Welcome Back to Banquet of the Word!
Join us every week for background on this Sunday readings.
Our mission is simple:
We want to help everyone in “pew-land” get more out of mass.
Because it’s fun to feel smart about scripture.
Fun Fact:
Deuteronomy is book #5 of the Pentateuch (“Pentateuch” refers to the first 5 books of the bible = Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).
It is the farewell letter of a dying prophet (Moses) to the nation he loved with all his heart, mind and soul (*there are 51 references to “heart” in the book). The book was written to the Israelites beyond the Jordan – when they were in the wilderness.
“Deuteronomy means” “second law,” Moses “re-tells” the law because as you may recall, the Israelites broke the law the first time Moses gave it (Golden Calf). (…Sounds like my kids.)
Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
(The 1st Reading is Old Testament. It always links to the Gospel.)
Moses gave 3 addresses to the people throughout Deuteronomy. We are smack in the middle of Address #2, which spans chapter 4-28(!). Moses re-tells the story of him being called by God to be a prophet to the people. The reading begins:
Moses spoke to all the people, saying:
“A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin;
to him you shall listen.
This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb
on the day of the assembly, when you said,
‘Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God,
nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘This was well said.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin,
and will put my words into his mouth;
he shall tell them all that I command him.
Whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name,
I myself will make him answer for it.
But 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.’”
Psalm 95: If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
We hear today what the Israelites might have been singing in their hearts as the heard Moses re-tell the law of God. We are going to hear it again at mass (the law); let us respond in both word and deed as the psalm suggests.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
1 COR 7:32-35
(THE 2ND READING IS USUALLY FROM PAUL’S LETTERS. SPEAKS TO HOW THE EARLY CHURCH WAS BUILT AFTER CHRIST’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION).
Paul’s 1st letter to the church in Corinth is an answer to THEIR letter to Paul. They ask a lot of questions about how to live a Christ-like way of life – a life after the Cross – a life that is NEW testament, not OLD. In Chapter 7, Paul advises on marriage and virginity. In the verse prior, Paul reveals “For the form of this world is passing away.”
What does this mean? Paul says here that our relationship with God is eternal and endures forever; not so for marriage, which is an earthly covenant.
Marriage is a gift from God, it is a way for us to attempt to model Christ’s love for and relationship with His Church. Marriage on earth is our dress rehearsal for the Real Deal – the Wedding Feast of Heaven.
Will we see our spouses in Heaven? We sure hope so, and with immeasurable joy! But the marriage bond no longer exists in the same way. Paul writes:
I should like you to be free of anxieties.
An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord,
how he may please the Lord.
But a married man is anxious about the things of the world,
how he may please his wife, and he is divided.
An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord,
so that she may be holy in both body and spirit.
A married woman, on the other hand,
is anxious about the things of the world,
how she may please her husband.
Mark 1:21-28
(The Gospel is the highest point of the Liturgy of the Word. That’s why we stand.
We are about to hear from and be instructed by Christ Himself.)
The theme for today’s gospel? Gob-smacked. That is what the people were who stood in the presence of Christ as He drove the demons out of the man in Capernaum. Not only did Jesus recognize and call OUT the unclean spirit, He did this on the Sabbath – which was against the law. The 7th day was set aside for 2 things only: Worship and Rest.
More gob-smacking occurs when we see that the Unclean Spirit – the demon or fallen angel itself – calls Christ “The Holy One.” Wow! Note though, this is not out of worship or reverence, but fear.
Then, without pomp and circumstance, long prayers, candles, songs, or chanting (as many current exorcisms feature), Jesus calls the Spirit out and it obeys. (That demon listens better than my kids, that’s for sure).
Summary:
So what do we make of all these readings? My friend Fr. Tom Welbers, who also writes a blog called “Banquet of the Word,” gives an excellent summary when he says,
This passage contains a nutshell summary of the whole mission of Jesus: to free humankind from enslavement to the forces of evil, which he does by the power of his Word — he is God’s Word-made-flesh (Jn 1:14). To use this passage to argue the pros and cons of personal demons and diabolical possession risks missing the point: all humanity is in the grip of the power of evil without Christ.
Well said. I think today we can just sit in awe. Be Gob-smacked by God. He stamps out evil with his words. Oh the power!
This week – let’s use OUR words to call on Jesus. Ask Him for help. Go beyond just praying in our heads. Let’s try using words.
Banquet of the Word 