THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

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A good Sunday for everyone. 

In last week’s Gospel, we heard the announcement that marked the beginning of Jesus’ public life. He said, “The kingdom of God is here; be converted and believe in the gospel.” This means the old world, the one of injustice, violence, and abuse, had ended, and the new world had begun. Two pairs of brothers who were fishing companions on the Lake of Galilee, all four from the city of Bethsaida at the northern end of the lake, said Yes to Jesus. They believed in him, left the boat, the net, and their father, and followed him. 

The idea of the kingdom of God they had in mind was far from clear; however, they endorsed him and followed him. To those who had trusted him, Jesus entrusted the task of fishing for people, bringing them out of the old world and into the kingdom of God. Today, these four, along with Jesus, spend the first day together. 

Let’s hear where this day begins and what happens: 

In those days, they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath, he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

As the Sabbath began, the small group of Jesus and the first four disciples set out. Where were they going? They were going to carry out their mission, which was to fish for people, to bring them out of the old world and into the new world in the kingdom of God. We would imagine that they should begin to cast their nets where people are immersed in the waters of evil up to their necks, among the tax collectors and sinners, women with dubious lives, the corrupt, those who resort to violence, and those who use weapons. 

These are the people who should be caught first. Instead, they will cast their nets into the sacred place in the synagogue, where people pray and listen to God’s word, a place frequented by good people. How can one understand that they go fishing first of all there, in the synagogue? The first liberation that Jesus seeks is to take people out of a religious institution that fosters a misguided relationship with God. 

In the catechesis the rabbis taught in the synagogue, God was depicted as the lawgiver, who gave the good and beautiful commandments, then watches over and rewards those who observe them, and severely punishes those who transgress them, perhaps by sending calamities, diseases, and pestilence. Jesus wants to free people from this catechesis; unless this image of God is removed, it is impossible to enter into the newness of the kingdom of God. 

This is why Jesus begins in the synagogue, the sacred place. Indeed, in the Gospel of Mark, we find Jesus three times in synagogues, and whenever he enters, conflicts break out. Today, we will see Jesus confront the forces of evil that dehumanize a man inside the synagogue. Sometime later, in the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus healed a man with a paralyzed hand. And in the synagogue, the Pharisees will react: ‘This man does not observe the Sabbath because the tradition we teach demands that no one be healed on the Sabbath. The important thing is to observe the order not to work on the Sabbath.’ And Jesus wants to take people out of this religious tradition that contradicts the only thing God is interested in, love for the person. The third time he enters the synagogue, it will be in Nazareth, where Jesus will be expelled because the people there are tied to their traditional religious beliefs and do not let themselves be freed. 

Who taught this catechesis in the synagogues? They were the scribes and the rabbis. This rabbinical institution had developed in Babylon during the exile, when the priests had lost importance because there was no longer a temple to offer sacrifices; and the synagogues where the exiled people gathered to listen to the reading of the sacred text were born; and those who read and then explained that text were the scribes. Even though the exile ended and the temple was reconstructed, the rabbis always had great importance because they were the reference point of the people; they were those who instilled catechesis, and their word was accepted as the word of God. And they devoted their whole lives to the study of God’s word, and when they reached the age of 45, that is, when they were old, they received the imposition of hands that communicated the spirit of Moses. 

Here is the reason for their prestige. The problem is that these rabbis interpreted the word of God according to their convictions and ideas, thereby distorting its meaning. Jeremiah had already said: ‘By your interpretations, you rabbis reduce the law of the Lord to a lie.’ 

The message for us is very current. We participate in the life of the Christian community and listen to the catechesis, but let’s ask ourselves whether we also need to let ourselves be taken out of certain religious convictions, and let our minds and hearts be cleansed of a certain image of God that is still pagan, not the face of God that we see shining in the face of Jesus. And until we go beyond the catechesis that we have let into us, but which is not evangelical, we will never allow ourselves to be fully involved in the proposal of Jesus’s new world. 

When Jesus begins to speak in the synagogue, everyone is amazed at his teaching because he teaches with authority. What does it mean to teach with authority? Simple and sincere people immediately recognize that the word of God is present in a certain message; they recognize the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, and the same thing happened in that synagogue, where they noticed the difference between the rabbis’ catechesis and the newness of the word of God. 

The word of Jesus is provocative and stimulating; it does not leave things as they are. By contrast, the word of the rabbis left everything quiet, did not bother anyone, and you can immediately see the result, the difference between the two catechisms. When Jesus begins to speak in the synagogue, something extraordinary happens; the effects of his word and message provoke prodigies. 

