“‘What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.’” (Luke 4:37).
When I got my first real job after I graduated from university, I remember sitting down with my manager who told me that my role in that company was to sell words… I was working in Tax Law and Accounting, and that meant that I was responsible for understanding the legislation relating to tax and then making decisions about the best way to structure a commercial arrangement so that the tax implications would be favourable to the client and the commercial arrangement was uncompromised. Obviously, I was very very young and very inexperienced, and there were managers who worked with me to ensure that this happened appropriately, but all in all, I was effectively tasked as a wordsmith.
And ever since that time I have had a great respect for the power of words, because when words are used with purpose they can cause significant change…
And I have been reflecting on that concept of the “word” because I was praying the Angelus the other morning and as I said the words, “The Word Became Flesh”, I felt some of the power of that in that moment…
For Christ is the WORD… And the purpose and power behind that word is unimaginable. In other words, if a mere human can change a tax return depending on the words that they use, imagine the power of THE WORD MADE FLESH to change everything…
And there are countless examples of the power of Christ’s WORD. Devils obeyed Him…
“A man who had the spirit of an unclean demon cried out with a loud voice, ‘Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, ‘What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.’” (Luke 4:31-37).
And there is so much power in one word of God. In a word he silenced evil. In a word he healed a man. In a word he exiled a demon. In a word he was MADE FLESH…
It was not a physical action as it is for every single other creature that lives (with the exception of Adam and Eve who were created by the Almighty God and in their case, they were created out of something, Adam some dirt and Eve his rib). Instead, out of a WORD God was made flesh. In other words, out of the WILL OF GOD came the WORD OF GOD.
And I have been thinking about the magnanimity of that today. Because I have no possible way of fathoming the power of my God…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.