4th Sunday after Epiphany
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111;1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28
Mark 1:21-28
21 [Jesus and the disciples] went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and 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.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
. . .
Unopposed
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Do you remember when you were confirmed and promised to renounce the forces that defy God and want to separate us from God, and I should add, from one another? Good luck.
I mentioned this before. It’s a law of the universe. Newton’s 3rd law of motion. For every action or force in nature, there is a reaction in the opposite direction. Suppose Jesus is an immovable, loving object dedicated to restoring and reconciling us with God. In that case, these adverse forces exist as resisting hating objects dedicated to cause us to stumble and remain distant from God. Neither one ever gives up. They are both on a mission.
Thankfully, all evil forces can do against Jesus is resist, but he, on the other hand, is fully able to move them. See, the aftermath of the confrontation between any two forces will depend on multiple factors, among them the mass or strength of the object, if you will. For instance, when you swing your clubs on the golf course and hit the ball, the poor little thing indeed reacts with the same force as the hit from the club. However, it does not have the necessary strength, so it goes into the wind. If you hit a rock with your club, it may not go anywhere, and it may damage the club. Given that Jesus himself is a rock, you get the picture.
Nonetheless, when it comes to colliding with human beings, these defying forces should not be taken lightly because the roles get reversed. They tend to be stronger than us. This is why, in the coming season of Lent, we will confess being bound to sin and unable to free ourselves. They are also the reason why, by now, most of our New Year resolutions aimed at the betterment of our personal existence have gone down the drain. What can I say? The old self that was drawn in baptism dies a hard death.
This reminds me of a story that should have taught me to be a bit more persnickety. Yet it didn’t, as you may know, by the stuff I insist on leaving behind everywhere.
Anyway.
Almost thirty years ago, my parents shared a cottage with my aunt at a beach resort north of Rio. During summer, we would spend New Year and the whole month of January there, while my aunt would take the rest of the season. This particular year, my mom and my brothers wanted to leave right after Christmas. However, my dad would not be off work for another couple of days, and yours truly intended to spend New Year’s with his new girlfriend. The conundrum was resolved when it was decided I would drive my car as a second vehicle to help transport all the stuff my mom would take with her. Only then would I be released to return to the arms of my angel. The caveat was that I had to return before sundown because I had yet to replace my burned headlights, to despair of my father and future wife, who had been on my case like forever. That should not have been a problem, though, because the plan was to leave town early in the morning, it was summer, so the days were longer.
Sure enough, everything was unloaded with plenty of daylight to spare. Then, on the way back, the car dies. Engine, panel lights, everything dead. I managed to park by the side of the road. I thought I was out of gas since my fuel indicator had been broken for a while. However, I had filled it up before leaving, and the round trip was supposed to take only half a tank.
Lucky, I first thought. There was a highway police booth about 50 yards away, so I went there and asked for some help. No can do, one of the officers said. I spotted a gas container and asked if I could borrow it. They were like, sure. I hitchhiked to the next gas station, filled the gas container, hitchhiked back, filled the tank, nothing. Still dead. I begin to freak out. The cop then comes, asks for my license and registration, frisks me, and searches the vehicle. Finding nothing, he dares to ask me, car trouble? Yeah, dude, car trouble two hours ago!
The officer then radioed the other officer, who radioed a toll truck that took forever to arrive. The driver then unloaded me and my car at a small-town shop by the road. Told me so and so was a good mechanic, but the shop was closed for the holidays. He managed to tell me where the mechanic lived and wished me good luck. I found the guy drinking in the backyard with his neighbors and begged him to take a look at my car. He did, thank goodness, and gave me the verdict, alternator. He then phoned someone for the replacement part, and I told me it would take about an hour. He then asked me. Do you do maintenance on this car? I put gas and change the oil, I answered. He shook his head. An hour and 30 min later, the car was back to life. I wrote the gentleman a check and thanked him profusely.
By the time I returned to the main road, the sun had set, and if you remember, I had no headlights. When I arrived home 6 hours later than I should have, my father was calling hospitals, and Ana had no more nails to chew. They knew I had no headlights. After I sat through their scolding litany due to my succession of poor decisions that included having neither the presence of mind to ask the mechanic to replace the headlights nor to use the phone to call them, my father finally asked how I managed to drive with no headlights – in my defense, I was totally stressed out and overwhelmed by the whole situation and could not think straight. I answered, well, I got behind a very bright semi-truck and pretty much followed him all the way back to the city.
This actually reminds me of the Transformers movies. Megatron is a formidable adversary and he often seems to have the upper hand. However, Optimus Prime never loses, always overcoming whatever Megatron throws at him. Optimus is solid, and that is the nature of Jesus’ authority for us.
So beloved children of God. We may struggle to become the better spiritual version of ourselves or to develop into the disciples Jesus hopes for us to be. We may fall too often to false gods and idols or become oblivious to them. We may surrender to forces that defy God and cause others to stumble or to suffer. We may feel we no longer have the light to drive out of the darkness of our souls. These forces acting against us are formidable and they can be overwhelming. However, the truth is, all this time, Jesus has run unopposed by the lords of this world. He is our anointed Savior and our rock. Nothing is stronger.
So, when the moon loses its light and the fog of evil diminishes our vision and makes the night thicker when everything becomes a blur, when the weight of our actions or inactions may become too much to carry, all we need is to fall behind him, and he will illumine our way through the night. There is only one lord, and his name is Jesus from Nazareth. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bridging Faith 