Christian Art | Jesus And Satan
Mark 1: 21-28 – 4th Sunday Year B & Tuesday, Week 2 Ordinary Time (Audio Bible KJV, Spoken Word)
21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.
22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.
23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.
27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
The Bible offers us different accounts of Christ’s first miracle, each suited to the particular needs of the audiences to whom the Gospel evangelists are speaking. In John’s Gospel, the first miracle is that of the wedding feast at Cana. For Luke, it is Jesus freeing himself when those around him, of Nazareth, seek to kill him. Matthew speaks of the healing of a large number of the sick and possessed, most particularly a leper. Here, Mark tells us of the casting out of a devil. In highly compressed form, we are told of how Christ frees us from the fear of evil. He has power over devils. To a people living in fear, this is a most remarkable and wonderful message.
We can ask ourselves: Which aspects of this story of Jesus appeal most to us and strike a chord in our life? Which bits of this Bible text do we like best?
Perhaps we notice that the people in the synagogue in Capernaum are astonished, before the miracle is performed, by Christ’s teaching. He enters into the synagogue to teach, knowing he belongs in this great role as teacher. He has authority, and this stands out to the people and singles him out from the scribes, exposing them as lacking authority. Through witnessing Jesus, the people gain a critical awareness of what the scribes of the synagogue can offer regarding our human relationship with God. Jesus speaks through his personal knowledge of God. Once again we are alert to the life of Jesus as the crowning moment of God’s interventions in human history. The scribes’ knowledge of Old Testament Bible texts is overwhelmed and transcended by this, by Jesus, the God Man.
The power to teach, to speak truly of God, is shown to us here as being very closely connected with the power to cast out devils. We may think of the evil spirits portrayed in the Bible both literally and also as people’s ways of seeking to explain bad things, including physical and mental ailments, which they could not otherwise understand. They are also a sign of fear and bewilderment. Especially in the darker days of the growing and developing Church, Christians may have felt themselves to be beset by evil powers.
Jesus is a healer. He heals physical problems and he heals mental problems. He is too able to forgive sins. We bring these thoughts together as we contemplate Jesus’ power to cast out devils.
We know that in the time of Jesus, and through the history of the Jewish people, and as stipulated in the Jewish sacred texts, physical and mental problems are seen as both resulting from possession by devils and as resulting from sin. A person’s sickness or disability, in other words, was seen as a mark of sin. It was for this reason that such people faced restrictions in terms of worshipping God in places of prayer. They were both physically and mentally marked and also spiritually marginalised. It is curious, indeed, that the man with the unclean spirit is in the synagogue. Perhaps his affliction was not known and only came to light, as it were a deception might come to light, in Jesus’ presence.
The evil spirit recognises Jesus. This may itself seem remarkable as a way of affirming Christ’s divinity to those present and those hearing and reading these verses. The recognition of Christ by the evil spirit follows very closely upon the baptism of Jesus and the voice from heaven declaring Jesus as the Son of God, and indeed, in Mark’s Gospel, the brief mention of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness. It is a very powerful moment: by his father, Christ’s divinity is affirmed in a very positive way; now we see the evil flinch from him and so we see in action something of what it means to be the Son of God.
This devil, speaking in the plural, on behalf of many devils, knows that Christ is come to destroy its power. It is as if it has claimed a territory in this man whom it has invaded and occupied like a virus, and now sees that the end of its time and of its claim on humanity has come.
Christ’s word, then, is authority. It carries the power to inform, to teach, enlighten, to bring the knowledge of God to humankind, and the power to compel, to command the evil to be gone. This was new. When we contemplate this moment we too can be amazed just as the people in the synagogue were amazed.
Christ’s fame spreads. It spreads through all Galilee. It will encompass the whole world and it will spread through time as well, reaching to us now through the Bible and through the Church to this moment in this place, where we may all say: ‘Where I am now.’
How many of the evils we face are built on fear and the falling away from the knowledge of God? May we remember this moment of Christ’s first miracles. Through our prayer, as Christ prayed, and through our reading of the Bible, there is a light to be carried through all the troubles of our 21st Century world. May God be with us.
