Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (January 29^th 2012)  

Mark 1:21-28

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Questions raised by this passage from the Gospel

1 Do I sometimes feel discomfort when I listen to the word of God?

2. Could such discomfort be the result of the word of God confronting contradictions or compromises within me?

3. Do I believe that conversion entails the ruination of my life as I am living it now, or true liberation?

4. Does a surgeon make a cut with the primary intention of inflicting a wound, or in order to restore health? Why are we inclined to believe that conversion involves pain primarily, instead of liberation?

5. Jesus does not negotiate with the evil spirit but orders him to leave. What does this tell us about how we should confront the vices and contradictions in our lives?

The teachings of Jesus confront us with the contradictions that dwell within us

The Gospel passage from St Mark describes the opening miracle performed by Jesus on the day that he embarks upon his mission. Jesus enters the synagogue and heals a man possessed by an impure spirit. This story of healing and liberation is significant for us, because all of us have need of healing and liberation. Jesus is a liberator and a redeemer. He is the one who pays the ransom for the slave and frees him. He is the one who comes to rid humanity of its ills, its idols and its deception.

            Jesus enters the Synagogue at Capernaum and begins to teach. It is the teaching of Jesus that smokes out this demon in the first place. And this is true for all of us. In order that our problems might be uncovered and brought to light, we need to be confronted and challenged by the word of God. When Jesus teaches at Capernaum, the possessed man begins to feel unwell and starts shouting. When we are confronted by the word of God, it is important that we be attentive to any discomfort that might arise in our hearts. Discomfort of this sort is the Lord striking at the contradictions within us. These contradictions should be listened to and acted upon. Why does the Gospel often annoy us? Such annoyance is sometimes a covert effort by us to erect barriers to the word of God. When we hear the word of the Lord, we try to hide aspects of ourselves. We don't want our real selves to be smoked out, or to be challenged at the depths of our being. And so we begin to react to what we hear. We often start to complain about the person who is proclaiming the word of God. Biblical scholars sometime claim that certain texts are historically doubtful, or have problems in translation. We develop incredible methods for disputing the good news and for escaping from the contradictions that the word of God reveals inside us!

Deception involves taking the truth and manipulating it to arrive at false conclusions

In the Gospel the impure spirit is smoked out because the word of God has struck at the evil that lies within. The spirit starts to say, "What do you want from us, Jesus of Nazareth? Do you want to destroy us? We know that you are the holy one of God!" These words express self-deception of a classic sort! True deception rarely involves the communication of statements that are false, full stop. Real deception involves putting together various true statements in a way that leads to a false conclusion. Evil has always utilised the word of God, or statements that are true, or matters of fact, and puts them together in a way that leads us to draw conclusions that are wrong.

            It is clear that Jesus of Nazareth is incompatible with the forces of evil. There can be no doubt that the light of Christ is incompatible with the kingdom of darkness. It is clear that evil cannot survive where goodness is cultivated, and vice-versa. But the impure spirit interprets all of this in a way that misleads. "What do you want from us? Do you want to destroy us?" The deception here is that the holy one of God has come in order to destroy. The image of God presented is of one who comes to annihilate. Many people are reluctant to undergo conversion because they fear this very manifestation of God. But this is the voice of evil speaking. It whispers that the work of God involves our ruin and our destruction.

The work of God is directed primarily to our liberation, not to our destruction

In reality, the chastising aspect of the work of God is secondary in nature. Where conversion is concerned it is true that renunciation is required, and it is correct to say that certain things will have to be abandoned. But the problem with this statement from the impure spirit is that it focuses completely on the alleged destruction that is involved in the work of God. And this focus leads us to forget the fundamental good that is the driving impulse behind the work of God. I am being liberated by the action of Jesus; I am constructing a marvellous new edifice: therefore the old one will have to be dismantled. There is always something that will have to be dismantled in order to follow the Lord Jesus! But this dismantling is done only in order to build something greater. The impure spirit diverts attention from this fact and speaks only of the destruction. The central truth that Jesus has come to liberate is obscured completely.

            To overcome a vice is a process that involves a certain amount of pain and suffering. But to overcome a vice is to restore one's dignity and to live a new life. To prevail over a vice is without doubt to have endured a kind of "destruction"! But look at the quality of one's life afterwards! To escape from deception or sin, or to be freed from a state of being possessed by evil, is to have recuperated one's own liberty. The evil spirit cried aloud, "You have come to destroy us!" But this is secondary! Jesus has come in the first place to free us! A surgeon that removes a tumour must inflict a wound of some sort. But the primary intention is to restore health, not to inflict the wound.

How does Jesus win the battle over the evil spirit?

How does Jesus win this symbolic battle that is so important for all of us? He says, "Be silent and come out!" Jesus doesn't attempt to respond to the statements uttered by the impure spirit. He doesn't enter into a discussion with him, but simply orders him to be quiet and leave. One does not negotiate with unclean spirits; one does not negotiate with vices; one does not try to compromise with wrong. In battles of this sort, there is a frontier between right and wrong that must be surmounted. Either we surmount that frontier and enter into life, or we do not. This is a point of fundamental importance. With many temptations that confront us, the only right response is "Be quiet and leave!" We should enter into no negotiations with the impure spirits that seek to tell us what God wants to do with us. Often, we remain entrapped in strange interpretations of our own experience that lead us nowhere. The tree is known by its fruits. If something does not lead to good then let is be silent forever and leave our lives! Christ is a liberator and makes no compromises with evil. Let us allow ourselves to be liberated, and let that which must be destroyed be destroyed, so that which needs to be freed may be truly freed.