We will hear in today’s Gospel passage the story of healing brought about by Jesus in the synagogue, and we will read this episode as a parable. Jesus wants us to understand what is going on in the world when he arrives, and when his Gospel arrives, prodigious things always happen. Let us listen: 

In that synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, ‘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!’ Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Quiet! Come out of him!’ The unclean spirit convulsed him and, with a loud cry, came out of him. 

In their synagogue, a man is possessed by an unclean spirit. We say ‘in their synagogue’ because this sacred place had been possessed by the scribes, the rabbis who, instead of teaching the word of God authentically, instilled human-invented traditions. 

What is this unclean spirit that this possessed person possesses? In Jesus’ time, people did not have the scientific knowledge we have today. Certain diseases, even for them, were just diseases. If someone fell from a tree and became paralyzed, they did not interpret it as the work of evil spirits or demons. If, on the contrary, it was a matter of psychic or psychiatric illnesses, such as epilepsy, neurosis, schizophrenia, or persistent sicknesses due to sunstroke, they said it was a bad spirit that led people to perform actions that were not in tune with the behavior of a healthy person. 

And what did they do to cure them? Across all religions, since ancient times, they have resorted to exorcism, rites, and gestures that bordered on magic, to pronouncing secret formulas, and to invoking the names of famous people. The exorcisms of Jesus are completely different from those of the world and its environment. Jesus never uses superstitious gestures or magic formulas; he announces a word that cures people. 

But why does Jesus also speak of evil spirits being cast out? It is not to say that devils exist; he uses the language of his people, adapts himself to the ordinary mentality, and addresses the disease using the cultural categories of their time; he speaks, as they all did, of evil spirits and demons; in fact, the evangelist Luke tells us that when Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, he threatens the fever. This does not mean that he considers fever a demon; it is simply the common language used by all, and Jesus uses it.

The reality is that the word of Jesus heals and humanizes the person. It is an impure spirit that possesses this man. When we say ‘spirit,’ we mean a force, an energy that moves. This energy can carry the person toward life or death. If it leads him toward life, it is a force that helps him make beautiful, humanizing gestures. So they said it was a pure spirit of life from God. When, instead, this force present in the person made him perform gestures that dehumanized him, it was said that it was a spirit of death, an impure spirit. 

In the synagogue, this man is possessed by a force of death. He does not seem to have entered after the liturgy had already begun; he appears to be seated calmly inside the synagogue, not bothering anyone, quietly there, and then explodes when Jesus begins to announce his word and teach. Why does this person react in this way? 

This person had always heard only the rabbis’ catechesis in the synagogues, so he remained calm and was not disturbed by it. But when someone comes along who talks about God in a different way than the rabbis, who teaches the word of God authentically, not according to tradition, then the devil within him explodes. 

To understand it, it is enough to consider what we can verify today. He who has internalized the image of God as righteousness since childhood, who has always heard only this preaching, remains calm until someone comes along who speaks a new language. Then a demon within him makes him scream and want to stubbornly defend what he has always internalized in his convictions. He does not know, but he is possessed by a demon that makes him protect this diabolical and false image of God. It is not he who speaks; it is the devil within him. Or, if one has always heard sermons that justified the death penalty and even wars, and then someone in the name of the Gospel starts to speak a different language, those who have always heard an ancient catechesis react immediately to protect the traditional mentality. Or, again, who has grown up with an image of a pyramid-shaped Church, hierarchical… during the Council, this pyramidal image was turned upside down. The Church is God’s people and among God’s people. God’s people are those who maintain unity in this community. 

So, those who have always heard the traditional image, when they hear something new, are led by a demon within them to protect the traditional catechesis. Let’s be careful; they may be people who go to Church and belong to devout groups, yet they may be possessed by these demons. If we do not allow ourselves to be freed from these demons, some superstitious and exorcist gestures would not set us free either. But the word of the Gospel, the word of Christ, can liberate us. Let us bear in mind that these evil spirits tend to protect themselves. 

And what does this possessed one say? “You have come to ruin us.” He’s speaking in the plural because these demons are numerous; many demonic forces lead you to non-life and prevent you from living a true and fully human life. Let us try to think about the force that leads people to moral debauchery, to the loss of perhaps the most sacred values, or to impulses of hatred and violence; they are the sinister forces of death. Let’s think about the impulse that drives people to tie their lives to possessions, money, or the desire to dominate, to think about enjoying life, and that’s it. 

