God's Authority

    

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

28 January 2024

 

First Reading: Dt 18:15-20

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9

Second Reading: 1 Cor 7:32-35

Gospel: Mk 1:21-28

 

Reflection

By: Jose Paulo Gonzales

 

How great is the Lord that no power in the heavens, on earth, nor under the earth can dare hold a candle to Him. Speaking with authority such that dignitaries would beam with astonishment upon seeing Him, He also had the ability to cast out evil spirits with a single command; for they know who He is. They know the power He wields. They follow Him as they are subject to Him. This is our King: the King of kings, the Lord of lords. His Name is above every other name. He is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

The authority with which Jesus spoke perceivably springs from His confidence in the Father, for theirs is a bond unbreakable from of old. Jesus has been with God the Father from the beginning, and Jesus is the One through Whom all things were made (John 1). To interpret (as we cannot speak completely on the Lord’s behalf), Jesus’ authority comes from His eternal divinity with the Father and is not only a result of divine bequeathment, and such naturally translated into the quality of His preaching.

So special is the place Jesus occupies that entire lives are worth being lived for Him, as in today’s Second Reading. Such reading provides basis for why celibacy is practiced today in the Catholic priesthood; for a life lived entirely for Christ is a life not encumbered by the cares of the world and is thus a life undivided in Christ. This is why the priesthood maintains a special place in vocation as do other types of vocation: marriage, religious life (to include the diaconate and nunhood, which are other types of religious calling), and single blessedness. Whatever vocation a person chooses and lives up to in good faith is a rife space God can bless for His commissioning.

A life of stalwart spiritual zeal is one Christ has lived such that He did not withdraw from doing good on the Sabbath. While in today’s Gospel, Jesus has not yet done anything the pharisees can squarely condemn (as He was only preaching on the Sabbath which was apparently acceptable to the pharisees), in Mark chapter 3, Jesus, on Sabbath, would heal a man’s withered hand. Encounters such as this are what usually land Jesus in hot water, for the pharisees maintain a rigid disposition towards the conduct of Sabbath, namely they hold it to an absolute degree that one must resist doing any action on the Special Day. While the originative feeling is not one to be repudiated completely as the pharisees and the like may be ‘coming from a good place’, in the wisdom of the Lord, the prospect of doing good especially for the benefit of those whose needs do not pick any day significantly outweighs the stringent observance of the day of rest. After all, can a person of good heart and sound discernment maintain the composure of rest at the sight of a brother or sister in need? We have the answer in Jesus when He posed to the pharisees this rhetorical question: “which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4) We could not save everybody every day; but where our hands can help, they are appreciated… as per the Lord, they can even save!

Prayer

Lord God, thank You for the gift of discernment that nevertheless with You has brought us this far in our Christian walk of life. Please continue to shower upon us Your wisdom and love to make for us a way of life guided not only by sound judgment but ultimately, love. May we continue to be Your hands that care for others so that we can live authentically as Your living tabernacles.

Thank You, Jesus! In Jesus’ most holy Name, Amen.