|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Numbers 11:4–6, 10–16, 24–29 |
Psalm 19:7–11 |
James 5:13–20 |
Mark 9:38–50 |
In today’s Gospel the disciples want to restrain someone who apparently is able to successfully exorcise evil spirits, but is not one of their own group. The issue isn’t whether or not the outsider was doing good works in the name of Jesus; the issue was that the outsider was not considered a member of the chosen circle. The disciples wanted to stop the outsider only because he was uncertified and beyond their control and therefore considered insignificant. As Lauren Gough pointed out in her excellent sermon last week, the Gospel warns us against spiritual arrogance, an overemphasis on a narrow definition of authority by contrasting the pettiness of the disciples as opposed to the openness of Jesus. The warning given to later Christians is to beware the tendency to look inward, to encircle the wagons, of putting loyalty to a particular group commissioned to spread the Gospel, above faithfulness to the Gospel and the good fruits of the Spirit. As we were reminded last week, the Gospel is not about our control and our security as much as it is about our caring and sharing in relationship with others.
Jesus is saying that mavericks, innovators, questioners, and outsiders are not inevitably opponents of the Gospel. Moreover, the response of graciousness, generosity, and kindness serve the people of God better than intolerance and hostility. Jesus used the picture of a very simple offering of a cup of water to someone who is thirsty. Such an illustration was easily identifiable in an arid culture where people often got thirsty. Our mission after all is primarily to invite people in, not to sort people out. The Kingdom of God is announced by making connections, not by raising suspicion and erecting fences.
Instead of being suspicious and jealous of outsiders, the disciples are counseled not to be afraid of self-criticism, and to reflect on anything in their own ministry and life causing others to stumble or to be blocked from the love of God. The disciples are asked to examine how they look at people, how they listen to people, how they respond to others.
Like other prophets and teachers in the Bible, Jesus taught using the language of metaphors. Jesus followed with an attention getting metaphor designed to knock the sandals off the disciples’ feet. "Well if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; if your foot causes you to sin cut it off; and if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out." I do not believe that Jesus ever seriously wanted us to mutilate our bodies. Rather, exasperated by the disciples’ protests, Jesus reminded them that while their cherished beliefs may have gotten them to where they were today as much as their feet; while their opinions and values were as deeply imbedded in their heads as their eyes; while their sense of security of who they were had helped them hold on to their emotional equilibrium in difficult situations as much as their hands helped them restore balance when they were in danger of tripping, inflexible opinions, old unexamined beliefs, and rigid anxiousness over their future, would likely get in the way of perceiving God doing a new thing, of becoming aware of the wise presence of others, of being unable to respond to the great opportunities of changed situations. For the first disciples at this point, the cross and resurrection were still down the road. Jesus was clear that on their road of discipleship they will have to jettison some of their opinions, discard long held cherished beliefs, and deal with their anxiousness. Of course that is true for all disciples. I suspect most of us who have parented children in the last thirty years, know perfectly well what this means. Your child did not come with an instruction sheet with all the definitive answers to pass from the twentieth into the twenty-first century. Every teacher who has taught through the past three decades knows it too.
A spiritual guide would counsel his pupils, “Sincerity is never enough. What you need is honesty”. “What is the difference?” one of the pupils asked. “Honesty is never-ending openness to the world. Sincerity is believing one’s own propaganda”.1 Today’s lesson isn’t promoting an anything goes attitude, but it is reminding us, that one does not have to fear or spurn signs of God working in strange or novel places. Moreover, God is found in accepting the sharing and gifts of others rather than in worry over another's imperfections and faults. We are all in need of repentance and of God's forgiveness. Sincerity is never enough. The Good News is that God doesn't wait to enter our lives until we are all put together, complete and correct. God doesn’t wait until we are fully authorized and approved. God comes to us anyway, and embraces us now.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
From Anthony DeMello, SJ., More One minute Nonsense
