OT IV [B] Dt 18:15-20; I Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28

In the First Reading, we hear of God's promise to Moses that He would raise up for us a prophet. God would put His words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to the people everything that He commands [Dt. 18:18]. These words echo the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John where it says, "... The word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me." [Jn. 14:24, 17:8, 17:14].

Muslims allege that Muhammad was foretold in this first reading, since Muhammad says in Quran 7:157 that he is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. Muhammad is not mentioned explicitly or implicitly in the Bible.  However Christ Jesus is found in the Quran.  And what it says about Him places Him far above the founder of Islam. Jesus is told as Word of Allah in the Quran while Muhammad is only just a speaker of that word.

If we examine the text of the first reading (A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own brothren), the term “brethren” refers to Israel, not to their Arabian antagonists, enemies of Israel. Why would God raise up for Israel a prophet from their enemies?

The tribe of Levi was told, in the same chapter verse 2, that “they shall have no inheritance among their brethren”. God told them to choose a king “from among your brethren,” not a “foreigner.” Israel has never chosen a non-Jewish king. So from their brethren means an Israelite not an Arabian.

Muhammad came from Ishmael, as Muslims admit, but heirs to the Jewish throne came from Isaac.  The Torah states, “My covenant I will establish with Isaac,” (Gn 17:21). Later, God repeats the same message, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” (Gn 21:12). If Allah chose Ishmail’s line for promise then why does Quran speak about the Prophets of Israel. The Qur’an teaches that the prophetic line came through Isaac, not Ishmael: Quran 29:27 says:“And We bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and We established the Prophethood and the Scripture among his seed”. 

Jesus fulfilled Deuteronomy 18 perfectly.  (1) He came from his Jewish brethren (Gal 4:4).  (2) Dt 18:18 says, “He shall speak to them all that I [God] command Him.” Jesus said, “I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things” (Jn 8:28; cf. Jn 12:49).  (3) Jesus called himself a “prophet” (Lk 13:33) and the people considered him to be a prophet (Mt 21:11; Luke 7:16; 24:19; Jn 4:19; 6:14; 7:40; 9:17).

Therefore, given the above evidence, it is Jesus, not Muhammad who fulfilled this prophecy in Dt 18. The Jews believe that it was fulfilled in Joshua.

 

Finally, there are other characteristics of the “Prophet” to come that fit only Jesus, not Mohammed, such as, He spoke with God “face to face” and He performed “signs and wonders”.  Muhammad never saw Allah face to face nor did any miracle to testify to prophet-hood.

The text of today also reads: if a prophet presumes to speak in my name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.’” Muhammad himself admitted that he was once influenced by Satan and prophesied wrong things about Allah, which he said was inspired by Satan. So according to this passage (Dt.18) Muhammad deserves to die. Because he spoke in the name of God wrong things.

 

Again there is another passage which Muslims say is a prediction in the bible about Muhammad. Jesus says: "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor know Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."

Muslims say Muhammad is the Helper Jesus mentions here. But this helper Jesus mentions he says we cannot see or know. Muhammad was seen and known by the Arabs. Muhammad did not teach what Jesus taught.

 

Today's Gospel tells us that when Jesus taught in Capernaum, the people were astounded at His teachings because He taught with authority, not as the scribes. Here, the authority of Jesus is compared to a rabbi who has the power to impose a decision with a binding authority.

Jesus’ authority comes from the acceptance of his very mission. It is seen throughout the New Testament where He overthrows the rule of Satan, the Prince of this world, by establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. Satan was afraid of Jesus but Muhammad was afraid of Satan all his life.

The Gospels give the accounts of Jesus’ open defeat of the devil. Jesus defeated the devil in the desert where he was tempted. Jesus defeated the devil through out his life. Like a powerful commander Jesus went on dislodging his enemy from all his positions; from the souls of men, from the sick people, and from the people who were mentally suffering. The final battle was won on the cross, when Jesus made his final submission.

