Suy Niệm tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần Thứ Nhất Thường Niên

 Suy Niệm tin Mừng Thứ Ba Tuần Thứ Nhất Thường Niên. Mark 1:21-28 

Bài Tin Mừng hôm nay giúp chúng ta nhận ra bàn chất con người thực sự của Chúa Giêsu, và qua đó chúng ta có thể hiểu rõ được sứ mệnh của Ngài. Những lời giảng dạy của Chúa Giêsu đả làm mọi người trong hội đường vô cùng kinh ngạc Ngài dạy dỗ họ như một người có uy quyền của Chúa Thánh Thần, vì họ chưa bao giờ có thể được nghe những lời của Thiên Chúa như thế này. Bằng lời nói của Ngài, thậm chí ma quỷ phải kính sợ. Bởi thế, chúng ta không lạ gì khi đám đông phản ứng với sự ngạc nhiên như thế. Họ rất đỗi ngạc nhiên vì những phép lạ của Ngài đã làm, nhưng họ không nhận ra Ngài là ai. Họ đang bị hấp dẫn bởi lời nói của Ngài, nhưng họ không thể biết được từ đâu mà Ngài có được những quyền năng như thế ấy. Trên thực tế, Chúa Giêsu đã có sức mạnh và uy quyền khi Ngôi Lời Thiên Chúa đã xuống thế và chấp nhận làm người. Bởi thế khi Ngài phán là chính Thiên Chúa đã phán. Khi Ngài truyền thì tất cả ma quỉ cũng phải vâng lời.
Tuy nhiên, Chúa Giêsu cũng phải coi chừng để chống lại những khả năng nguy hiểm vì e rằng dân chúng sẽ đồn thổi và tôn vinh Ngài như là một ngôi sao chính trị. Vì thế Chúa Giêsu đã bắt thần ô uế phải im lặng không được tuyên rao Ngài là Đấng Thánh của Thiên Chúa vì sợ rằng mọi người sẽ lùng kiếm Ngài như một nhà lãnh đạo chính trị để giúp cho họ những lực lượng để chống lại Quân Lamã đang áp bức trên đất nước của họ và giúp họ chiếm lại vùng đất Palestine. Những lầm lẫn về quan điểm này sẽ gây nguy hiểm cho sứ mệnh của Ngài, vì Ngài đến là để loan truyền và đưa loài người hướng về vương quốc của Thiên Chúa. Đối với Chúa Giêsu, Nước Thiên Chúa sẽ chỉ được trở thành hiện thực nếu tất cả những người tội lỗi biết thống hối, ăn năn và biển đổi cuộc sống trở về với Chúa Kitô.
Nếu chúng ta biến biến đổi đời sống cá nhân của chúng ta để trở về với Thiên Chúa, Chúa Kitô sẽ ban cho chúng ta quyền phép để đánh bại Satan. Như Chúa Giêsu đã nói, "Ví bằng Ta nhờ Thần khí Thiên Chúa mà trừ quỉ, thì quả là Nước Thiên Chúa đã đến trên các ngươi.". (Mt 12: 28)
-Lạy Chúa, lời Chúa là sức mạnh và cuộc sống của chúng con. Xin giúp chúng con đừng bao giờ nghi ngờ tình yêu cứu rỗi và lòng thương xót của Chúa, Xin vì sức mạnh của Lời của Chúa mang lại ơn chữa lành và giải thoát cho chúng con và những người cần đến lòng thương xót Chúa.

Tuesday after 1 Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today's gospel is for us to recognize the true person of Jesus, and thereby understand His mission. Jesus' teaching astounded the multitude in the synagogue. He taught with authority. He spoke the word of God as no one had spoken it before. By His words, He had authority even over demons. No wonder the crowd reacted with amazement and wonder but not with recognition. They are amazed by His actions, but they don't recognize who He is. They are intrigued by His words, but they do not know from where the authority comes. But Jesus was authority incarnate - the Word of God made flesh. When He spoke, God spoke. When He commanded even the demons obeyed.
However, Jesus was also guarding against the dangerous possibility that He would be recognized as a political Messiah. Jesus had to silence the unclean spirit for proclaiming Him as the Holy One of God for fear that people would seek Him as a political leader who would deliver them from the oppressive foreign forces occupying Palestine. This mistaken view would jeopardize His mission, which was to inaugurate the kingdom of God. For Jesus, the Kingdom of God would only become a reality if sinners would repent and convert themselves to Christ. Undergoing personal conversion to Christ would allow them to defeat Satan. As Jesus would say, "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Mt 12: 28).
PRAYER. "Lord, your word is power and life. May I never doubt your saving love and mercy, and the power of your word to bring healing and deliverance to those in need."

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Opening Prayer:

Lord, bless me as I come before you in these moments of silence to reflect on the Scriptures. Teach me as you taught these listeners so long ago.

