Swamped today with messages and claims, we have to ask where are the trustworthy leaders? Today’s readings tell us where to find trustworthy leaders and assess what they teach. In today’s readings, the reliable leader is called a “prophet like Moses.” In the book of Deuteronomy Moses utters contains the great faith-confession of Jews and Christians: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength” (Deut 6:4-5). This is the bedrock of our faith, and those who communicate it are Moses and “prophets like Moses” who exercise that office down the ages.
How did Moses attain such authority? In the book of Exodus, when the Lord came among the people on Mount Sinai with thunder and lightning, the people were terrified and asked the Lord for a mediator between the Lord and themselves. The Lord appointed Moses as mediator with the approval of the people. More authoritative than anyone else, the prophet like Moses could speak with authority of God’s plans for the beloved community. The title came to be applied to Jesus, for the role of Moses was apt for one who communicated authoritatively God’s word to the people.
What message did “the prophet like Moses” communicate to the people in Jesus’s time that is applicable to our own time? The Gospel of Mark answers that question in a remarkable scene. Jesus enters a synagogue and asks to speak. What happens next is surprising. A man with an unclean spirit tries to shout him down, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” The passage does not tell us what Jesus was saying though he was invited to speak; rather it tells us that the man tried to silence Jesus. Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit – “Come out of him!” – and the spirit comes out of him violently. The crowd is amazed and recognizes the significance of the scene. They say, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” But no specific message of Jesus is recorded even though he entered the synagogue in order to teach. Jesus is portrayed instead as a warrior, combatting unclean spirits and driving out their false teaching with his teaching. He is after all the Son of God, the creator of the world. When we embrace his teaching, we take a stand against the power of evil. The Gospel of Mark assumes the world is under the control of evil. One of the tasks of Jesus through his teaching and miracles is to fight against entrenched evil and introduce the kingdom of God. So, by accepting and putting into practice the teachings of Jesus, especially those concerning right worship and love of others, we weaken the unclean spirits’ hold and make visible the kingdom of God.