4th Sunday Year B, 2024

  

(Deuteronomy 18:15-20; 1^st Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28)

Moses had found the Israelites both hard to teach and reluctant to obey the words given him by the Lord for their observance; so perhaps there was some overtone of irony in his voice when, as we heard in our first reading, he said to them:

A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen.

We, however, are not like those Israelites of old; and so, let us recall and try to profitably consider what is of supreme importance from that first reading today:

Moses spoke to the people saying: ‘The LORD said to me, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put My words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him”.

We then heard why it would be so very important for them to listen to the promised prophet better than they had listened to Moses himself:     

If any man will not listen to My words which he (the prophet) speaks in My name, I Myself will make him (that person) answer for it.

After Moses, the Lord did indeed raise up a series of prophets: great prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others, whose messages live on in the Bible, and yet others whose names alone are remembered; but even though they spoke faithfully, and -- at times -- most beautifully, in the name of the God of Israel, we find throughout the Bible that their message was largely ignored:

I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me. (Jeremiah 35:15-16)

Or, as Isaiah put it more dramatically (42:18-20):

Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see.  You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; your ears are open, but none hears.

A prophet was called and sent to speak a message given him by God.  However, should a prophet betray his calling by substituting his own words for the word of God – which was always a possibility because of human sinfulness and the importance and attention accorded to a recognized prophet – God had also most solemnly warned:

If a prophet presumes to speak in My name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.

And so, though the Lord took great care to have His word faithfully proclaimed and publicly appreciated in Israel, nevertheless, His true prophets were frequently ignored by the people; and indeed, opposed, and even physically oppressed, by their leaders who were inclined to listen only to what they wanted to hear, rather than to the word the Lord their God chose to send them (Matthew 23:37):

O Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!

Nevertheless, Moses’ promise of a special prophet to come was not forgotten by pious Israelites, neither was their conviction that his message would be of decisive

importance for the fulfilment of Israel’s destiny.  You can, therefore, appreciate the significance of the question put to John the Baptist by a delegation of Jews from the authorities in Jerusalem:

 Are you the Prophet?”   

Recall also, in this connection, the voice of the Father speaking from heaven to Peter, James and John on the Mount of Jesus’ transfiguration:

This is My beloved Son.  LISTEN TO HIM!  (Mark 9:7)

Believers of today now know the reason why the Prophet promised by Moses would speak infallibly in God’s name: it is because that Prophet was the very Word of God Himself Who became one of us as Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth:

Jesus answered, "My doctrine is not Mine but His Who sent Me.  I and My Father are One."  (John 7:16, 10:30)

So, People of God, you are in a position to understand that when Jesus spoke, He did so with authority, a God-given authority, not as the scribes; and that why, as we were told:

The people were astonished at His teaching.

Now, that same Jesus speaks to us today, indeed, He is speaking now, in your midst, as I proclaim His word in His name; and we must always bear in mind that He was, and still is, the Saviour of those, and only those, who want to be saved, who will “Repent”.  Many to whom He spoke and who heard His teaching would not accept His teaching-with-authority and, consequently, did not acknowledge His Person; those He left them to themselves, He did not seek to force Himself upon them.

And now today, each of us here must be prepared to answer a question arising from the  secret depths of our Catholic mind and heart: “Do I want Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour, or do I want to be left in the indolence of my own comfort and indifference? Do I want to be rescued from my sinfulness or not?  What, indeed, do I want, here, before God?”

Yes, dear People, if you really want Jesus to be your Saviour, a Rock of strength and support for you, a Light to reveal the authentic beauty of God’s saving will for you, and to guide you into the joy of walking, by His Spirit, along the path He has traced out for you.  If you want God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- to be your earthly joy and promise of eternal blessedness, your earthly light leading to heavenly glory; IF you want to become -- in Jesus -- a true child of God, then you must give Him authority in your life now, here on earth.  Jesus is no tyrant, He will not arrogate such authority to Himself; but if you humbly and faithfully give it to Him, He will use it for your great, eternal blessing.

Listen now to Our Lord Himself again (John 7:16-17):

My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wants to do His will, he will know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.

“If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know, he will realize …”  God has done His work by giving us His Son --- Who suffered, died, and rose again for us --- and His Spirit, to guide and form us as His children in His beloved Son; and now, we have to choose: “If anyone wants”, Jesus said, “to do God’s will, he will know the truth of My teaching.” Jesus never fails His People;  but not all those who call themselves Christians and Catholics actually want, or do choose, Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour.  Far too many concede Him the titles of Lord and Saviour indeed, but not the authority of Lord and Master in their lives. 

In a sinful world, ‘authority’ easily brings to mind an objectionable, domineering attitude, that has to be resisted, or at least submerged and forgotten in a flood of emotional words and deeds. And yet, true love cannot be exercised without right authority: God the Father sent His Son among us; His Son obediently came into our world at the behest of, and out of supreme love for, His Father; and in every Christian household, loving parents must guide, and when necessary correct, with right authority their children.

See, dear People of God, when Jesus used those words, The Father and I are One: He was speaking about authority and obedience, command and love, as being complimentary manifestations of the absolute one-ness of divinity; He was speaking about the dignity,  understanding, and the totally selfless mutual commitment, uniting the Father and Himself as Son, in the work of our salvation, through their most Holy Spirit.

Dear People of God, Mother Church’s traditional faith, is God’s saving truth.  Mother Church’s sacraments give us God’ grace.  We recognize and acknowledge that Truth; we follow, and are grateful for, that grace, in our lives.  But our hearts are moved to love -- in return -- by Beauty.  Our Blessed Lady loved Jesus as God’s ‘gift’, as her own Son, but ultimately, above all, she loved Him for being the sublimely beautiful Person she had seen, come to know ever-more-deeply, and experienced -- full heart-and-soul -- Him to be.  We recognize and acknowledge the traditional faith of Mother Church, we are grateful for her God-given sacraments which are God’s chosen channels of our salvation … but, the supreme fulfilment of our Christian and Catholic being is only to be found in the measure-of-our-awareness of the Personal Beauty of the God behind them; the God Who supports them; the God and Father of us all Who bestows them.