Although all the other decorations are down, our Christmas crib is still up, until the 2nd of February. Through it we love to meditate on the ordinariness of Jesus: on his littleness, his dependence, his vulnerability, his likeness to us. Today though, in his first public miracle according to St. Mark, we see some hint of his divine power. In the first place this is power over demons, and all the forces of evil and of chaos. For Jesus is not merely ordinary. He is God incarnate: so his power is in principle limitless. By a word he created heaven and earth; by a word he rebukes the storm, heals the sick, cleanses lepers, raises the dead, drives out demons. Yet normally in the course of his ministry Jesus seems to perform these works almost reluctantly. He could of course save those who are to be saved simply by a word. But instead he chooses to exercise his power in a way that is much better for us, more demonstrably expressive of love without measure; a way in which we ourselves can directly participate: the way of humility and obedience; the way of the Cross.
The apparently chance encounter between Jesus and a demoniac in the Capernaum synagogue can be taken as a symbol of the confrontation between supreme good and supreme evil. We know that metaphysically speaking evil has no substance: it’s merely parasitic on good. Nevertheless, since the time of Adam, it would seem that evil has usually had the upper hand. Wickedness is aggressive: it corrupts, and corrodes, and deceives, and deepens, and spreads. Nowadays we tend to ascribe the evils we experience merely to the working out of human vice and folly, or merely to natural forces, or merely to mental illness. But sometimes, as we look on in bafflement, the mask slips, and the work of demons becomes manifest. These spiritual beings are truly personal, malevolent, hellish. Their ultimate aim is to separate us from God, and lead us to eternal death. In the meantime they work by spreading division, enmity and hatred; bitterness of heart, violence, fear, isolation, despair. They entice, seduce, enslave, inflict pain, take possession, destroy. The demons are certainly still about even in today’s modern world, and hard at work. Maybe most people don’t believe in them. Unfortunately, more and more, in our rudderless society, many people land up worshipping them.
Enter, as it were stage left, our Blessed Lord. His human heart, reflecting the infinite divine goodness which is properly his, has nothing whatever of evil in it. If he chooses to command the demons of hell, they have no choice but to obey. He can also command all the angels of heaven, and they will joyfully and immediately do his bidding. But, according to the words of Isaiah, Jesus chose instead to take on himself our infirmities, and bear our sorrows ... so that by his wounds we may be healed (cf. Is 53:4; Mt 8:17). According to St. Paul, though he was rich, for our sake he became poor, so that by his poverty we might be made rich (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). Why did he do that? St. John writes in his first letter: This was the purpose of the coming of the Son of God: to undo the work of the devil. Or as St. Paul says of his own vocation: he was chosen in order that the gentiles might turn from darkness to light; from the power of Satan to God; so that they might receive forgiveness of their sins and a place among those who are sanctified (Acts 26:16-18).
When our Lord seems to be passive, or constrained, or unsuccessful, or even finally defeated, we believe, we know that his power is still at work, only in a different, and even more wonderful way. Because of who he is, Jesus does what no one else could ever do. He redeems us. He saves us. In his human nature he gives perfect glory to his Father. He alone. The focus of all that is the Cross, but Jesus exercises his redeeming power also in every moment of his human life. By that power he reverses the sin of Adam; reconciles sinners to God; washes away sins; converts hearts; frees us from bondage; guarantees our hope; infuses divine love into our hearts; opens our way to heaven and to eternal life. By undergoing, and embracing, all the consequences of evil, Jesus transforms them: even reverses their meaning. Supremely on the Cross Jesus draws good precisely out of evil. Here he turns the devil’s malice back on himself. Here he turns suffering into glory, and sorrow into joy. So at the Easter Vigil in the Exsultet Hymn we sing: O happy fault of Adam! For Christ’s victory in this way has given greater glory to God, and more joy to the Angels, and greater benefit to us, than if he had merely done away with evil by a simple word of command. So on Good Friday, as we contemplate Jesus hanging dead on the Cross, we triumphantly sing: Hagios o Theos! Holy God! Holy and mighty! Holy and immortal: have mercy on us!
When confronted by evil in our own lives, we are always allowed, or even urged, to call upon God to save us. Sometimes, even very often, God will do that, by an intervention of sheer divine power. But also, and more normally, God asks us to use the weapons of Jesus in the conflict with Satan: love, forgiveness, patience, sacrifice, prayer, compassion for the poor and for all who suffer, self-abandonment; refusal to cooperate with evil, whatever the cost; faithful testimony to the truth. And Jesus is never absent. His holy presence, his holy touch, his holy word, his sanctifying influence continues to be always available to us, above all as mediated through his holy Catholic Church. And all the power of his Cross continues on, is made present, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. So the Holy Eucharist remains always our most potent weapon against the devil and all his works. One of the effects of Holy Communion is to protect us from the attacks of our unseen enemy. The demons back off when they see Jesus in us, when they see us bathed in his blood, united with him in his Passion, participating in his victory over death. They cannot stand against him, or against those who truly belong to him. They can certainly hurt us externally, but they will have no ultimate power over us.
This is true. Our religion is very great. Focussed on Jesus and his saving Cross, it’s a revelation of divine love, and divine power. It’s an invitation to perfect goodness, and perfect freedom; to perfect communion with God, and to the fullness of everlasting life.