Encountering Christ:
1. Amazed by Christ’s Words: When Christ spoke in the temple that day, the Jews knew he was teaching in truth with authority. They were amazed, but they were unsure what it meant for their lives. Ultimately, as we know, the words of Jesus would revolutionize their lives—and ours. As we pray with these words of Scripture, are we baffled like the Jews were, wondering what needs to change, or are we overjoyed because we have encountered Christ and received the grace to know him and love his holy will?
2. Amazed by Christ’s Power: In this Gospel, we see Christ’s power over what is seen and unseen as he cast out a demon and brought peace to the man. There is no evil–seen or unseen–that Christ cannot subdue when we believe in him and accept his forgiveness of our sins. Yet, Christ awaits an invitation. He won’t barge in and take over unless we hand ourselves over in all of our weakness to the Great Physician.
3. Christ’s Identity: The evil spirit knew exactly who Christ was—“The Holy One of God.” In the face of Christ’s rebuke, the spirit had no choice but to obey the Son of God and come out of the man. No one else present, however, seemed to know Christ’s true identity. They had heard Christ teach and watched him work miracles, but they weren’t certain who he was. We, too, hear Christ teach us through the Church, and we witness miracles like transubstantiation weekly and sometimes daily. Yet, our understanding of Christ’s identity can remain a fact in our head and not a reality in our heart. Christ wants to be known and loved for who he is: the second person of the Trinity, creator, redeemer, and sanctifier. May we strive each day to better know and love Christ the way he loves each one of us.
Conversing with Christ: Lord, thank you for your word and your power. Deepen my understanding of your truest identity so that I may love you from the heart, with all my strength.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will spend an extra five minutes in silence, praying to deepen my love for you.

My Reflection for 1st Week in Ordinary Time 

Today's gospel is for us to recognize the true person of Jesus, and thereby understand His mission. Jesus' teaching astounded the multitude in the synagogue. He taught with authority.
The presence of Jesus brings about the healing powers of his teaching, which makes a deep impression on his listeners. Even the devil is overwhelmed. He tries to overcome the power of Jesus by shouting his name. But the commanding word of Jesus silences him into confusion, thus freeing the possessed man.
To many of us, the power of Satan does seem to overwhelm us; it is because we have such little trust in the power of our God, who has overcome the world once and for all. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof that the whole world has been is redeemed. Satan can have no power over us, unless we want him to rule our lives.
We are really living in a redeemed world, though we see nothing but chaos and suffering around us. Do we trust God enough to surrender our lives to him? Only then can we hope to ride the rough seas.
Lord we place ourselves into Your embrace of love and compassion.

Meditation: Jesus taught with authority
Do you believe that God's word has power to set you free and to transform your life? When Jesus taught he spoke with authority. He spoke the word of God as no one had spoken it before. When the Rabbis taught they supported their statements with quotes from other authorities. The prophets spoke with delegated authority - "Thus says the Lord." When Jesus spoke he needed no authorities to back his statements. He was authority incarnate - the Word of God made flesh. When he spoke, God spoke. When he commanded even the demons obeyed.
Faith works through love and abounds in hope
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) remarked that "faith is mighty, but without love it profits nothing. The devils confessed Christ, but lacking charity it availed nothing. They said, 'What have we to do with you' (Mark 1:24)? They confessed a sort of faith, but without love. Hence they were devils."
Faith is powerful, but without love it profits nothing (1 Corinthians 13). Scripture tells us that true faith works through love (Galatians 5:6) and abounds in hope (Romans 15:13). Our faith is made perfect in love because love orients us to the supreme good which is God himself as well as the good of our neighbor who is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26,27).
Hope anchors our faith in the promises of God and purifies our desires for the things which will last for eternity. That is why the word of Christ has power to set us free from all that would keep us bound up in sin, deception, and despair. Bede the venerable abbot of an English monastery (672-735) contrasted the power and authority of Jesus' word with the word of the devil: "The devil, because he had deceived Eve with his tongue, is punished by the tongue, that he might not speak" [Homilies on the Gospels 1.8].
Faith must be nourished with the Word of God
Faith is both a free gift of God and the free assent of our will to the whole truth that God has revealed. To live, grow, and persevere in the faith to the end, we must nourish it with the word of God. The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds that we may grow in his truth and in the knowledge of his great love for each of us. If we approach God's word with trust and submission, and with an eagerness to do what the Lord desires for us, then we are in a much better position to learn what God wants to teach us through his word. Are you eager to be taught by the Lord and to conform your mind, heart, attitude, and intentions according to his word of truth, goodness, and love?
"Lord Jesus, your word is power and life. May I never doubt your love and mercy, and the power of your word that sets us free, and brings healing and restoration to body, mind, heart, and spirit."