4th Sunday of Ordinary Time B, January 31, 2021; Dt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28
When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s most of the TV shows and movies were pretty straightforward. The bad guys would do something terrible. The good guys would chase after them, they would have a big battle, and the bad guys would lie and cheat and fight dirty to try and win.
But, eventually, the good guys would win and everything would be okay again. Good always triumphed over evil. But nowadays, things aren’t always so clear. It’s a little harder for us to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Sometimes, we think that good and evil are equally as strong, that God and the Devil are equal in power, and that they are in a struggle that goes back and forth without a clear winner.
And worst of all, it often seems that the bad guys are so strong, so bad, and so evil, that we can’t possibly fight against them. It often seems that the devil is so strong, that his power is so great, that we can’t beat him. But that’s a lie.
It’s a lie from the father of lies, the devil. It’s a lie told by the one who told the very first lie. Remember that the serpent, the devil, lied to Adam and Eve and they believed the devil over God, and then it seemed that everything started going downhill after that.
If we believe the lie, whatever the lie might be then we give it power and authority over us, the power that it doesn’t really have. If we believe the lie then we give the liar power over us too, the power that the liar doesn’t really have either. In today’s gospel, we see Jesus who is the truth, demonstrating that his authority, the power of truth, the power of good, the power of God, is so much greater than evil or anything else.
Jesus’ authority and power are from God because Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus’ authority and power were greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees, despite the fact that they were supposed to be strictly, and scrupulously, following God’s law as handed down by Moses.
The Jewish people believed in God’s authority and power but some of them also believed the lie that there were other gods and so some of them worshipped idols and gave the devil power and authority he didn’t really have. But even that power and authority was no match for Jesus. • Not sickness • Not disaster • Not sin • Not even death; Jesus has power and authority over it all
Evil has no real power, not unless we believe the lie and give it power. It may beat us down, like with this Pandemic, and we may believe the lie that it’s stronger, that it’s winning. But that’s still a lie. It was through the lie that evil was given power and authority, in the first place, and it’s through the lie that it maintains any power or authority. So rejecting the lie we need to focus on the truth.
So where do we find the truth? Well, John’s gospel says, “…while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:17).
And Jesus himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).
That is the ultimate truth, truth with ultimate power and with ultimate authority from God - Believe it!