JESUS IS THE PROMISED PROPHET

IV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 1:21-28

According to Mark, Jesus became famous and people from all Galilee came to him. They were impressed by his miracles and many people went to him for healing. And they were impressed as well by his teaching, because “he taught them with authority” and he showed this authority by giving orders to unclean spirits and they obeyed him. Jesus had a great aura about him that made him remarkable and set him aside from the scribes. That’s why people were ready to listen to him and follow him. Many of them asked if he was not the prophet God had promised to Moses, that is the Messiah.

The promised Messiah was expected to be king, priest and prophet. Being a descendant of David, he would sit on his throne and be the eternal king who would rule the world. And he would be a priest in the line of Melchizedek who was priest and king at the same time. Finally, he would be a prophet like Moses. In that role, he would be the voice of God - that is the Word that can be heard without instilling fear in the hearts of people. As indicated to Moses, this Word would become incarnate and be understood by human ears. Being that Voice of God in the middle of his people, he came close to them, thus touching their hearts and their lives.

In the book of Deuteronomy (18:15-20), God warns Moses of the possibility of false prophets and over the centuries many false prophets have appeared. Many of them announce themselves and ignore the centrality of Christ, proposing false doctrines that are not God’s way. Unfaithful to the Word of God, they present their words as the true teaching. Many times, they use words and concepts that sound Christian but are not. By doing so, they bring confusion and lead people astray. The new ideologies that plan to take over the world justify themselves by presenting ideals like diversity, equity and inclusion, behind which they divide the world into oppressor and oppressed and do it along the lines of race and gender.

Only Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and if we live in the hope of being accepted into the Kingdom of God, we must follow him and become his disciples. We cannot distort His Word and set ourselves up in his place.

O that today you would listen to his voice!

  ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

  as on that day at Massah in the desert

when your fathers put me to the test;

  when they tried me, though they saw my work.’ (Ps 95)