I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!

 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.  And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit.  And he cried out, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.  Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this?  What new doctrine is this?  For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."  And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

- Mark 1:14-28

Yesterday we read the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in the Prophets:  "Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You."  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.'"  John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.  And he preached, saying, "There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.  I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."  It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.  Then a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.  And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel."   My study bible remarks that Mark's emphasis on John the Baptist being put in prison before Jesus begins preaching the gospel reveals that a key purpose of the old covenant -- that of preparing the people for Christ -- had been completed (Galatians 4:1-5).  After Christ came, the time of preparation was fulfilled.  What does it mean to repent precisely?  The word in Greek literally means "change of mind."  It is to do an "about-face" in the words of my study bible.  It notes that repentance is a radical change of one's spirit, mind, thought, and heart.  That is, a complete reorientation to a life centered in Christ.  And this choice for repentance -- reorientation to Christ, and reconsideration of our ways of thinking -- is simply an ongoing process throughout our lives.  It is a lifelong journey on Christ's "Way," one of patience, humility, and especially of grace.

And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  Then Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."  They immediately left their nets and followed Him.  When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.  And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.   As we noted in yesterday's reading, these first disciples had already heard the preaching of John the Baptist, and so were prepared to accept Christ immediately.  (See also John 1:35-51.)  My study bible says that although they were illiterate and unlearned in religion, these "people of the land" whom Jesus calls will be revealed at Pentecost to be the wisest of all.

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.  And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit.  And he cried out, saying, "Let us alone!  What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth?  Did You come to destroy us?  I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!"  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"  And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.  Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this?  What new doctrine is this?  For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."   Here we are given one immediate effect of the gospel and the coming of Christ.  We are exposed to a battle taking place behind the scenes.  Jesus has clearly come to disrupt a particular order of things, and there are those in this "hidden" world who do recognize Him but want nothing to do with Him and fear Him.

And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.  My study bible comments that the word immediately occurs almost forty times in Mark's Gospel.  Nearly all of these references occur before the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem.  It says that the sense of urgency and purpose as Christ journeys toward Jerusalem to fulfill His mission of redeeming the world helps make Mark's account not simply the shortest, but also the most direct of all four Gospels.

What is spiritual battle?  In yesterday's reading, we read that immediately after Christ's baptism by John the Baptist, at which He was revealed as beloved Son of God, the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan (see above).  This time of temptation is reported in more detail by Matthew and Luke.  But this very struggle against spiritual temptation is itself spiritual battle.  It is a battle not like anything we know on worldly terms, but rather a battle for hearts and minds.  It's a battle that runs at the center of ourselves, with battle lines drawn in the heart.  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn writes (in The Gulag Archipelago), "If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"   Spiritual struggle, or battle, is all about faith.  It is all about this call of Christ to repentance, to an ongoing understanding of what it means to turn to Christ in love and to accept a correction, to find a better way, His way.  What we learn from the Gospels is humility and grace, and turning to Christ is what spiritual struggle is all about.  Like Solzhenitsyn writes, it is all about a kind of dividing line of the heart.  Solzhenitsyn asks, "Who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"  But this question is answered firmly by Christ Himself, when He teaches that we must cast out an "eye or hand or foot" that causes offense.  (See Matthew 19:8-9, in which this statement is made in teaching the apostles how to care for the littlest ones they are responsible for with humility.)  In this image of casting off seemingly essential pieces of ourselves, Christ teaches that ways of thinking and being that we need to cast off can seem like pieces of our own heart we must give up.   Christ's struggle with temptation in the wilderness gives us the keys to our own battles:  a constant returning to our relationship of love with God, the humility before God this asks of us, and the willingness to reconsider the things the world offers us in that light, even things we may hold as good and precious that are not really so.  Therefore, the ongoing process of repentance or "change of mind" is in itself the very spiritual battle we need be concerned with.  The casting out of the demon in today's reading is perhaps an extreme example of what may be possible in such a battle; but it is Christ who is the "stronger man," and our faith in Him is the true strength upon which we rely.  His "way" is our guide.  The great weapon is humility.  St. Paul writes about this spiritual battle when he teaches us to "put on the whole armor of God" (see Ephesians 6:10-20).  Among other elements of that armor, St. Paul writes that we should "pray always."  These are the battle lines that go through our hearts and minds, our protection and strength is in the faith that teaches us reliance upon Christ and the grace of the Spirit.  Let us consider, in all the wide world that calls us in clamor and conflict, where our true heart is and what we need in that center of ourselves and our lives.