Jesus vs. the Power of Evil - Jesus Wins!

Homily for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

READINGS:

First Reading: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Gospel: Mark 1:21-28s

 FOCUS: There is a spiritual war being battled for our souls, but Jesus’ voice brings deliverance.

FUNCTION: Seek to hear Jesus’ voice in prayer, and thus find deliverance from evil. 

          Any kind of discussion about the subject of demons in today’s world is simultaneously fascinating and frightening.  You only need to take a glance at some of Hollywood’s recent cinematic productions to understand that the question of the demonic has captivated the popular, cultural imagination.  All kinds of questions come up: “Is it real, is it fiction?  Could demonic possession ever actually happen?  Is this something I should really be afraid of, or should I just laugh it all off as superstitious nonsense?”  These are good and reasonable questions….and evidence that – as a larger society – we don’t quite know what to do with stories involving demonic influences.  Culturally, I think we’re deeply conflicted about the issue.  Should we write them off as wild and crazy stories or give them credit as true and possible events?

          Some of us here might be asking that question regarding the Gospel story we just heard, namely, Jesus’ confrontation with a demoniac – a person possessed by an unclean spirit.  But before we can better understand what happened in that situation, I think we have to understand what came before it.  Here’s the set-up: “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.” 

          Jesus did not enter the synagogue in Capernaum acting like other Rabbis, quoting the teachings of previous Rabbis who likewise quoted previous Rabbis, going all the way back to Moses and ultimately to God Himself.  Rather, when Jesus taught, He taught on His own authority – as the only-begotten Son of God – and not like the Rabbis or the scribes, who constantly appealed to others.  It is this authority that the people found so astonishing.  Some might have found it presumptuous for Him to teach on His own authority, but this was the mark of a prophet, of someone who was more than just a Rabbi. 

          The first reading gave us Moses’ prophecy about what God would do in the future for the people of Israel: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.”  When Jesus of Nazareth began His public ministry in Israel, He began to look more and more like this prophet that Moses had foretold that God raise up among the people of Israel.  His word had a different quality than the words of the Rabbis, and He Himself was a bit different.  His presence commanded attention, His words commanded respect, and His teachings commanded obedience, as though they came directly from the mouth of God Himself.

          Enter stage left: the man with the unclean spirits.  Suddenly, there was a confrontation of cosmic proportions….a kind of showdown between Jesus of Nazareth and the power of evil.  The man with the unclean spirits 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!”  But the victor in this confrontation becomes immediately apparent.  Jesus only needs to say, “Quiet!  Come out of Him!” and the duel is over before it even really began.  And then “The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.”  The winner in this battle is abundantly clear: Jesus of Nazareth – 1; unclean spirits – 0.

          Jesus came among us to accomplish this very thing – to root out evil from the heart of humanity, whether in the form of sin in general, or in the form of the evil one’s control.  Jesus was always confronting the power of evil in the course of His ministry; and He continues to do so in our own day.  Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we are in the midst of spiritual warfare – an invisible battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. 

          The power of evil – the Devil and his fallen angels, the unclean spirits – wants to capture our souls for all eternity.  But God wants to claim us as His own, so that we might know His amazing love and His saving power.  On a daily basis, we experience the pull between temptation and grace, between darkness and light, and between the power of evil and the power of good. 

          And we need to realize that we’re in this spiritual struggle in order to gain the upper hand and not be overwhelmed by the dark forces of evil.  The Church teaches that the Devil and evil spirits do exist.  They are a part of the created order, ultimately subject to God, but are able to exercise an amount of influence in our lives through our free will.  But when they are confronted by the voice of Jesus of Nazareth – the Son of God – they lose all power and must obey His commands.  And therefore we can find freedom and deliverance through Him, through hearing His voice in the depths of our souls.

          This is why prayer is so important in the spiritual life, because it is through prayer that we are able to hear the voice of the Son of God and find deliverance from the power of evil.  Without prayer – without being connected to God’s grace and mercy – we cannot hope to overcome the dark forces that surround us or find ultimate victory over the evil powers that threaten to overtake us.  We need Jesus; we need to hear His voice.  Only in Him can we win the spiritual war.

          So it’s good to develop a concrete habit of prayer.  You might say a quick prayer before you get out of bed in the morning, asking God to help you meet the challenges of the day.  Praying before meals is also a good practice.  It’s also good to pray and examine your conscience every night.  And we mustn’t forget about praying when we celebrate the sacraments…before, during, and after….especially here at Mass before we receive the Real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion and when we go to confess our sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation. 

          Some people like to pray when they’re in the car on their way to work or running errands…a good opportunity to get in a Rosary or a Divine Mercy chaplet.  Some people also pray the official prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours, as a way to sanctify the different times and “hours” of the day.  And praying and meditating with Sacred Scripture or the lives of the Saints or another devotional prayer book is always a good practice. 

          What matters most is that we’re praying.  And it doesn’t have to be simply the “traditional” prayers.  We should feel free to pray spontaneously, to speak to God as we would to a friend, to tell Him what we’re thinking and feeling and what matters to us most.  And we shouldn’t always ask for things.  We can praise Him for His goodness or thank Him for the graces we’ve received.  We can adore Him with our hearts and minds and tell Him how sorry we are for the times we’ve offended Him.  The tradition of Christian prayer is actually quite vast.  So we don’t need to get stuck in any one form; we can try out many forms of prayer. 

          That way, if we should ever feel like we’re about to be sucked into the darkness by the power of evil – as the man in the Gospel must have felt – all we need to do is appeal to Jesus through prayer and we will always find deliverance from evil and the strength necessary to win the battle.