In this 26th Sunday in ordinary time, the church puts before us a series of passages that should serve to challenge the tendency to restrict the workings of God to what merely conforms to our expectations. This can be seen in the first reading, for even Joshua was preliminarily unable to comprehend the unexpected work of God.
First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29
The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses,
the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders;
and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.
Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad,Our reading breaks up an account of Israel complaining regarding lack of food in the desert and God’s provision of Quail as well as the sending of a great plague (Numbers 11:1-15; 31-35). In the midst of the people’s infidelity, God moves to help Moses in the task of leading Israel in the desert by granting Moses seventy elders to share in the leadership burden.
were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp.
They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent;
yet the spirit came to rest on them also,
and they prophesied in the camp.
So, when a young man quickly told Moses,
"Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, "
Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said,
"Moses, my lord, stop them."
But Moses answered him,
"Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!
Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"
When the seventy elders gathered around the tent of meeting, God came down in the cloud and took some of the spirit that was on Moses and LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.
However, not all of the elders were present at the tent of meeting, for Eldad and Medad were absent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also, and they prophesied in the camp. This leads Joshua to ask Moses to make them stop, yet Moses responds: Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!
Before moving to criticize Joshua for attempting to limit the work of God’s Spirit, it is important to attempt to understand why Joshua would respond the way that he did. While we are unable to know for sure what was going through Joshua’ s mind, one potential explanation would be that he was concerned that anarchy and insurrection would result if prophesy occurred within the camp, for in context, Israel was already grumbling against Moses due to their lack of food.
In other words, it is possible that Joshua was seeking to protect the honor of God and his servant Moses, and if this is correct, this is not in itself a problem. The problem centered more on Joshua attempting to limit the legitimate work of God as evidenced by the fact that it was not any spirit but God’s Spirit that fell upon Eldad and Medad. It is along these lines that Moses rebukes Joshua, for Moses rightly desires that all the members of Israel would receive the Spirit.
This first reading is a particularly fitting backdrop for the Gospel reading from Mark 9, a passage to which we now turn.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14
R. (9a) The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
the decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
Though your servant is careful of them,
very diligent in keeping them,
Yet who can detect failings?
Cleanse me from my unknown faults!
R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
From wanton sin especially, restrain your servant;
let it not rule over me.
Then shall I be blameless and innocent
of serious sin.
R. The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.
Second Reading: James 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned;
you have murdered the righteous one;
he offers you no resistance.
Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48In our Gospel reading, John the son of Zebedee comes to Jesus and reports that …we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us. Again, like in the case of Joshua above, it is important to try to understand why John and the other disciples would attempt to stop someone from casting out demons in Jesus’ name.
At that time, John said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us."
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"
As all four Gospels demonstrate, Jesus was often met with various forms of opposition, a fact that hardly could have been missed on John, for Jesus himself repeatedly tells his disciples to expect opposition to the point of losing their very lives. As a result, it is understandable that John and the disciples would be uneasy with someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Jesus’ name.
Therefore, like Joshua before him, John attempts to protect the honor of God and his anointed leader by attempting to limit supernatural activity that appeared to be unauthorized. However, like Moses, Jesus responds to John by rejecting the attempt to limit the legitimate work of God.
While Joshua’s mistake was to ignore the work of God’s Spirit in Eldad and Medad, John and the other disciples’ mistake was to assume that simply because someone was not currently following them, that they were therefore in opposition to them. As a result, Jesus tells John not to stop the one who is driving out demons in his name, yet the rationale for this does not focus on the work of exorcism as such, but instead, on what constitutes true evidence of working in the name of Jesus.
Jesus states that . . . there is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Yet to further unpack this it is important to once again turn to the first reading and Joshua’s mistake, namely, to attempt to limit the legitimate work of God. In this case, Jesus is stating that when someone does a genuinely good work in his name he is actually for him, and as a result, engaging in a legitimate work of God.
However, this raises another question: how do we know if a given work is legitimate? It is tempting to suggest in light of our two readings that we should not necessarily look to the properly ordained for the work of God, but rather, to look in unexpected places. While this is not entirely false, I do not think that is the point.
Instead, both passages assume that it is through the validly ordained that the work of God is carried out, for the seventy receive the Spirit and the disciples become the apostles upon whom Christ builds his church. However, the point is that we are not to limit God’s work in such a manner that he must only work through the expected channels.
With this being said, Jesus continues and offers a chilling word of caution for those who are appointed to places of leadership, namely, if your leadership causes the little ones to stumble, it is better for you to be thrown into the sea with a stone around your neck than have to answer to God for such leadership. Instead, leaders must have an unflinching commitment to weed out sin in their lives, for the failure to do so will lead to them being thrown into Gehenna.
Conclusion
What should we conclude on the basis of these readings? What is it that the church wants us to take away from these selections? I would suggest two primary points: the elimination of presumption and the acceptance of responsibility.
As for the elimination of presumption, these readings demonstrate that we are unable to presume that God is limited to his approved manner of operation. This is something that is quite easy to assume, for it is far safer to simply state that God only works through certain channels. However, while God is indeed bound to his commitment to the church, he is not bound by his commitment to the church such that he is unable to work in unexpected, even startling ways.
As for the acceptance of responsibility, for those who are called to serve in the name of Christ there is a solemn responsibility that accompanies their remarkable privilege. To represent Christ is the greatest position one can have and as a result, it would seem to follow that to misrepresent Christ would constitute one of the greatest injustices one can commit.
What should we do to eliminate presumption and accept responsibility in our lives? While there is not only one right answer to this question, I would suggest that the letter of James offers us important guidance in this regard. In the second reading for this week James offers a strong warning to the rich who oppress the poor, but previously in the letter James offers an important clue as to how to avoid falling into this kind of serious sin, namely, by citing Proverbs 3:34, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). If we want to eliminate presumption and accept responsibility, we need the humility to seek from God the grace to be conformed to Jesus and therein eliminate presumption and become the men and women God has for us to be.
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