Jesus was challenged and resisted by the demons.
Because of his authority as the "Holy One of God", all evil is ultimately powerless before Jesus.
The demon then says, ”I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

１Corinthians 2:10b-16

The Spirit probes everything,

Even the depth of God. Who, but his own spirit, knows the secrets of a person? Similarly, no one, but the Spirit of God, knows the secrets of God. we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God and through him, we understand what God, in his goodness, has given us.

So we speak of this, not in terms inspired by human wisdom, but in a language taught by the Spirit, explaining a spiritual wisdom to spiritual persons. The one who remains on the psychological level does not understand the things of the Spirit.

They are foolishness for him; and he does not understand, because they require a spiritual experience. On the other hand, the spiritual person judges everything, but no one judges him. Who has known the mind of God so as to teach him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

     ＊＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊      

Luke 4:31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee, and began teaching the people at the sabbath meetings.  They were astonished at the way he taught them, for his word was spoken with authority.

 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by an evil spirit who shouted in a loud voice,  “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I recognize you: you are the Holy One of God.”  Then Jesus said to him sharply, “Be silent and leave this man!” The evil spirit then threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him harm.

Amazement seized all these people and they said to one another, “What does this mean? He commands the evil spirits with authority and power. He orders, and you see how they come out!”   And news about Je­sus spread through­out the surrounding area.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Dawkins’ God

In 2012, one of the greatest atheists and the “high pope of Darwinism”, Richard Dawkins, had a debate on BBC Radio 4 with Rev. Giles Frazer, on a national poll which found that 50% of the British Christians couldn’t even name the gospels.

Dismissing the finding as trivia, Fraser challenged Dawkins to name the full title (a long one) of his favoured book, on the Origin of Species. Dawkins fumbled.

His attempt to recall went like this: “On the Origin of . ….uh …with ..oh God…on the Origin of Species… There is a subtitle… “Here is the greatest atheist, in a moment of simple crisis, calling upon God! It is not only the evil spirits who know and recognize God; even the atheists do! As they say, there are no atheists in foxholes.

Even when we try our best to deny God, the Holy Spirit that in inhabits and probes our depths cannot be silenced.