  We are dealing with a Gospel double header.  Mark is feeling a generous mood. He is giving us two for the price of one.  The clever game plan of the Master was to get as many invitations as possible to speak in the synagogues of Galilee. Today it is in “Caphar Nahaum” or Capharnaum in English.  Mark’s Gospel tells us Jesus preached in synagogues seventeen different times. The first thirty years of his life Jesus worked with his rough woodworking hands. Now He was about to work with his golden tongue.  Unhappily for us, Mark does not tell us in this particular gospel passage what exactly Jesus taught; just the fact that he taught. We cannot fault Mark for that. The blame must be laid at Peter’s door. Peter was an eyewitness or, better perhaps, a ear witness. And it was he who dictated his memoirs to Mark. Peter does tell us, though, through his obedient secretary Mark, that his Master Jesus blew people’s minds with His teaching. Whatever the message was, it hit his audience like a grenade launcher. Obviously, it was not the usual canned stuff that we are so often fed with, and fed up with, and which we ourselves often peddle. The words of Jesus must have danced across the air waves, electrifying the world around him. He taught with personal authority and not as the scribes taught.  What do I mean by this?

Well, the scholars of the day would preface their remarks with such lines as: “Rabbi Hillel says,” or, “it is commonly taught,” or, “it is alleged.” But that young rabbi named Jehoshua, in English Jesus: he did not tell his audience what others were teaching about life and death issues.  Rather, he tackled those bread and butter issues off his own bat. One did not hear him saying, “It may be”, of “I suggest that you, etc...”  Rather, the people always heard lines like these: “Amen, amen, I say to you...”  “I tell you most solemnly,”  “You have heard it said, but I say to you.”  In short, Jesus required no authority beyond himself. He was his own backup. All the previous prophets came down from the mountain to speak to the people on the slopes. Jesus Christ spoke from the mountain summit, a place occupied strictly by Yahweh.  My dear friends, we need to be attentive, intelligent, reasonable and responsible; either you put Jesus down as a Johnny-Know-it-All or call him your Supreme Master. His audience felt chills run up and down their spines as He spoke. They sensed they were standing in the presence of God. Even his enemies had to admit that this young fellow spoke good sense and that he was sure about what he said.  And that drove them stark raving running mad.

At this point St. Mark slips a fast ball right by us.  The Christ is half-way into his talk when a fellow rudely interrupts.  The fellow has no time for Jesus’ insights; he just wants his health returned.  Do check out.  Jesus does not lay the guy out for bad manners. He does not say, “See me after my talk,” or “Tell your hard luck story to one of my disciples.”  No!  He stops his talk in mid-sentence and cures the sick man.  What message is Mark E mailing us?  Firstly, the Master is backing up his teaching with a strong display of divine power; a sign that God’s liberation and healing have reached us. The demonic is something that traps men and women, something that diminishes our lives, our meanings, and our freedom.  Secondly, Jesus reveals that He is as much interested in people’s bodies as He is in their souls.  The Lord Jesus endorses the dictum: “Before you can put grace into people’s souls, you must first put food into their bellies.”  That’s the way to peace.  Our Lord was not afraid of getting involved in the nitty-gritty of people’s lives. He went the distance with those He encountered. So let’s wash the elderly woman’s dishes and take out her garbage.

PRAYER (after Thomas a Kempis, 1380-1471. 91 years)

Grant, Lord, to all who learn and those who teach them,

the grace to love that which is worth loving,

to know that which is worth knowing,

to value what is most precious to you,

and to reject whatever is evil in your eyes.

Give them a true sense of judgement,

and a wisdom to see beneath the surface of things.

Above all, may they search out and do

what us pleasing to you,

through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Life Messages

1) We need to approach Jesus for liberation: Jesus did not use his authority and divine power to rule and control people. He came to set people free. Hence, let us approach Jesus with trusting faith so that he may free us from the evil spirits that keep us from praying and prevent us from loving and sharing our blessings with others. Jesus also frees us from all the “evil spirits” of fear, jealousy, envy, addictions, compulsions, selfishness, anger, resentment and hostility. May he free us from all those spirits which make us deaf, dumb, blind, lame and paralyzed, physically and spiritually.

2) We need to use our God-given authority to build up lives. Many people with authority have made lasting impressions on our lives either for good or bad. Perhaps it was a grandparent, an uncle, or a parent, who loved us and cared for us. Perhaps it was a Sunday school teacher who encouraged us in our faith and exerted a positive impact on our lives. Perhaps we remember the kindness as well as the firm discipline that a schoolteacher gave us. Teachers are powerful because they change and mould lives. Hence, let us all become good teachers like Jesus and use our authority to mould young lives in the right way



  Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B). Mass Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalms 95:1-2, 6-9; 1 Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28.

We have been waiting a long time to hear Jesus Christ. Sunday’s Mass describes why.
Today’s Gospel uses intense language to try to convey just how electrified the crowd was by what Jesus had to say. “The people were astonished by his teaching,” says the Gospel. “What is this? A new teaching with authority.”
You can imagine where the people were before they heard Jesus. They were laboring under Roman rule, with all that we know about that: paying taxes to a government that does objectionable things, crucifixion notably among them.
They were hungry for an authentic expression of their faith, something better than what was offered by the Sadducees, who had cozied up to the Romans, and the Pharisees, who “tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but will not lift a finger to move them.”
They knew well that they could expect something more. God had promised he would send an authentic teacher to them one day in today’s first reading: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.”
When Moses first reported those words to the Israelites, they were revolutionary. Before that, people understood the divine to be mysterious gods in the universe that they had to struggle to avoid or to somehow control.
A personal God who joined in their struggles was something new. They saw this in Jesus.
When confronted with demonic possession, Jesus does none of the arduous and extensive exorcism procedures of the day. Instead, he simply says: “Quiet! Come out of him!” And the demons obey. This is clearly a new thing on the earth: a holy man greater than the prophets, able to master the supernatural, and coming to his people.
Here in the 21st century, we are in much the same situation as the Israelites were so long ago.
We don’t live under Roman rule, but we do live in a land that often merely tolerates our religion, while demanding we pay taxes to a government that does objectionable things, legalized abortion chief among them.
We don’t have Sadducees and Pharisees, but we do have competing voices from the extremes of religious experience, one shouting, “Relax your standards and accommodate with the world!” and the other shouting, “Nothing is ever good enough!”
Interrupting both comes the one and only authentic voice of God. You can hear him in the words of St. Paul today: “I should like you to be free of anxieties.” And you can hear him in the Psalm, which says, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
After all the bad alternatives, Jesus Christ has come at last.