Going to the Nearby Villages

“‘Everyone is looking for you.’
He told them, ‘Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.’”

Mark 1:37b-38

When someone popular is in town, people tend to like to go out and try to get a glimpse of them. I remember one time a movie was being shot in Philadelphia and roads were blocked off but those who knew about it would stand behind the barricades to watch. Those celebrities were in town to do their job, but they really weren’t there to see and greet the people. Although sometimes they might stop and give an autograph here or there, but the majority of the time their intention was never to go and spend time with their fans, those who admire their work, those who made them a celebrity. In contrast, when Jesus goes into a town, He deliberately goes to see the people.

While in Capernaum Jesus enters the house of Simon Peter, where his mother-in-law was sick. Jesus was told about this and He went to her, grasped her hand, and helped her up. She immediately got better and right after this she went and waited on them! This is one of many healings that Jesus performs there. But, this is something that we must think about more. Peter’s mother-in-law has been sick and has been lying in bed, and when Jesus held her hand and helped her up she was restored to health and resumed her life, playing hostess. The woman was sick just a moment ago, then the next moment she is entertaining! The power of Jesus’s touch restores life, not just treating the symptoms but curing and healing the person.

The next day Jesus wakes up early and goes to a quiet place to pray, communing with the Father. Then when Peter and the disciples find Him, they told Him that “everyone is looking for you!” So Jesus, gets up and goes to the “nearby villages” and preached, healed, and casted out demons. We are told He did this “throughout the whole of Galilee.” Jesus did not just heal His friends and their families, He healed whomever ask for it. Everyone was looking for Jesus, not just friends and not just Jews, but everyone. He went to the nearby villages, perhaps to places that are neglected and He brings healing. He did so because He said “for this purpose have I come.” This is our calling as Christians, too. We are called to go to the nearby villages and bring Jesus to them.

Where are the nearby villages to which we might be called? Our homes, our workplaces, our communities. Maybe to the streets where the homeless roam and try to make a home. Perhaps to the sick and those in nursing homes or those in prison. We are called to bring Christ to all, conduct ourselves so that when others see us and meet us they will be able to encounter Christ in us. How can we do this? By imitating Jesus. It was at the place of prayer and communing with the Father do the disciples find Jesus to tell Him people were looking for Him. Likewise, we must spend time in prayer, growing in our relationship with God, so that when we are approached by others, we might be Christ for them. Brothers and sisters, “everyone is looking for you.” Let us be on our way!

Click below to watch today’s reflection.

Unchallengeable Authority

“A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”

Mark 1:27b

Prophets are the mouthpieces of God, speaking what God has commanded them to proclaim to the people for the salvation of their souls. The prophets we hear of in the Old Testament teach and preach under the authority of God; however, in the fullness of time, and according to His covenant and faithfulness, God raised up a prophet for the people who would save them from their sins once and for all, a prophet who would teach with His own authority, Someone with unchallengeable authority — the Son of God.

Some people think they have authority but in reality they do not. Others abuse the authority entrusted to them. Usually authority or power comes with “office” and not to the person holding that office. So, when we say the Pope has power and authority, he does as long as he holds the Office of the Bishop of Rome. All priests share in the ministerial priesthood of Christ, and so they share in the authority of Christ the Head as long as they carry out the will of God in accordance with their vocation. By virtue of our baptism Christians share in Christ’s threefold office of priest, prophet, and king. So in a very real way all the baptized are prophets in as far as we preach and teach what Jesus has taught and remain in communion with the universal Church. We preach and teach with the authority of Christ by virtue of our baptism, but Jesus teaches on His own authority.

When a man possessed with an evil spirit approaches Jesus, the evil spirit immediately recognized Jesus and they knew they had no chance whatsoever. The Lord does not dialogue with the spirit, He simply commands “Quiet! Come out of him!” and the spirit is gone. If the Pharisees or the other elders of the Law tried to do this with their own authority, it would not work because they have no authority apart from the Law. But now, the Law Himself was before them and they did not even know. Jesus is the Son of God and He is the New Covenant, the fullness of revelation, the Savior promised in the Garden of Eden (see Gen. 3:15).

Brothers and sisters, we must always remember to whom we belong. We belong to God. We belong to the One whom created all things and who commands all things. There is nothing that God cannot do. We live in this world but we do not belong to it. The enemy persuades that the authority of this world is what we ought to live under, but the truth is that apart from and out of conformity with the authority of God, the authority of this world is an illusion, a web of lies. Let us never find ourselves under the wrong authority. May love and mercy be our compass, guiding us towards the banner of the unchallengeable authority of Christ.

Watch this week’s reflection below.

Now, Not Later

“Jesus said to them,
‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’
Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.”

Mark 1:17-18

In this Sunday’s readings we hear once again of call narratives but also a call to action. We read of Jonah’s preaching to the Ninevites and his warning of impending destruction if they do not turn from their wicked ways. In the Gospel, Jesus also calls for repentance, not simply to turn from their old ways or to do what they know in their hearts to be right, but Jesus also gives a command — “believe in the gospel.”

In the Greek, the word used for gospel is εὐαγγέλιον, which has come to mean “gospel” or “Good News” as we know it today, but for the Romans it was truly good news. It was a proclamation that the battle is over and that victory has been won. This “gospel” that Jesus brings is not another book to add to the canon of Scripture, but is a living message, a message that brings life, a message that is Christ Himself. The Good News is that slavery to sin has been lifted and death no longer has the final word. But we must come to accept this News, we must come to accept the One through whom this Good News comes and who is the living message itself.

In Mark’s Gospel we come to see that there is a sense of urgency or immediacy in his writing. We will often read “and immediately…” in his Gospel. That is to show that the need for conversion is urgent and that the time is now and not later. Hence when Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James, and John as we read in today’s Gospel, they immediately follow Jesus, leaving behind everything. They understood that to follow Jesus was the most important thing to do and it was something that could not wait. If you knew that something amazing was waiting for you behind the door, would you leave and come back later to open the door? It would be ridiculous. And brothers and sisters, that is the approach we ought to have to the call of Jesus for us in our lives.

We must answer His call to follow Him now, today. What is holding us back? What are those nets we are still holding on to that keep us from following Jesus? Peter (Simon) and Andrew abandoned their nets, that which symbolized their old life — the life they have come to know, the life that kept them in their comfort zone — immediately because they believed that the life Jesus calls them too is far greater. Yes, it asks them to move outside of their comfort zone, but they wouldn’t be alone. Jesus would be with them. Jesus remains with us today. Brother and sisters, if Jesus has called us, He will not abandon us; He will provide for us and will give us all that we need to live out our call. The time is now, brothers and sisters, to say “yes” to Christ, to abandon our nets, and to follow Him. The time is now, not later.

Click below to watch today’s reflection.