What is the Devil doing in Church?

Homily for January 28, 2018.

“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” Mark 1:24.

Our Gospel passage today is a direct continuation of that of last Sunday. Jesus is at the beginning of his public ministry, he goes about town preaching the need for repentance and along the way he finds some fishermen and called them to himself with the promise that they would fish for men henceforth.

Today, Jesus went to the synagogue to worship God. Jesus did not despise the synagogue even though he knew how imperfect the place was, Jesus knew of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the Priests and their followers yet it was his custom never to skip the synagogue. Like the Synagogue, the church today is so full of imperfect people but this fact should never discourage you from going to church; it is not people you are going there to worship, but God. No amount of scandal should drive you away from church.

Upon entering the synagogue, Jesus immediately took the pulpit and began to preach. It was the opportunity he was waiting for, the perfect setting he need to announce himself to the world as the Messiah. Jesus taught with authority; this way he confirmed the words of Moses in our First Reading. He did not speak like one who was just a messenger, he spoke to them as God. The people were astonished, amazed, touched; caught to the heart… Like the disciples at Emmaus, their hearts were burning within them as they listened to Jesus. Good preaching should strike a chord in your heart, it should shift you away from your comfort zone and make you think. Good preaching is not motivational speech, it is not prayer, it should not make you feel good, it should make you look inwards and decide to change your life.

There was a man in the synagogue who was possessed by a demon. Now, could it be that this man was a regular customer to this synagogue? It means that spiritually speaking, that synagogue was actually dead. A church that fails to help sinners change or repent but rather makes them comfortable in their sinfulness is truly a dead church, a church that makes light of evil and actually condones sin in the name of modernity is a very dead church. You may ask, what is the devil doing in church? I answer, the devil’s presence in church is the reason why many people go to church but only few are true Christians. God speaking through Isaiah says: “These people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Isaiah 29:13.

The demon could not withstand the purity of Jesus Christ. It cried out “What have you to do with us?” This is the reason why the world hates true Christians. Beneath the cry of the demon possessed man is the cry of the world against God’s children. We do not belong to the world, we cannot compete with the world for its wealth, its power, fame and pleasures. We cannot be Godly and worldly at the same time, we cannot be truly comfortable in the world. Jesus says, if we want to be his disciples, we should take up our cross and follow him. We operate by a higher standard, we do not conform to the pattern of the world.

If you are a youth, say past the age of twenty, unmarried and still a virgin, not in a relationship, the world practically hates you. Your friends call you all sorts of names, they make you feel like one big loser. Basically, the world is asking you “what have you to do with us? Just go away, you don’t belong here.” Look at the words of St. Paul in our second reading today. Don’t give up on your holiness, don’t bow to pressure; don’t try to be like everyone else, worship God with your body.

Jesus cast out the demon simply by speaking. The words of Jesus are not ordinary words, they are words that created the world and everything in it. In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was God. Never take God’s words for granted. Never joke with the Bible. Read God’s word, Speak God’s words, Declare God’s words over your life, your circumstances, your marriage, your health, your finances, and just as the demon obeyed, things would work for you. Jesus said: “I came that they may have life in abundance.” That abundant life is what we get when we soak ourselves in God’s words and use them for ourselves.

The book of Hebrews says: “The word of God is sharper than any two edged sword” Heb.4:12. Don’t use the Bible as a pillow case, open it every day and read it. Joshua was told: “this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.” Joshua 1:8. Today’s Christians want good success but forget that they are also to do what is written in the Bible.

Conclusion: Our Gospel passage ends with the line: “News about him spread everywhere throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.” Every time you attend Church and fail to spread the word of God, your church attendance is incomplete. The few people in that synagogue that day talked about Jesus so much so that the whole of Galilee knew Jesus. When the priest says: “Go, the mass is ended” it literally means “Go and announce Jesus, go and spread the message, go and proclaim God by your life.”

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, fill me with the Holy Spirit, cast away from me any attachment to evil, any sinful habit, any demonic possession. Amen

Happy Sunday. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. (Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Year B. Bible Study: Deuteronomy 18:15-20, 1^st Corinthians 7:32-35 and Mark 1:21-28).