Monday,
January 27, 2014
3rd Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading:
2Sam 5: 1-7,10
Gospel: Mark 3:22-30
The teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is in the power of Beelzebul: the chief of the demons helps him to drive out demons.”
Jesus called them to him and began teaching them by means of stories or parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a nation is divided by civil war, that nation cannot stand. If a family divides itself into groups, that family will not survive. In the same way, if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he will not stand; he is finished. No one can break into the house of the Strong one in order to plunder his goods, unless he first ties up the Strong one. Then indeed, he can plunder his house.
Truly, I say to you, every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, however numerous. But whoever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven: he carries the guilt of his sin forever.”
This was their sin when they said, “He has an evil spirit in him.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Bengt de Torne, author of “Sibelius: A Close Up”, quoted the Finnish composer of the later Romantic Period Jean Sibelius as saying: “Never pay attention to what critics say. Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic.” This advice finds support in Jesus’ manner of treating his adversaries who went too far as to accuse him of being in cahoots with the prince of devils.
How Jesus’ critics arrived at the conclusion that he was working for Beelzebul is puzzling. In those times, while people recognized that the devil was powerful they also acknowledged that the power of God was much greater. They should have concluded that Jesus was exercising God’s power when he drove out evil spirits. Yet the Teachers of the Law arrived at a different conclusion.
Prejudice is a form of blindness worse than the physical one. While physical blindness makes facts scarce and forces the blind person to draw conclusions from insufficient facts, prejudice makes the person invent facts from preconceived conclusions. A prejudiced person is like one wearing dark glasses. Nothing appears bright to him, not even light itself.
In the Gospel we read today, even the Son of God looked like a devil to them. Instead of believing in Jesus for the miracles he performed, they declared that he was an agent of the prince of demons.
We cannot expect better treatment from prejudiced people. After all, if Jesus who did much greater things was maligned, should we expect critics to put up a statue in our honor? – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website:www.frdan.org.
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