4 Sunday B The unclean spirit

Four minute homilies

The unclean spirit

Today we see Jesus teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum. Jesus centred his public ministry in this town, at the shores of the lake of Gennesaret. He didn’t want to stay in Nazareth; a prophet is not well liked in his home town. Apart from Jerusalem, there is no other place like Capernaum that contains more memories of Jesus in the Gospels. The ruins are well preserved because the place was deserted until the Franciscans bought the land at the beginning of the twentieth century and spent almost 100 years excavaiting it. You can see now the ruins of the synagogue and a church built over the house of Saint Peter.

Even though he wasn’t a rabbi, they allowed him to teach in the synagogue. He was becoming a famous prophet and everybody wanted to hear him. The Gospel says that “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” Rabbis taught based on the authority of famous rabbis, and you could trace their lineage back to Moses; and of course, Moses got it directly from God. But Jesus spoke with his own authority, without the need to quote anybody else to bolster what he said. He defended the truth with his own testimony.

There was a man in the synagogue possessed with a demon. We don’t know if he was allowed to enter or they placed him there to cause trouble. We priests know of lunatics coming to churches and causing havoc. You need to be very careful not to upset them and try to be gentle but firm to get them out. Somehow mad people are attracted to sacred places. It is the first time that Jesus faced an unclean spirit, in Hebrew, Beelzebub. The man cried out: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” It was a tense situation, all eyes are fixed on Jesus, to see how he was going to react. His power was tested. The possessed man recognised him: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God!” On the contrary most contemporaries of Jesus missed who he was. It wasn’t easy for them. It is not easy for us either. How can we recognise Jesus passing by? He is coming to us every day, many times hidden in unforeseen situations.

Jesus knew how to deal with him and treated him with authority: “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit didn’t go out without a fight: he convulsed the man with a loud cry. It must have been very dramatic. Exorcists learn from Jesus how to expel demons. They study the scriptures to follow Jesus’ practice and try to use his power. People are fascinated with exorcists. It is a good theme for a horror movie. We shouldn’t be afraid of the devil. Once I heard an exorcist saying that the best exorcism is a good confession.

Devils have easy control of people. They try to slave them through sin. We too are possessed by sin. It is a kind of slavery, that we need to be free off. Even though we are prone to evil, sin doesn’t make us happy. Jesus has the power and the authority to help us. We need to recognise our addictions and let Jesus to free us from them. With our will and his power, we can become holy.

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