Jesus’ victory over the evil must be completed in each one of us. This is our mission. Each one of us has to fight. Peter says: Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. But with Jesus’ power and in his name we can defeat him.  Victory is assured only to those who fight courageously. Jesus has provided us with the most powerful weapon to defeat the evil. A weapon that has been tested and used for centuries – “Resist evil with good”. Jesus has given us the authority to do it. We require only the courage to begin the journey.

 

 

OT II [B] 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19; 1 Cor 6:13-20; John 1:35-42

All of us here today want to know and follow God's will for our lives. Some more and some less, but all of us share, at least to some degree, that fundamental desire; it's one of the reasons we have come to Mass. This desire is in itself a sign of God's presence in our souls, a sign that he is guiding us. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have received the same baptism and Catholic formation that we have, and yet, they don’t come to Mass anymore. They no longer desire to follow Christ. But somehow God has kept alive in our hearts that prayer uttered so beautifully in today's Psalm: "Here I am, O Lord, I come to do your will."

We should be deeply grateful that God has kept that desire burning. But, on the other hand, how can we discover what God's will is? Today, God is reminding us of one of His most favorite methods of communicating his will: through human messengers.

The young prophet Samuel had been chosen to lead and instruct God's people and to anoint the first two Kings of ancient Israel. But when God first started to speak to Samuel's heart, the future spiritual hero didn't even know how to recognize his voice. Eli, his spiritual guide and a priest of God, had to teach him.

John and Andrew had been chosen by God to become two of the twelve pillars of the Church, the Apostles. And yet, Jesus walked right by them on the bank of the River Jordan, and they didn't even recognize him. John the Baptist had to point him out, twice, before they got the message and decided to follow their calling.

Many times, God speaks through human messengers. And sometimes God chooses us to be messengers of God for others. Ever since our baptism, we have all had the mission, the opportunity and responsibility, to be God's ambassadors, his loudspeakers in this fallen world through our words, deeds, and example.

God is trying to reach someone in our circle of friends, relatives, and acquaintances through each of us, just as he did with Eli and Andrew; he has a message for them. Have we been good loudspeakers lately, or have we been unplugged somehow?

John the Baptist pointed out Christ to his own disciples to acknowledge him as the lamb of God and to bear witness to him in an active enterprise. Knowing Jesus is a matter of experience. One could know the Catechism of the Catholic Church, all 700 pages of it, by heart, and still not know Jesus. Bearing witness to Christ, then, demands that we should have personal and first-hand experience of Jesus.  1. We get this personal experience of Jesus in our daily lives – through the meditative reading and study of the Bible, through personal and family prayers, and through the Sacraments, especially by participation in the Eucharistic celebration. 2. Once we have experienced the personal presence of Jesus in our daily lives, we will start sharing with others the Good News of the love, peace, justice, tolerance, mercy, and forgiveness that Jesus preached.

Two men, who had been business partners for over twenty years, met one Sunday morning as they were leaving a restaurant. One of them asked, "Where are you going this morning?" "I'm going to play golf. What about you?" The first man responded rather apologetically, "I'm going to church." The other man said, "Why don't you give up that church stuff?" The first man asked, "What do you mean?" His partner said: "Well, we have been partners for twenty years. We have worked together, attended board meetings together, and had lunch together, and all of these twenty years you have never asked me about going to church. You have never invited me to go with you. Obviously, it doesn't mean that much to you."

To be effective messengers of God we need to allow ourselves to be guided by God. How deeply do I really want God to guide my life? On any given day, how much do I pay attention to what God is trying to say to me?

God wants us to be eager to hear his voice in our lives, just as Samuel was in today's First Reading. We need constantly to make Samuel's prayer our own: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." This is the attitude we need to adopt: to constantly listen, to actively pay attention, to God. Adopting that attitude requires a conscious decision. Most of us have probably made that decision at some point in our lives, maybe at a retreat or after a good confession. But unless we renew it periodically, it will get dusty and dull.

Why not renew it today, during this Mass, when Christ, through the sacrifice of the Eucharist, will be renewing his decision to give his life for us and for our salvation?

God speaks in so many ways, through so many messengers! We just need to tune in.  God likes to use messengers, especially messengers who stay focused on the message. Let’s ask for the grace to have the attitude of sharing our faith with those who need Christ and invite them to come and see him.