Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
(I Samuel
18:6-9.19:1-7; Mark 3:7-12)
In today’s
gospel Jesus faces two kinds of threats.
There is the crowd which may turn into a stampede that crushes him. He
orders a boat as a safety valve if this begins to happen. Then there are the evil spirits who want to
reveal his full identity to the people. If
they succeed, the crowd would besiege him with adulation. This might not seem harmful, but it would
frustrate his mission of revealing the Father’s will.
Jesus shows
his authority over the evil spirits. He
orders them not to speak about him. More
than that, however, at the indicated moment he will vanquish Satan. The power of darkness will have no control
over Jesus’ followers. Like the invasion
of Normandy, it will be a costly victory.
Jesus will die on the cross. But
it will liberate his people of the tyranny of sin.
We too face physical and spiritual threats all the time. The Covid pandemic exemplifies the former. Unchaste desires represent the latter. Like Jesus, we are wise to prepare ways to escape physical disaster. We should as well not hesitate to call on Jesus to help us avoid spiritual downfall.
