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Fourth Sunday of Ordinary TimeJesus enters the synagogue and starts to teach. Teach - a word that insinuates a connecting with the listener. Not just speaking at, but wanting and expecting and trying to help the listener understand. Listening, the people were astonished. The passage does not say what Jesus says, so we can only assume that the astonishment came through his demeanor, his spirit. This was a man who believed with his whole being what he described in his teaching. This was someone speaking from his own experience - not to control or overpower the listeners, but to invite. We can imagine the people pondering if this Jesus is the one of which Moses spoke in our first reading, the prophet to be sent. Then, notice the countering spirit - the unclean spirit - known as such because of its resistance to the holiness of God. The unclean spirit’s opposition gives confirmation of Jesus’ identity to the speculating crowd. Now, Jesus’ message could easily have remained in the synagogue if not for what the people did next. It’s unlikely that any of them left the synagogue and went out preaching about what they had seen and heard. Instead, they talked among themselves. They pondered with each other. They spoke to each other about their own experience and were honest about their questions. Through this simple yet necessary and ordinary act of trust and openness, “His fame spreads everywhere …” With the events of today - in the past month, in the past year - might we be invited to the same level of trust of each other and then watch with amazement the possibilities unfold?
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