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The Lord be with you.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.
Then they came to Capernaum and on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit.
He cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are, the Holy One of God." Jesus rebuked him and said, "Quiet, come out of him." The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this?" A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
The Gospel of the Lord.
What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
Question of the demon in possession of a man.
And the short answer to that question is yes.
Yes, in fact, Jesus has the intention of destroying the demons.
In fact, too often overlooked or ignored today.
Demons, he plans to destroy.
Demons, which comes to us from the Greek verb for dividing to divide.
And dividing is not of our Lord.
From the beginning, this has been a part of the divine initiative.
Since the first demon divided us from God, our Heavenly Father, and taught us death, from that moment, the fate of the demons has been sealed and their kingdom has been slated for demolition today.
In this Gospel, you got to see and hear about Christ pulling it down, destroying it.
Have you come to destroy us?
Jesus was discontent with man's slavery and unhappiness and witnessing it in this particular man.
He commands the divider to come out.
When the man is not left unscathed, he can vultures, he cries out, but in the end he is free, undivided, single-minded, one heart prepared for the embrace of God.
And that's beautiful.
But let's go deeper.
Let's go deeper using this story as a paradigm.
Have you come to destroy us?
I mentioned the short answer to that is yes.
The long answer requires a bit more nuance.
He will destroy.
But the question was not, are you going to?
The question was, what have you to do with us?
Why have you come here?
What's the end game?
He will destroy, but the destruction of the demons is only a part of the plan.
You're Catholic.
You've been going to Mass for a while.
I bet you at the beginning of this Catholic school's week, there's a lot of Catholic school students out there.
What do you think is the fullness of the plan of God?
Can you imagine if it was just to destroy the demons?
I don't mean like actually think about that for a moment.
Here comes Jesus, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and he walked into the synagogue and he saw this man and he said, "Quiet, come out of him." And then he did.
And he left.
And then Jesus said, "All right guys, the rest is up to you." And send it off to heaven.
Can you imagine?
We might.
We would be free from slavery to Lucifer.
But we would still be slaves to ourselves, to each other.
We would still be left with all of these problems that were started with that first domino, and maybe we put the first domino back up, that's fine.
But hey, there's a lot more dominoes to set right.
He will destroy the demons.
For that ain't the whole picture.
It's not the grand plan.
What is the grand plan?
The reason for the incarnation?
Well it comes to us in a variety of different places in the Gospels.
John 10, 10, for example.
Why did he come?
I came that they may have life and have it to the full.
And John's prologue says he came to his own and his own received him not.
But for those who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave them the power to become the children of God.
Amazing.
John 3, 16 very famously, right?
God so loved the world that he sent his only son.
Why?
So that whoever believes in him might never die, might have life forever.
St. Athanasius said that God became a man so that man might become God.
St. Irenaeus said that the glory of God is man fully alive.
Now all these little smattering about life forever, about becoming God.
Do you think I'm being facetious when I say that?
Or speaking in some sort of like subtle, confused exaggeration?
I would never dare.
I'd never dare.
This is the language of the saints and I'm just letting you know what they said.
I would never dare.
We were promised life forever and that's the grand plan that we ourselves were made for a happiness, a happiness that you don't got to like try to explain or sell.
You don't have to pretend with this kind of happiness because you simply are happy in relationship with God no longer divided but restored in unity.
You find your destiny, you become one with the divine and that's the grand plan.
That's the neat idea.
Have you come to destroy us?
The demon said and you can imagine the face of the Son of God in that synagogue, smirk just a little bit as he said to himself, well that's part of it.
But I've come to do much, much more.
God has made you for happiness.
You get me our Lady Grace?
I don't need you to vocalize but I need your eyes to be more than glazed.
This is going to get so much worse and we have to be tied in to this point.
God has made you to be happy.
Do you believe me?
You okay?
Thank you.
I'm not making this up.
This is the most important thing.
God made you for a happiness that you can't even imagine.
You sit with that for a second.
He came to do much, much more but this is where it becomes a little bit complex.
Since he came to do much, much more that means that much, much more than just evil sin and demons are at stake.
As a matter of fact, everything comes under his purview.
It's not just the evil things that have to be destroyed and cast out.
It's anything that would stand as an obstacle to reunion with God.
This is actually what St. Paul was speaking about in the second reading.
Do you remember that second reading?
I wouldn't blame you if you didn't because very few people ever read it let alone preach about it.
I can't remember a time when I was growing up where I heard a priest preach about it.
Maybe it's because they were a little uncomfortable.
Maybe they didn't feel exactly confident standing in the Ambo saying, "Yes, St. Paul has instructed us that celibacy is in fact a more noble cause because a life without distraction." Feel the tension in the room right now?
We don't like that.
But let's investigate this for a moment.
