21 They went to Capernaum; and
when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were
astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not
as the scribes.
23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean
spirit, 24 and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of
God." 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of
him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud
voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one
another, "What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even
the unclean spirits, and they obey him." 28 At once his fame began to
spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Litany
The
earth and all that is in it rests in God.
All authority belongs to
Christ.
The
Holy Spirit’s efforts cause good to flourish across times and places.
All authority belongs to
Christ.
The
forces that oppose God cannot win.
All authority belongs to
Christ.
Healing
and wholeness are God’s desires for all people.
All authority belongs to
Christ.
Pain
and suffering cannot overcome the Light of Life.
All authority belongs to
Christ.
Jesus
promises to draw all people to the Father, through himself, at the end of all
things.
All authority belongs to
Christ.
Reflection
In the centuries since the man
with an unclean spirit was healed, our understanding of our bodies has
increased in leaps and bounds. We know even more now about the miracles of our
brains, our nervous system, our circulatory system, our skeletal system. We
have come to understand even more that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
And we have come to know, as well, the depth of mystery that remains within us
about how some things happen and some things work.
As
we have become more sophisticated in our knowledge, the forces that oppose God
and try to tempt us from faith have to increase their efforts as well. In our
day and time, it is not demons that cause illnesses, but demons that accompany
illnesses.
At
the edge of our diagnoses are despair, loneliness, fear, doubt, guilt, grief,
and a host of other little pulls that steal our joy in life, our hope in Christ
and our faith in the truth of the Word of God.
These
are precisely the demons that we are called to exorcise. You are. I am. We
exorcise them by saying their name and banishing them. Despair is sent to hell
through encouragement. Loneliness, through companionship. Fear, through prayer
and information. And so it goes. By fervently exercising our faith through
caring for our neighbor, we can exorcise their demons and ours.
Christ’s love for the man in the
crowd compelled the unclean spirit to flee his presence. Christ’s own love for
us compels our own demons to leave us. However, it is also Christ’s love for us
that compels us to help the people around us deal with the negativity, the pain
and the unclean spirits that torment them.
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