I Should Like You to be Free From Anxieties
- Jan 23, 2024
- 1 min read
Imagine what it would have been like to be one of those people in today’s Gospel! Astonished! Amazed at Jesus. He has authority! He actually does what the Word of God said!
The people in today’s Gospel had been hearing the same teachings about their faith for years. They had asked Moses, as we heard in our first reading, for prophets to guide them. They had prayed, as we did in our psalm today, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” And now suddenly someone shows up who is able to teach them, not because he knows the Bible, but because he knows God, He is God!
They are astonished and amazed because God is with them. God is with us! He has authority to actually do what His word says. Whether married or unmarried, like Saint Paul wrote in our second reading, “I should like you to be free from anxieties.” Free from anxieties!
Freedom. That’s what Jesus came for! An old way of life is on the way out. Jesus cast out unclean spirits to show that a new way of life is offered us: the Kingdom of God. And the mark of the Kingdom of God is freedom.
Having been released from the unclean spirit, the man in the Gospel was free to come into the synagogue and be part of the community of faith, part of the Kingdom of God.
We share in that freedom! Baptized, Confirmed, in full Communion with Christ!
Astonished! Amazed! Jesus continues to do what he said. Bread becomes his Body. Wine becomes his blood. God is with us!
Fr. Mark Zacker
Pastor
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