Today, we hear how Jesus spoke with authority to the crowds, as Jesus himself was the Word of God made flesh into the world. The crowds were astonished how Jesus was able to command the demons to obey him. Today’s Gospel prompts us to ask ourselves if we ourselves approach the word of God and Jesus' teachings with the same eagerness as the man with the unclean spirit who cried out to Jesus, respectful of Jesus' authority.
In the context of this Gospel reading, I thought about who we see as an the authority of our lives. I thought back to my days as a lay missionary in Ecuador, when I spent a couple of months in the capital city of Quito at the provincial headquarters of the Comboni missionaries, the religious order with whom I served. I spent that time learning Spanish in preparation for my assignment in a mission site in the jungle. The provincial of Combonis in Ecuador, Father Angel Lafita, used to quiz us lay missionaries in Spanish as we ate meals together about the words that came from the readings at Daily Mass in order to see how much we were learning and comprehending. I remember one evening at the dinner table Father Lafita asked me if I understood the word “antojo” which was used in the psalm at mass that day. I understood that the word “antojo” meant a caprice or a whim or a craving. He asked me what the “antojos” or “whims” were in my life. I thought for a moment, and then blurted out – “libros” – books. He smiled at my answer, because he knew that I was always reading something, and that books were my craving. He knew from my answer that I understood the meaning of that word.
When the crowds heard Jesus teaching in the synagogue, when they saw him draw a demon out of a man at his command, they recognized that Jesus was not just one of the common scribes in Israel, but that he was a man that had an authority they had not seen before. If we are like these crowds, if we do indeed recognize that Jesus has authority, how do we allow that authority to interact in our lives? This authority has to be more than a whim, more than a caprice or craving or an impetuous impulse. That authority has to be foundational as to how we live.
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