Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 23, 2020 - Thursday in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 18:6-9; 19:1-7 and Mark 3:7-12]And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, "You are the Son of God." He warned them sternly not to make him known. [Mark]
What is your reputation? That can be a difficult thing to contemplate because a reputation is, by definition, what OTHER people think of you. We have an example in Jesus' own ministry when he asks the disciples at Caesarea-Philipi' "Who do people say that I am?" [Mark 8:27, Matthew 16:13-20]. In today's gospel passage, we are still in the early stages of Jesus' ministry, but his reputation as a "wonderworker" is spreading far and wide. Jesus has to resort to crowd control to survive!! The irony is that the evil spirits know exactly who he is, but that is not the way Jesus wants to be proclaimed. (How do we feel when our worst enemy knows us better than our best friend?) The plan of the Gospel According to Mark is that the only way Jesus will be truly known is at his death and resurrection. The evil spirits (and Peter) would be jumping ahead of the story if they tell the ending!!!
Even when we do everything right, we cannot entirely control our reputation with others. Some will interpret us according to their own needs, like the crowds were doing with Jesus. Others will interpret according to their emotional states, as Saul does with David in today's first scripture. Envy can be a powerful influence. How we want to be known and how we are, in fact, known, is a challenge that even Jesus found to be difficult. I am reminded of Mother Teresa of Calcutta's famous statement: "God has not called us to be successful. God has called us to be faithful." That may be the best and only way to have a good reputation. AMEN