Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
The text that comes to us today from Luke is dramatic! Jesus is teaching on the Sabbath in Capernaum when he encounters a man who is possessed by a demon. The man cries out to Jesus and even challenges him, suggesting that Jesus has come on a mission of destruction. Jesus responds with force and authority, telling the demon to be quiet and come out of the man. The demon does, and does so without harming the man in any way. The people who witness this ask, “What is there about his word?”
Indeed, what is there about his word?
From this and many other texts, we know that Jesus’ word is a teaching word. Chief among his teachings is love not merely of those we already are inclined to love but especially those we are inclined to or taught to hate—those on the margins of society, people easily feared because of their afflictions (real or imagined), enemies (real or imagined). In addition to this, he teaches us to be merciful, peaceful, pure in heart, true to our word, the salt of the earth. And so much more.
In this text, we are confronted with the fact that Jesus’ teaching word is not merely a word of suggestion. Because he teaches with the authority of the Spirit, we learn, his teaching word is an acting word. It does things. So powerful is his word that it even casts out demons.
Demons. The idea of demon possession is, to be sure, a strange one for many, if not most of us. Yet, does it make some sense to say that we all have voices in our heads, voices that are no good to any of us and that challenge the teachings of Jesus? Or that call us away from rather than toward the teachings of Jesus?
Perhaps we should ask ourselves what voices we might be harboring in our own heads that challenge Jesus and his teachings or that make it hard for us to follow Jesus. Do we harbor voices of fear toward others? Do we listen to voices in our heads that say we are so unworthy that we can’t really follow Jesus? Do we nurture voices that turn us away from the call to mercy and toward judgment?
In this text, we learn that Jesus has the power to liberate us from such voices. May he exorcise us all from any voices that keep us from love, peace, and mercy. Amen.
- Sue Trollinger