These demons are the ones that make their choices. They are not demons with any physical form. Instead, they are forces of evil present in each person. But stronger than these negative forces is the Spirit of Christ. 

What does Jesus do? He scolds that demon and says, “Shut up, get out of him.” Jesus does not act with magical creations or gestures; he simply says, “Shut up, get out,” and nothing else. This is an important message for us to know how to deal with these demons that lead us to non-life. I have listed some of them. We don’t have to argue with them to determine whether they are right or wrong. If we let ourselves engage in a dialogue with these demons, they win; they convince us that we must leave them alone inside us. Jesus cuts to the chase. 

Let’s give some examples: the devil who suggests what is beautiful and what is ugly, what is good and what is bad, but not according to the word of God; he tells you what is beautiful, has a thousand allies, and urges you to adapt to what everyone else is doing and thinking, as if what everyone thinks is right. Letting it speak will bewitch you, as the snake did in the Genesis story. Throw it out immediately, shut it up, and tell it, ‘This is not the house of the unclean spirit, but the house of the spirit of God, that is, a person.’ Another example is the demon of pride, which tells you that you must show you are superior to others and that others are nothing compared to you. They must bow down and show signs of submission to you because you have great skills, and that’s right because meritocracy is what counts, so assert yourself. 

If you let this devil speak, you will love it, and it will convince you that this is the way things are, that being a man and a woman means imposing oneself and dominating. It is Satan who speaks, and you don’t even know it. Neither did Peter know that it was the devil who spoke within him. He was convinced he was saying the right things; it was the way that all people were thinking, but not God’s way of thinking. Let’s think about it to identify the moments in our lives when an impure spirit moves us. Let us identify these multiple impure spirits, spirits of death. The impure devil of resentment that tells you that if someone has done you an evil thing, he should not get away with it, otherwise he will not learn. The devil tells you that until you see him suffer as he made you suffer, you will be psychologically marked; you must vindicate yourself… otherwise, you will fall into depression. If you don’t shut him up immediately, as Jesus did, it also suggests murder. Of course, you don’t kill them, but you would be happy if a disease took them away. You are not the home for this evil spirit that dehumanizes you … expel it; if you do not expel it, you return to behavior as old as the animal world. 

The devil is very dangerous. It fosters misconceptions about the world and God. It suggests a God who punishes, a God who is offended, a God who becomes a harsh judge, and a God who punishes you if you don’t apologize. You like this God because he reasons as you do. But keep in mind that it is the devil who suggests this false image of God to you. 

When the unclean spirit was threatened by Jesus, he tore him apart and came out screaming. This possessed man’s reaction is violent. He wants to tell us that these unclean spirits do not leave peacefully; they react because they seek to maintain their dominance. Jesus says this when he is accused of being allied with Beelzebub, the prince of demons: no one can throw a strong man out of the house and seize his goods unless he first ties him up; otherwise, the house can be ransacked. Jesus says that these unclean spirits are powerful, but now one who is stronger has come: Christ, with his word and his Spirit. 

“The unclean spirit convulsed him.” Let us keep this in mind: when one lets oneself be freed from these impure spirits, one feels a deep laceration inside because one was very attached to a way of life that was not fully human. One becomes attached to this condition, and when the word of God comes, let us bear in mind that the laceration… that abandoning certain traditions, certain convictions that are incompatible with the Gospel can also make us suffer. 

Let us now listen to the reaction of those present: 

All were amazed and asked one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ His fame spread throughout the whole region of Galilee. 

Those in the synagogue who had witnessed the miracle performed by the word of Jesus were in awe, not in fear of danger; this is the biblical fear that is the wonder, the marvel, the surprise of having witnessed a miracle performed by a word loaded with power that is not human, which is divine because only divine power can overcome certain demons. 

The message is highly relevant to us; it is vital today. We live in a world where demons reign and dehumanize, and even in the Church, there are demonic forces that drive the search for power, positions of prestige, or economic advantage. Also, in the world, we face hypocrisy and lies, in the face of which human forces are powerless. Or when we look at certain structures, certain institutions that seem diabolical, that starve people, entire countries. Or in the face of certain cultures, certain traditions that discriminate against women, discriminate against the weakest. 

These demons seem unassailable because they control the media and wield economic power. They seem invincible. We try to overcome them with all our human resources, but we cannot. We need divine power, and this divine power is present in the Gospel. 

The human person is well made. Whatever the culture to which one belongs, we are made for the Gospel. When one hears the Gospel, it penetrates the heart, and that man, that woman, realizes that Jesus is right because this is a word that comes from God and presents us with the path to becoming true people. 

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.