They obey
- Gary Fritsch
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
It is really amazing at times how inoculated we can become to the amazing events of the Gospels. We can read or hear them and not be overcome with wonder. The original witnesses to today's Gospel certainly didn't feel that way.
They recognized several layers of Jesus' person that provoked awe and wonder. First was His authority. I have heard the difference between power and authority described this way: Power is the ability to force someone do something, authority is the ability to speak and have it be done. Jesus, since He is the Word of God incarnate, always has complete integrity between what He says and what occurs in the world, He is a living Truth. Those who heard Him and considered His words could recognize this authority.
On another level, He commands spirits. The understanding of the existence of the spiritual world as a reality was strong and NORMAL at the time of Jesus. We should read these words with the same veracity that we approach other truths of scripture with: Spirits are real, demons are real, Jesus can command them. Since the age of 'enlightenment' we have tended to dismiss the reality of the spiritual world as less real, less scientific, less provable. But we cannot say that we are followers of Christ and believers in Him and dismiss the most common set of miracles that He performed. We cannot dismiss that He acknowledged and interacted with the spiritual world every day.
This acknowledgment should not be a source of alarm for us, because of what we see Jesus consistently do - He bosses them around. They cannot refuse Him. Jesus has complete control over them. This should be completely reassuring to us. But it probably isn't. Because they are still here. We are still tempted, drawn, and sometimes tortured by these unclean spirits. Why doesn't Jesus just command them all to go away?
I don't know the answer to that. I do know that if knowing the answer was important for my salvation, I would know it. What is important for our salvation is what I have already covered. Spirits are real, Jesus can command them. We don't need to live in fear of them so long as we stay close to the Lord and to His will. We receive this same Jesus in His Word every week or even daily. For those of you who are Catholic, we receive this very same Jesus who commands the evil spirits into our very bodies in the Eucharist.
We only need to believe in and rely upon THAT Jesus to keep us safe. He is living within us to protect us from these spirits and call us to a joyful life following Him. To bring this to reality for myself, I always pray the Anima Christi after receiving Holy Communion. I encourage you to try this:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within your wounds hide me.
Never permit me to be parted from you.
From the evil Enemy defend me.
At the hour of my death call me
and bid me come to you,
that with your Saints I may praise you
for age upon age.
Amen.
He desires to do all of these things for us and only awaits our agreement with His desires.
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