The following three quotations from the readings encapsulate the teaching for today: Mark 1:22; Psalm 8:6 and Hebrews 2:8. Together, they show us the true nature of Jesus and His divine mission of salvation. People of those days found them difficult to understand, and we of today are sometimes lethargic about listening to the message given here by Mark and Paul.

Mark showed that Jesus was God's own Son. He began his account of Jesus' public ministry with two interesting points: firstly, Jesus' teaching was greeted with astonishment and secondly, He cast out an unclean spirit. Teaching in the synagogues and casting out demons were not uncommon practices then. The Jews were astonished because Jesus gave them a new teaching, based on a revelation of Himself rather than a doctrine. He did this with great conviction and prophetic authority, unlike the legalistic traditionalism of the scribes. His healing of the possessed man was also very different. He did not resort to accepted exorcism formulas. His simple and direct commands to the demon, who protestingly acknowledged Him as the "Holy One of God" and who then obeyed Him, must have made their jaws drop.

Jesus' mission meant undertaking suffering to the point of being brought "lower than the angels" (Heb. 2:9). In the Gospel we see that Jesus' actions lead Him to be rejected finally by the very people He came to heal.