4th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Jesus' War Against Evil)

In this liturgical year, we’re hearing primarily from the Gospel of Mark. From the outset of this Gospel, it’s clear that the evangelist wants to establish Jesus’ unique identity. The very first line of his Gospel declares, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). Immediately, we know he’s the anointed one, the Son of God.

          In today’s Gospel, we are very early in Jesus’ public ministry. Having been baptized by John, and having spent forty days in the desert, he emerged with a proclamation: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (1:15).

          And this emerging kingdom of God means that he will begin to progressively dismantle the powers of darkness. He begins his assault on Satan’s kingdom, as we hear in today’s Gospel. His very first public display is an exorcism. What a way to start!

This dramatic account takes place in Capernaum, a small fishing village on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Peter and his brother Andrew had made their home there and upon calling them into discipleship, Jesus most likely lived with Peter and his wife as a home base of his ministry in Galilee.

Hardly fifty yards from Peter’s house was Capernaum’s synagogue. Jesus entered it, likely an unknown figure to the people there, yet he began to teach. Mark doesn’t tell us what he taught, although I’m guessing maybe he read some canons from the Code of Canon Law.

Mark would want us to know that it’s not so important what he taught, but instead how it affected those who heard it. They saw that there was something different about him, something powerful about the way he spoke.

But while they had no idea who this amazing stranger was, someone among them knew. A tense encounter emerged before all onlookers. A man walked up to this unknown teacher and interrupted, “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!” Except it wasn’t actually the man speaking. Instead, it was an evil spirit that had possessed the man. It’s important to note that it called Jesus out by name: in saying Jesus’ name, the evil spirit was way to try and assert control over Jesus. But then the bad spirit filled the space with noise and commotion and amid the pandemonium. Undoubtedly, all eyes were upon these two figures.

Then to all the noise and commotion, Jesus simply commanded, “Quiet! (“Be muzzled”)….Come out of him.” The convulsions that followed indicate that the evil spirit was trying to fight against him. But it was rendered powerless. Despite trying to assert authority over Jesus, it was overwhelmed by Jesus’ power. It screamed and departed, leaving the house of prayer, and peace was restored.

In the momentary stillness that followed, the people, with mouths surely agape, fixed their gaze on this man who moments ago had been unknown to them. “What is this?” they said, “A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him." That was the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as St. Mark presents it: the first occasion he taught and his first act of making present the kingdom of God.

As Christians, we speak of a God who is personal. He is not merely some nebulous force in the universe. But also, as today’s Gospel reveals, we acknowledge evil as capable of manifesting itself to us personally—again, that it’s not just some ominous force in the universe. But even as we acknowledge that, and do well not to take it lightly, let us never see the forces of evil as bearing equal power to our Lord and his presence within us, given to us at baptism. But make no mistake—whatever power we have, is his power, not ours.

And for whatever way we acquiesce to the promptings of the evil one, who’s primary tactics are to create fear within us, to divide us from one another, to get us to doubt God, and to reject His will for our lives—all to separate us from Him—Jesus came, and still is urging us to further establish the kingdom of God, to free humanity from its captivity to evil.

I recently read a quote by a priest named Fr. Gabriele Amorth, who was the chief exorcist in Rome under the pontificates of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He said that “the power over the spirits of evil is still exercised by the Church, most dramatically in formal exorcism but also in the other sacraments, particularly Confession. The Sacrament of Confession has great power for spiritual warfare, and those in spiritual bondage should make frequent recourse to it. ‘It is the most direct means to fight Satan, because it is the sacrament that tears souls from the demon’s grasp, strengthens against sin, unites us more closely to God, and helps conform our souls increasingly to the divine will.’”[1]

[1] Bergsma, John. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year B. Emmaus Road Publishing. Kindle Edition.