4th Sunday – Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 95; 1 Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28
Biblical readings sometimes allow us to see ourselves as if in a mirror, in various circumstances, in the words of others, in the attitudes we adopt towards God. Behold, the unclean spirit in the possessed man, standing before Jesus, cries out: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” There is opposition here, but also a specific declaration of belief in the power of the Saviour, the belief that His presence is fatal and destructive to evil. When we sin, we also have this conviction: that no evil can stand against God, that only the Holy One of God has the power to save us.
This possessed man present in the synagogue seems to have been cursed in his lifetime – but it can be said that he was at the right time, in the right place. When we sin, our place is right here: in the Church, close to the One who alone can save us.