Tuesday,
September 01, 2015
22nd Week in Ordinary Time 1st reading: 1 Thessalonians 5.1-6, 9-11
Gospel: Luke 4:31-37
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee, and began teaching the people at the Sabbath meetings. They were astonished at the way he taught them, for his word was spoken with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man possessed by an evil spirit who shouted in a loud voice, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I recognize you: you are the Holy One of God.” Then Jesus said to him sharply, “Be silent and leave this man!” The evil spirit then threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him harm.
Amazement seized all these people and they said to one another, “What does this mean? He commands the evil spirits with authority and power. He orders, and you see how they come out!” And news about Jesus spread throughout the surrounding area.
D@iGITAL EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A story is told of a husband who never gave his wife a say in their conjugal affairs. His persistent refrain was: “No, I will not! Nobody orders me around. I am the boss in this house!” The wife finally mustered enough courage to put her foot down. To make it dramatic she chased him with a sharp bolo. Shivering in fear the husband hid himself under the bed. “Come out, you coward!” challenged the wife. With broken voice the husband replied, “No, I will not! Nobody orders me around. I am the boss in this family!”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus challenged evil spirits to come out of the possessed man. But unlike the husband who continued to assert his authority, the evil spirits were submissive. So the devil obeyed Jesus? What an oxymoron! The terms devil and obedience are miles apart in meaning. Obedience to God’s will is life eternal while adherence to the devil is death. “Devil”, in fact, is the reverse of “lived”, the past experience of one who used to have life but is now dead.
Today’s Gospel reading is not about obedient devils but about the power of good over evil. The devils had no choice but dispossess the man because it was Jesus giving the order. Those who do the work of God experience this tremendous power over evil. Whenever a person does God’s will, he assumes moral power that not even devils can resist. We call this the power of moral persuasion. Such power reaches fullness when a person, acting as agent of God’s will, live morally. His very life constitutes a standing order to others to stop doing evil, an order so powerful which even devils find hard to resist. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.