Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
- First reading
- Deuteronomy 18:15-20
- Psalm
- Psalm 111
- Second reading
- 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
- Gospel
- Mark 1:21-28
The Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the LORD my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.”
Then the LORD replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.
Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak–that prophet shall die.”
The Gospel reading from Mark
Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
National Museum, Warsaw, Poland
http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu https://commons.wikimedia.org/
Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and 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.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching–with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Sermon (spoken on February 7)
Pastor Stevensen found an exciting connection between the Old Testament and Gospel readings this week:
Deuteronomy 18 includes three speeches of Moses to the Israelites, which are important to Christians as well as Jews. In one speech he says to his people “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people.” Moses is near departure and God will raise up a prophet to give guidance. In our liturgical church, we read these verses in Deuteronomy every three years and know that this prophet will be Jesus, the final prophet, the one about whom God speaks.
The gospel Mark moves along in historical events. The scene in the reading this week is a synagogue. The emphasis is on authority. Jesus is teaching, And he is “casting out demons”. Some say that these demons are mental illness, but they are missing the point. Significant is that the demons cry out, recognize Jesus, but Jesus casts them out. Jesus is hiding his identity and does not want the word “Messiah” shouted out, just yet. He will go on to do miracle healing. God has a plan and Mark writes it down. Jesus must go to Jerusalem, die on the cross, and rise from the dead. Our faith is in Him and the way of the cross, witnessed by Peter and recorded by Mark.