The Gospel of Mark, chapter 1:27

Experience is the best teacher. We all know this. We know, too, that experiences pile up as the years add up. So, we naturally look to older friends and family members whose experience often outstrips ours. We find in these people clarity coupled with a kind of mellowness. They have journeyed farther than we have, and they have learnt much from their experiences. The Church, too, learns from those who have gone before us. The Old Testament and the New Testament stand as our witnesses to God’s life among us. These privileged testaments tell the long, arduous story of humanity’s awakening to God’s action in our midst; sometimes falteringly, and sometimes, in the case of the prophets, insightfully.

God’s gracious call asks our response. Responding is difficult, for we realize that we may be lead where we do not choose to go. We may stumble as children, as men, and as women who are learning, must stumble. But God always leads us along, teaching us, seeking us out, and sometimes finding us out. Our experience merges with the great experience of the people of Israel and the early witnesses to the risen Lord in the New Testament. The scriptures and our long tradition assure us that we are not alone for God is near.

In today’s scripture passage, we learn that the assembly in the synagogue were amazed and energized by the teaching of Jesus. No doubt, the events of that Sabbath day stayed long in their memory. But, daily life went on for them as life goes on for us, too. Sunday’s rest gives way to Monday, which seems strangely the same as other Mondays. On Monday, we need faith in Christ’s presence in our midst to steady us when memories of the Gospel and how we should behave tend to fade.

We will have mastered the Lord’s teaching well when we share in the life-giving actions of Christ; when our moral courage, our patient endurance, outlasts stubbornness; when we draw on the power of Christ to care for the “other” person in our lives: spouse, colleague, friend, child, enemy, stranger.

We have been taught about the will of God; not by a long speech from God, but by God’s specific actions in Jesus, who is God with us. This is what is so amazing.

We learn about the God of the unexpected in Jesus. We know that no place is too small, no person is beneath notice. Jesus’ actions teach us that God moves and acts on behalf of the needful ones and that God acts close to home, exactly where we are or where we long to be.

We are taught by Jesus to keep our hearts open and our ears open, too. When our hearts tend to crust over and toughen up, we are called to attention for the Lord communicates with us, heart to heart.

He is the best teacher.

Fr. Hugh Duffy