10th Sunday, Year B: Reflection by Fr Julian Ekeh
(Mark 3:20–35)
God created us for Himself. He made us, and we belong to Him. He wishes that we share in His life. Our well-being gives Him joy. He wants to possess us. He owns us. We are marked by his image that we carry. Unfortunately, the enemy also wants to destroy the will of God for man. He feeds man with poison and opens his eyes to see evil as good and to always stretch out his hand to make the wrong choices in life. The enemy targets the moments man moves away from God. As an opportunist, he strikes to steal, kill, and destroy.
The same God who came to know where Adam and Eve were, to know their spiritual, physical, and moral condition comes again and again in Christ.(God with us).
God in Christ feels for us. He refuses to eat because of the crowd the enemy wants to possess. He started the work of liberation, He teaches, He feeds, and He heals them, manifesting His possession and their belongingness to Him.
Seeing the things Jesus was doing, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said of Jesus “He is possessed…” Yes, Jesus was possessed, but they did not know who possessed Him. Their jealousy did not allow them to know it. The father of all lies, the devil must have possessed them to see the Truth as a lie, to see the Way as no way and to see the Life as death. They even dared to ascribe the glory of God to the devil.
The truth remains that we, at every point in time, are possessed either by the Spirit of God (Finger of God as Jesus puts it) or the evil spirit. Who do you make yourself available to for possession? The things you do show the spirit operating in you. There is a power that should work in us as Christians, that power gets hold of us and drives us to do good always, that power helps us to avoid evil and sins especially the sins against the Holy Spirit. It opens our eyes to acknowledge the good in others and the good we ought to do. It is the power that gives us spiritual fortification. It is the grace to live for the kingdom of heaven and make our hearts temples of the Holy Spirit.
Which Spirit have you allowed to possess you all these while? If it is not the Spirit of God, then know that something is wrong. Do you recognise the things God wants you to do for Him to take absolute possession of your soul and yet decide otherwise? Then you’re far from the kingdom of God. A very clear sign to know those who are not possessed by the Spirit of God is that they call evil good and call good evil. They detest the good and embrace the evil.
Dear child of God, be possessed by the Spirit of the living God, and may your heart become a true abode of the Most High
May God bless His word in your heart.
LET US PRAY
Oh God, we thank You for the gift of today. Help us to recognise You and Your work in us, deliver us from every evil possession and manipulation, grant that we may be possessed by Your Spirit all the days of our lives through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Happy Sunday to you (10th Sunday, Ordinary Time Yr B)
Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh