11 January 2022

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, Mark presents Jesus teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum and casting out an unclean spirit. There, the people are amazed, since as Mark says, “he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” What must it have been like to hear Jesus teach, as one whose wisdom and authority came not from learning and study (as excellent as those are), but from his very person? And how shocking was it to see the unclean spirits recognize Jesus and then watch him cast the spirits out with a word?

This Gospel scene invites us to contemplate the authority of Christ and its place in our lives. Do I believe, in a real sense, that Jesus has authority over all that is evil in my life, and can cast it out with a word, if I only ask? And do I submit to Jesus’ authority in my life lovingly and willingly, or do I rather chafe at his command?