February 1, 2009 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time  - Fr. John Yonkovig
Some years ago, monks in Thailand were moving a large clay statue of Buddha to a new temple. The government had condemned the old temple to make way for a modern freeway. Suddenly, the cart carrying the statue hit a pothole. The jolt created an enormous crack right down the center of the statue. The monks cried out in horror. Then something unexpected happened. The monks saw something shinny inside the huge crack. They checked it and found, to their utter amazement, that the clay was only one inch thick. Beneath the clay lay a solid gold statue. The gold had apparently been coated with clay centuries earlier to keep invading armies from taking it. Apparently, the monks at the time of the invasion had all lost their lives. The result was that the solid gold statue valued at $200 million remained concealed beneath the clay all these centuries.

In all this time, thousands of monks had meditated before it. But not one of them ever dreamed that beneath the clay lay a great treasure. Only when the jolt accidentally cracked the clay did it become clear that there was something more to the clay statue than had met the eye. It housed a priceless treasure. Today's gospel - it is a lot like the clay coated statue. At first sight, it seems to be simply a story about a man with an evil sprit who came into a synagogue one day while Jesus was preaching. When the evil sprit began screaming, Jesus order it to be quiet and to come out of the man. To the amazement of all, it obeyed Jesus. When the people saw this, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

The evil's spirit's obedience to Jesus was like the jolt that cracked the clay statue. Suddenly, people saw there was more to Jesus than met the eye, just as there was more to the clay statue than met the eye. Jesus' power over the evil spirit revealed that he housed within himself a treasure, just as the clay statue housed within itself a treasure. We might compare the humanity of Jesus to the layer of clay covering the statute - it concealed Jesus' true identity. And so when Jesus showed that he had power over evil spirits, people asked, "What does this mean?" It becomes clear in this first chapter of Mark's gospel that the power of evil is no match for the power of God. Jesus comes to proclaim the truth of God. And the truth is that love is stronger than hate. The truth is that this is God's world and the power of evil, as strong as it is, is not in control - God is. The teaching of Jesus by word and action goes directly to the heart of those who experienced him. He spoke with authority. He did not quote experts. His authority came from the fact that he spoke the truth. The teaching of the scribes and Pharisees failed to nourish the people. Some teachers just provide facts. Others provide vision, inspiration and meaning.

The teaching authority of Jesus came from his character. People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do. Jesus not only taught us to forgive 7 times 70 times but he forgave. Jesus not only spoke about loving one another, he poured out his heart in love for us. Jesus not only spoke of compassion and justice, trust and unity, hope and humility - he lived the message - he was credible - he was ‘transparent' to use the word of the day - he was the word of God made flesh.

As followers of Jesus Christ and as Church we are called to be people of the Word - we are called to enflesh the truth of God - to become the Word in our world. This is not easy. It strikes me at times that we may be more concerned about preserving our own traditions than with the truth of God. But a people of the Word, a people of the truth of God is what we are called to be and the words of Jesus are the words of truth and life. It is not enough to merely hear the words of Jesus, we have to live them: Forgiveness, love, justice, compassion, equality, peace. That is our challenge - living the message. The Lord Jesus has spoken - a ‘new teaching with authority' as we heard in today's gospel. In the weeks ahead passages from the gospels of Mark and Matthew will open up the truth of who Jesus Christ is and who we are to be. The gospels will convey the fullness of life that God promises. Let us open our ears to the message of God - let us follow our hearts in living as God's children.