The One Who is Spiritual September 5

Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone. 1 Corinthians 2:14-15

“What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” Luke 4:36

Piety

Let us pray: Jesus, you are the one who is spiritual. You recognize that we are in a constant tug of war with forces that pull us away from you. Please pick up our rope and pull us firmly into your camp. Teach us, as you taught on that memorable Sabbath in Capernaum. Exorcize the forces of evil from us so we can pursue the path to piety, study and action that you require. Help us to not confuse working in the world and living in your world. Deliver us from whatever evil is in our lives and grant us peace today. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/090506.shtml

A tug of war is happening in today’s readings between the spirit of God and the world corrupted by evil spirits. Without the intervention by Jesus or the Holy Spirit, the evil might prevail.

Today, we are heading back to school and back to work after the Labor Day Weekend pulled the curtain down on the “official” summer season of 2006. The time targeted for vacations, rest and rejuvenation is over. Noses make better acquaintance with your grindstone. As we head back to our work roles in the world, new roles for Jesus open before us in today’s reading – roles as a teacher, exorcist and super hero.

The people of Capernaum went “back to school” in the reading from the Good News according to St. Luke. Jesus taught them in the synagogue and they were amazed. Even though we do not know exactly what Jesus taught, today’s lessons were memorable because it included a direct confrontation with the forces of evil in the world. When faced with this battle for our attention, our love and our soul, Jesus establishes His dominion over the world by fighting off unclean spirits which seek to contaminate our lives and our world.

The spirit of God is granted to us so we can come to know God better, according to St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. He juxtaposes the spirit of God with the spirit of the world. “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.”

Despite that, unclean spirits do try to enter into our lives and control our conscience. Jesus comes to our rescue.

Sometimes we need to be rescued because we fail to understand the spiritual side of a message. Sometimes we need to be rescued because we fail to hear a message that we do understand. Sometimes, we need to be rescued because we fail to act on the message we do understand. Even though we have been confirmed, we have not developed the language with which God speaks to us. God is speaking, we just don’t understand the teaching.

Coming off of Labor Day, we also have had a chance to contemplate work and workers over this weekend. As Dr. Michael Sleeth observed in his book Serve God, Save the Planet, “There are forces that would keep us so busy that we never have time to live.” He points out that God designed a day of rest to keep those forces at bay and our lives in perspective.

Action

Jesus’ teaching takes place on the Sabbath, the day designed by God for rest – a rest is intended to block out those outside “commercial” forces demanding our attention. Can you slow down today enough to hear and to understand what Jesus is teaching you today?