Christian Art | Our Lord Jesus On The Cross | God The Father | God The Son Office Of Readings | Advent December 23rd | A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed ‘The hidden sacrament is revealed.’ In this reading, Saint Hippolytus writes against the Noetic heresy, which denied the real distinction between the Father and the Son by treating them as the same person acting under different names. The purpose of Saint Hippolytus is to defend the Church’s confession of one God who is not solitary, but who exists with his Word and Spirit. Hippolytus begins by setting a principle: knowledge of God comes from the Holy Scriptures, not from speculation or private reasoning. Faith is not shaped by human preference but by what God has chosen to reveal. The Father determines how He is believed, the Son how He is glorified, and the Spirit how He is received. This establishes Scripture as the rule of faith and guards against theological invention. Hippolytus then affirms that God existed alone before creation, with nothing co-eternal alongside Him. At the same time, God was not without reason, wisdom, or power. Hippolytus insists that plurality within God does not compromise divine unity. God contains within himself Word, wisdom, and counsel. Creation begins when God wills and manifests His Word. The Word is not created from nothing but proceeds from God and acts as the agent of creation. The Word is first invisible to the created world, though known to God. When God chooses, He makes the Word visible, described as ‘Light of Light’. This language safeguards both distinction and unity: the Word comes from God and reveals God, without being separate from Him. The manifestation of the Word is ordered towards salvation, so that the world may see and be saved. Hippolytus identifies this Word clearly with the Son of God. Through him all things were made, and he alone comes forth from the Father. The Law and the prophets belong to the same saving plan. God speaks through them by the Holy Spirit, so that they proclaim not their own ideas but the Father’s will. Revelation is therefore coherent: creation, prophecy, and incarnation belong to one divine purpose. Hippolytus appeals to the Gospel of John to show continuity between prophecy and fulfilment. The Word spoken of by the prophets is the Word made flesh. Though the world was made through him, it failed to recognise him. This failure does not negate God’s plan but reveals the depth of the mystery now disclosed. A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures and from no other source. Whatever things the Holy Scriptures declare, at these let us look; and whatever they teach, let us learn it; and as the Father wills our belief to be, let us believe; and as he wills the Son to be glorified, let us glorify him; and as he wills the Holy Spirit to be bestowed, let us receive him. Not according to our own will, nor according to our own mind, nor yet storming by force the things which are given by God, but even as he has chosen to teach them by the Holy Scriptures, so let us discern them. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing coeval with himself, chose to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind, and willing and uttering the Word, he made it; and at once it appeared, formed it in the way he desired. For us it is sufficient simply to know that nothing was coeval with God. Outside him there was nothing; but he, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality. For he did not lack reason, or wisdom, or power, or counsel. All things were in him, and he was the All. At a time and in a manner chosen by him he made his Word manifest, and through his Word he made all things. He bears this Word in himself, as yet invisible to the created world. He makes him visible, uttering the voice first, and begetting him as Light of Light. He presents him to the world as its Lord; and whereas the Word was visible formerly to God alone, and invisible to the world which is made, God makes the Word visible in order that the world might see him and be able to be saved. This is the mind which came forth into the world and was manifested as the Son of God. All things came into being through him, and he alone comes from the Father. He gave us the Law and the prophets; and in giving them, he made them speak by the Holy Ghost, in order that, receiving the inspiration of the Father’s power, they might declare the Father’s counsel and will. Thus, then, was the Word made manifest, even as the blessed John says. For he sums up the things that were said by the prophets, and shows that this is the Word, by whom all things were made. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made. And later, The world was made by him, and the world did not know him; he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. Christian Prayer With Jesus Lord God,You are one, and from You come the Word and the Spirit.You have chosen to make Yourself known, not by human effort,but by what You have revealed in the scriptures. You spoke Your Word, and all things were made.You made that Word visible, so that the world might see and be saved.Grant that we may receive what You give,believe what You teach,and worship You as You have shown Yourself to be. Keep us […]
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