The way the people responded to Him...
Reflections on the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (January 31, 2021): DT 18:15-20; PS 95:1-2,6-7,7-9; 1 COR 7:32-35; MK 1:21-28
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
The people who listened to Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum and then saw the way He saved a man from an unclean spirit were impressed that our Lord was so different from...
The Gospel on this Sunday shows Jesus after He has just gathered His first disciples on the Sea of Galilee. They set off and enter a town that would become the center for much of His ministry in Galilee. “Then they came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:21-22). St. Mark does not recount what Christ talked about that day. What mattered was the way the people responded to Him. Jesus’ authority clearly came from God. In the first reading today we have already heard how Moses, just before he died and God’s people entered the Promised Land, assured them that another prophet would come. And this prophet would speak in the name of Almighty God and tell the Jewish people exactly what He wants from them. For the Jews and, later, for the Apostles this prophet would reference the coming of the Messiah. The people who listened to Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum and then saw the way He saved a man from an unclean spirit were impressed that our Lord was so different from the scribes and their other religious leaders and teachers.
Jesus wanted the people who saw and heard Him to understand that He was not simply a good preacher or a wise teacher. His authority came from God. In time, those who followed Him would come to know that He was the Son of God come to save them. And, far beyond the Promised Land, Christ offers all those who believe in Him and do what He asks the Kingdom of God – which they can claim for their own.
