ARE DEMONS

CHRISTIANS?

“What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” – Mark 1:27

We were taught that we should obey Jesus for us to be Christians. But in today’s reading, demons obey Jesus too, and yet, they are still demons. Why? The demons obeyed because they know something worse will befall them if they don’t. They obeyed because of self-preservation and not devotion.

Years ago, a girlie bar lit up the street every night not too far from our missionary house. While doing our Good Friday evening “prayer walk” with a brother, I noticed from afar that it was closed for business that night. Knowing it was the “safest” time to make friends with the security guard, I curiously asked, “Why are you closed?” He chuckled, as if the question was stupid and the answer was obvious: “It’s bad luck for business if we are not!”

How many times have we complied with religious rituals so we won’t get “struck by lightning”? Do we attend Mass on Sundays to “pay our dues” and be lucky for the coming week? Do we give to charity to somehow pay for the sins of the past month? Jesus tells us today, “I can do so much more for you. Come, genuine joy awaits you when you truly love and obey!” Jon Escoto (faithatworkjon@gmail.com)

Reflect: My friend, how are your prayers today? Are they transactional or devotional? Are they out of obligation or out of love?

Father, let me know more of Your love today. So that more than fearing You, I would love You. Amen.

 St. Paul the Hermit, pray for us.

God created everything. He gave us a particular dignity that is beyond the rest of Creation. Let us treasure the dignity of each person and stand  firm against attempts to degrade or reject the dignity of minorities. Every person is stamped with the “imago Dei,” as we have all been created in the image of God.

Hebrews 2:5-12

5 It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 Instead, someone has testified somewhere: What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, 8 subjecting all things under his feet. In “subjecting” all things to him, he left nothing not “subject to him.” Yet at present, we do not see “all things subject to him,” 9 but we do see Jesus “crowned with glory and honor” because he suffered death, he who “for a little while” was made “lower than the angels,” that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers,” 12 saying: I will proclaim your name to my brethren, in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.

P S A L M 

Psalm 8:2, 5, 6-7, 8-9

R: You have given your Son rule over the works of your hands.

1 [2] O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth! 4 [5] What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him? (R) 5 [6] You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 [7] You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet. (R) 7 [8] All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, 8 [9] the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas. (R)

GOSPEL

Jesus’ authority is derived from His being the Son of the Father and His obedience to the Father’s will. Following the will of God enables us to share in Christ’s authority in a spiritual sense. Let us be open to His will, as it is the perfect way for us to live our lives.

Receive the word of God, not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God.

Mark 1:21-28

21 Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. 23 In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; 24 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 Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” 26 The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. 27 All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” 28 His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

think: What is God’s will for you?

______________________________   

Read the Bible in one year  Luke 4-6 

 

 

SCRIPTURE 101 

In the time of the early Christianity there was a teaching condemned by the Church called Marcionism. It is the theological doctrine known after Marcion of Sinope, “a ship owner from Pontus in Asia minor” who died around 160 A.D. Marcion taught that the God of the Old Testament was the origin of evil, power hungry, and a lesser being compared to the God of the New Testament whose traits are the opposite of the Old Testament God.

As a consequence, Marcion accepted only certain books of the New Testament Bible and rejected the whole of the Old Testament.  The early Church, through the defense of Christian apologists Tertullian and Irenaeus, condemned Marcion for this teaching and guarded believers against what is now known as the Marcion heresy—a teaching that accepts only portions of the New Testament and rejects all of the Old Testament.

If you read today’s First Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, you will find there a long quotation from the Book of Psalms, particularly Psalm 8 where the psalmist praises God for the honor He gave to man for making him little less than a God and crowning man (humanity, that is) with honor and glory.

The Letter to the Hebrews is a New Testament book. The Psalms belong to the Old Testament canon.  These two books were written centuries apart from one another, but we can notice here a unity of message and congruence in meaning. Today we have a New Testament author using an Old Testament text to elucidate his message more clearly and convincingly.

The Old Testament and New Testament books do not cancel out one another. In fact, they complement one another.  The Old testament is nothing but the New covered with a veil, and the New Testament is nothing but the Old unveiled. As men and women of the Word, we need to be familiar with all of Scripture, the Old and the New Testament alike. If we want to understand the New Testament Jesus in the integrity of His personhood, we need to be acquainted with everything written about Him in the Old. Fr. Joel O. Jason

------- REFLECTION QUESTION -------

How much of the Word of God do you endeavor to assimilate?

May I encounter You, Jesus, in the integrity of Your revealed identity. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ____________________________