This is what St. Paul is speaking about.
He's speaking about man and woman, which is marriage a good thing.
Yeah, that's a very good thing.
It's actually a really good thing.
But can I tell you something?
I've only been a priest for six years.
So a little bit of like a novice here.
As of yet, I've never once had any married person come up to me during office hours or seeking some sort of counsel saying, "Oh, Father." The problem was, before I was married, I was just filled with so much anxiety.
I was so busy all the time and now that I'm married, it's all gone.
Now I have all the time in the world.
I really don't know what to do with it and I need your help.
There are no distractions.
I find myself sitting at home every day, wishing that there was something to do.
I've run through my entire Netflix catalog.
I'm holding on hope, maybe one day someone.
I doubt it.
No, because you live this life, you know that actually the goodness of marriage is that you do give yourself in love and so yes, your mind and your heart are entirely wrapped up and consumed with the goodness of the one that you love.
Yeah, there's distractions in those sorts of things and this is what St. Paul is speaking about.
When we encounter something as a part of the divine plan, it's not as if our Lord plans to destroy all good things.
But what He does plan to do is bring all things back into union.
So if there is a good thing in your life, but it stands as an obstacle to God, well perhaps it won't be destroyed like the demons.
But you better believe He has a plan to purify it, to reconcile it, to make it actually a contributor to the reunion and relationship with Him that He has in mind.
So imagine for a moment a couple different things.
Maybe you've got a great job.
Maybe just a wonderful profession.
You find meaning in your work every day.
You think about how great it is that you're able to give of yourself great perks, great benefits, all of your gifts and skills are utilized, you rise through the ranks, you're recognized and honored.
That is good.
But if it stands in the way of you and God, know that no earthly ambition will be allowed to stand.
No worldly task will overcome the priority of reunion with God.
Maybe you're a health nut, maybe you were just so concerned about your body, making sure you are fit, right?
My body is a microchip.
You don't want anything to go wrong.
That's great.
But if you elevate your body to the place of idol, it will be lowered because it cannot rise above the heights of the divine.
Maybe you've got great friends and you invest everything in them.
You affirm and uplift them and they do the same to you.
But maybe that friendship or that circle of friends becomes insular to the point where no love is let in or out and God has no way to sneak into those relationships.
If that's so, then once again it might not be destroyed.
But it will be purified so that it can belong to the Lord because each of those good things and every good thing in your life, if it exists apart from God, it will ultimately break your heart and it won't be able to sustain you for the destiny you were made for.
All of us encounter these particular things.
One of my spiritual fathers once said to me, "The Lord teaches us to set all our hope on Him and on His presence in our lives." We know that and try to do it.
But the natural man inevitably lands his hope in lesser things.
Things we often did not realize.
It's different for different people.
It might be health or security or friendship or meaningful service or a sense that the world is somehow progressing.
But our gracious Lord knows that there are weak reads that won't sustain the hope we need to gain the kingdom.
Like a good and careful doctor, He works to transfer our foundational hope where it belongs.
Some of His work is done quietly and we hardly know what's happening.
But sometimes He will allow us to lose at least for a time what we have been hoping in so that we can set our hope where it belongs.
When that happens, we're thrown into a season of a certain kind of death and mourning at the loss of something good.
But it's a wholesome death because God doesn't intend to leave a void in the place of lost hope.
Let me phrase that really complicated saying in a simpler way.
Each of the goods in our lives might look at our Lord and God and ask a simple question.
Have you come to destroy us?
And the answer is not, of course.
Instead, the answer is, I have come to do so much more.
Won't leave a void in your heart, not leaving you for disappointment and brokenness.
He's made you for happiness.
And this is the joy of the Christian life.
Remember that question of the demon today?
Did the Lord come primarily to destroy?
He did not.
Abundant, full life with Him is the final goal.
He won't leave a void.
He'll give you life that will make you actually happy.
But learn also from the episode of the demon.
Using an obstacle to the possessed man's happiness and the threat to his life, our Lord commands with authority.
Quiet come out of Him.
That's exactly what the demon did.
He was vanquished with convulsions and loud cries.
Such is the destiny of all obstacles to be attitude.
And he knows your capacity for happiness and he will not be content with letting you lose out or compromising your salvation.
Surely you're free to say no if you want to.
You are free to grasp and hold on to the goods in your life with a frenzied, sort of death grip and many will be tempted to do so.
But for those who do cooperate with the divine plan, there is a certainty.
Not only of heaven, but of all that heaven entails the restoration of all goods given and lost up to 30, 60 and 100fold.
And the promise that all loves will be recognized and returned.
See in the Gospel today a new teaching with authority and allow that teaching to examine your life and speak to you of the path to paradise.
And no matter what the cost, as the psalmist says today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Amen.
(suspenseful music)