4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Father Ben Riley

I have spoken a few times about how a lot of my friends with whom I go on outdoor adventures, are not particularly religious people. I’m not exactly sure why this seems to be the case, and I think it would be interesting to do some research into the relationship between religious belief and people who spend a lot of time outdoors. However, my unscientific, anecdotal evidence has found that secularism tends to be a common theme.

For example, last summer I was hiking near the Buffalo River with a couple friends of mine. One was raised in a fundamental Christian household, and he was sadly taught an inauthentic version of Christianity causing him to reject any belief in God. The other was raised in a Protestant faith but now considerers herself agnostic. She is open to the idea of God, or a creator of the universe, but that is as far as she is willing to go. She believes organized religion is a modern invention used to control people and get their money. As you know, these two points of view are not unique in our society today. So many people are either atheists or agnostics because of a hypocritical faith that was taught to them at a young age. And now as adults, they are simply not willing to question their preconceived notions and do extra research into the Christian faith. In some ways, I don’t blame my friends for their hang-ups. It’s hard to heal from childhood wounds, to seriously question your belief systems, and to admit that you may be wrong.

So, whenever I talk to them about faith, and I would recommend this to anyone who is trying to evangelize a non-believer, I don’t start from a position of, “you’re wrong”. That’s not going to be effective and may even push them further away. Instead, from a Catholic position, I turn to scripture, and point toward the clear passages in which Jesus instituted a Church, gave that Church authority, and how the apostles have maintained that authority through the succession of Bishops.

This, too, is a hang-up for many people. Authority is not a popular theological topic. But before we start talking about any other theological or spiritual reality, there first must be an understanding of why we should take what is said in scripture seriously, and why Jesus truly is the Son of God.

So, let’s turn to our readings today to break open this discussion on authority. Starting with our Gospel, it says that, “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.” This would have been very confusing for the ancient Jew, because how did the scribes and pharisees preach? They would teach a lesson, some theological teaching taken from the Torah, the law, and then they would apply authority to what they were saying by telling the people who they received that teaching from. In other words, who was their rabbi or who taught them, and then who was their rabbi’s rabbi, and so on and so on. The idea being, that this succession of authority would go back all the way to Moses who literally spoke to God and saw him face to face. All authority in the Jewish tradition would come from the rabbi’s connection to the original prophet, Moses.

Let’s now turn to our first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy, where Moses says something that would have been equally confusing to the Israelite people. Moses spoke to all the people, saying, “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen. The Lord said to me, I will raise up for them a prophet, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.” Moses told the Israelite people, that one day, a prophet would arise, and he would speak not from the authority of Moses, but that the Word of God would be His own.

The Greek word for authority is ex-ousía, and it means substance. The one with authority, speaks from his own substance, and this is exactly what we see in the Gospel. Jesus is not speaking with the authority of some previous rabbi or prophet. No, He speaks with his own Substance, the substance that is the Word of God, the Word that hovered over the waters at the beginning of time, the Word that became flesh, the Word that speaks and even demons obey.

In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit.

He cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” That’s interesting, isn’t it? “What have you to do with us?” It’s not just one unclean spirit. Within this demonic personality there is a splintering a fracturing. Well, my fellow sinners, we know that all too well don’t we.

When we are not centered on God, our whole being splinters, that is the effect of sin. The demon asks Jesus, “Have you come to destroy us?” Well, yes. That is exactly why Jesus has come. And yet, we have this resistance to the reconciliation Jesus offers us. We are fractured by sin, and Jesus has come to heal us, put us back together.

That resistance we all experience, that’s the point in you that really understands what Christ is asking of you . And I think you know what I mean. If Jesus asks us for something kind of easy, all right, no problem. But when he’s asking for something difficult, it’s our resistance that’s going to identify him properly.

It’s hard to love our enemies; it’s hard to forgive those who have wronged us; it’s hard to live a life of chastity; and it’s hard to give to the poor. Our resistance to these things should be a clue that they are exactly what God is calling us to accept.

When I was walking along the Buffalo River with my friends, it came to light that they were struggling with forgiveness, especially my friend who was taught a very harsh, fundamental, “sinners in the hands of an angry God” kind of faith. It’s hard to forgive, and it’s hard to love someone who has caused us suffering. But the resistance to these things, should be a clue that God is calling us to something more, because God does not call us to something easy.

My brothers and sisters, if we surrender to him, to the one prophesied by Moses, the one who speaks from his own substance, the Word made flesh, if we surrender to him, the holy one of God, if we make him the center of our lives, if we listen to him, we are going to find this ultimate power, we are going to find this unquestionable authority. We can find our lives transformed. The ultimate point of this little passage, now we get to make a decision: are we with him or not? Are we following him or not? He is the one, he is the one who is the very word of God, he is the holy one of God. We must follow him and obey His authority.

May God bless you.