In our Catholic faith, the resurrection is what is lovingly referred to as “the end game.” The resurrection is also “the beginning game” for the rest of eternity, when the spirit will be called back into the body – like Lazarus – as easily as the unclean spirit leaves the man possessed by it. The unclean spirits will cease at the voice of Jesus, and the eternal spirit, for which we have been created, will be welcomed home to the sinless body. In the first reading today from the Book of Deuteronomy, for those who caught it, there is a back and forth between Moses and God speaking what is referred to as resurrection language. It’s spoken centuries prior to Jesus being raised by God the Father. Moses speaks to the Israelites in their attentive listening,” A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you among our kin.” Have we ever said anything prophetic, that when it happened, it went miles beyond our prophetic statement? I remember when I was 32 or 33 years old about 3 centuries ago, wearing a brown uniform Monday-Friday for what seemed like 120 years, delivering boxes instead of souls, and I was at dinner with a brother and friend, and out of the clear blue I said, “You know, if I’m not married by the time I hit 40, I’m gonna become a priest.” Well, at the age of 40, without recalling I spoke those words until some time much later, I went into seminary. As always, God gets the last laugh. Moses does this in today’s reading. When he said that God would raise up a prophet for Israel, of course he was speaking about some unknown great Prophet who would lead Israel in the perfection of the commandments, pleasing God to no end. What Moses didn’t see in his prophetic words was a great Prophet walking out of a tomb, raised up after being dead for 3 days, never to die again. God heard the prophetic words of Moses and ran with them, taking them an entire universe in length, far beyond what Moses said. God loved what Moses said so much that he returned the favor to Moses with His own words, “This is well said. I will raise up a prophet like you,” Moses. Where Moses was speaking a great prophet, God was speaking a Son and a Savior. The resurrection language of raising up spoken centuries before becomes manifested, and begins to be drawn out to its fullest extent, in the Person of Jesus Christ. In Mark’s Gospel this Sunday, we see two direct ways in which resurrection language draws much nearer to the real event of Easter Sunday morning. The first direct way is the reaction of the people within earshot of Jesus. Their reaction resembles that of the Israelites when Moses spoke to the people. Except here, for the first time in human history, the reaction reaches a crescendo. It’s the reaction of being astonished at the Lord’s teaching; a new teaching with authority. New, yes. But more the fulfillment of what Moses predicted in his prophetic statement. The hearts of Jesus’ listeners were stirred beyond any previous generation of God-fearing people. For us, it begs the question in this present time of religious relativity when it’s believed that one religion is just as good as another, “As Christians, are we still astonished at his teaching? His teachings that come to us directly from his Church? Do his teachings still move us with authority? With heaven’s force consisting of grace and mercy? Or, are they just another set of beliefs among many?” If we lose the reaction of the people in this Gospel; if we cease to be astonished at his teaching on the Eucharist; if we falsely believe the Bread of Life is symbolic, or something to chew on every Sunday, then our faith is in need of recapturing some astonishment in Christ. His teachings are astonishing and authoritative because he is raised up, and he will do the same for us. The second way which Moses’ resurrection language is directly manifested is the Lord’s complete power over unclean spirits. If you’re fighting with unclean spirits in your life, please know that your Savior is more powerful that they. This step of power over the unclean spirits is a large step on the way to the joy of resurrection. The unclean spirits in our world remain very powerful. They continue to overtake bodies, minds, and spirits. We need no more proof than the easy destruction of human life in all stages, with so many people who cooperate with the unclean spirits of death rather than the Spirit of Life. On their own, unclean spirits are extremely powerful. Much more powerful than we are on our own. Sorry for the bad news. That’s one really good reason to keep our Savior close. Because the good news is that Jesus crushes them. He crushes them like the best Patriots team would crush a high school football team. This manifestation of Jesus’ power allows us some comfort in the holy truth that the sufferings of this world are nothing when compared to the glory God has revealed to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. In other words, persevere, because the prophetic statement of Moses to God of raising up a prophet has come to pass. Our faith in him, and his authoritative teachings and power work to our eternal benefit, when your body and mine will be carried by the angels into life eternal, which is the end