Por Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB
In the third chapter of St. Mark’s Gospel, the enemies of Jesus are already named: the Scribes and Pharisees from olden days, and the devil, His enemy from time immemorial. The first reading from Genesis on this 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time identifies the devil by name, Satan, the enemy too of all humankind. Our primal parents looked to blame Satan for their immense sin. They wanted to be gods. They may have been tricked by the devil, but their evil desire to know good and evil and be like God was their own dark responsibility. By them, the human race was poisoned, and our need for redemption was established. Our lifelong battle was joined.
St. Paul in I Corinthians placed our human conflict with evil in early Christian days. He reminded us that Jesus took on humanity so that He, together with us, could conquer death. Our human state wastes away. Even more so, that will be true in the corruption of the tomb. But Paul encourages himself and us, “Knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence.“ In our battle with the devil, we are never alone. With Jesus, there is hope in life shared with Him beyond the grave.
Chapter three of St. Mark’s Gospel already places Jesus in direct conflict with an elder from Jerusalem He and others traveled to investigate all the signs Jesus was working north of the Lake. Christ had burst in on the elites’ religious and social comfortable scene, and they had already begun to plan his death. Devils had been proclaiming of Jesus, “You are the Son of God.”
That was a message from hell. The elite heard it and declared before Jesus and His admiring crowd, “By the power of Beelzebub [foe of God} He casts out demons.” Jesus gave that false god a more familiar name, saying, “If it is by the power of Satan, I drive out demons,” then added, “How can Satan drive out Satan?” Jesus came not to judge us but to save us. But He did pronounce terrible judgment on His enemies. “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness but is guilty of an everlasting sin. For they had said, He has an unclean spirit.”
Faith places upon us the need to be aware that we are in a struggle. Mysterious forces draw us toward evil. Jesus gives us its source, Satan. Our own self-knowledge suggests that at times our own tendencies are sufficient. We don’t need Satan At all times, we do need Jesus to win out battles with evil.
O Victor King! Save us!