26th Sunday in Ordinary Time B. Sept. 29,
2024
Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Theme: Clerics and Laity Are Called
to Work in Perfect Collaboration in Our Prophetic Mission of Warning and
Calling People to Radical Repentance
September is the month of the Word of God.
Our Holy Mother Church encourages us to become familiar with the Bible. In today’s
first reading, Joshua tried to convince Moses to stop Eldad and Medad from
prophesying in God’s name because they were not part of the group that attended
the commissioning ritual. Similarly, in the Gospel, the apostle John tried to
persuade Jesus to stop someone from exorcising in Jesus’ name because the
person did not belong to their group. The reaction of both Moses and Jesus
teaches us that God bestows the Prophetic Spirit not only to the ordained
ministers but to any believers he wants. This underscores the importance of
collaboration between clerics and laity in our prophetic mission of denouncing
unjust practices, as James did in our second reading, and inviting people to
radical repentance as Jesus did in our Gospel. Each of us, whether cleric or
layperson, is a valuable integral part of the Church's mission.
Our Gospel passage with vv. 49-50, which
the lectionary has omitted, concludes chapter 9. Mark places it immediately
after the pericope of Jesus announcing his Passion, Death, and Resurrection to
his disciples for the second time, his disciples’ selfish reaction, and Jesus’ exhortation
based on their attitude (9:30-37). Jesus’ teaching about marriage and divorce (10:1-12)
immediately follows our text. The context of our Gospel story is that the disciples
heard Jesus predicting his Passion, Death, and Resurrection for the second time
(9:30-32). They became concerned about their selfish ambition instead of showing
their compassion and support to their Master. First, they argued among
themselves to find out who would be the group leader after their Master died. For this, Jesus taught them that the greatest
of the group must be the last and servant of all (vv. 33-35). Now, in our text, they raise another concern. They
saw someone exorcizing in Jesus’ name and tried to stop him because that person
was not one of the Twelve. Their problem is to ensure that no one joins their
group of disciples after their Master’s death. In his answer, Jesus prepares his
disciples, who will oversee his Church later, to know that God can bestow
his Spirit to anyone who believes in him and is willing to do his work. He calls
them to concentrate on their mission and avoid anything that causes and leads
them to sin.
Our Gospel text is a narrative story with
images. V. 38 can be considered an introduction. The body of the text has two
parts. In the first part, Jesus opens the discipleship ministry to everyone who
believes in him and promises rewards to those who support his disciples in
their ministry work (vv. 38-41). In the second part, Jesus calls his disciples
to radical repentance (vv. 42-48). Vv. 49-50,
which the lectionary has omitted, concludes the story.
Mark introduces today’s Gospel story with the
disciples requesting Jesus to stop one unnamed man who drives out demons in his
name because this exorcist does not belong to their group of apostles (v. 38). Jesus
reacts in two phases. First, he prevents his disciples from stopping this
outsider exorcist. He justifies his position with the fact that no one who performs
mighty deeds in his name can at the same time speak ill of him. In other words,
no one who does not believe in him can perform mighty deeds in his name. He
lets his disciples understand that there are people who are not against them
even though they do not belong to their group of disciples. This echoes our
first reading story. In the passage that precedes our first reading story, Moses
complained to God that his ministry of leading the Chosen People became too
much of a burden for him alone to bear (Numbers 11: 14-17). In response, our
first reading passage tells us that God used some of the prophetic spirit that
was on Moses and bestowed it on the seventy elders, enabling them to assist Moses
by prophesying. In this context, their gift of prophecy is not of foretelling
the future but of calling the Israelites to keep God’s commandments. The
scenario is that two of the seventy elders, Eldad and Medad, missed the
celebration of commissioning that Moses organized for them to start prophesying
officially. However, in the camp where they were, even without being
commissioned by Moses, they, too, began to prophesize the same way as the
sixty-eight who attended the commissioning ritual. Then Joshua, Moses’ aid, requested
Moses to stop them because they were not part of those Moses commissioned. Moses’
reaction was not to stop them. He said, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only
all the people of the Lord were prophets! If only
the Lord would bestow his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29).
Through
this first part of the Gospel and our first reading, our Holy Mother Church teaches
us that the kingdom of God is all-embracing. The saving mission of the Church
is not exclusively to the apostles and their successors as the hierarchy of the
Church today. God bestows the prophetic gifts to all believers. Clerics and
laity are called to collaborate perfectly to build God’s kingdom. The Second Vatican
Council states, “The apostolate of the laity derives from their Christian vocation and the
Church can never be without it. Sacred Scripture clearly shows how spontaneous
and fruitful such activity was at the very beginning of the Church.” (Apostolicam Actusitatem, Decree on the
Apostolate of the Laity, November 18, 1965, 1). From our baptism, we all have
received this same prophetic spirit, like the seventy elders of our first
reading, and the power over unclean spirits, like that person of our Gospel. Let
us work together, ordained and lay ministers, and build the reign of God in our
families, Church, and everywhere we live.
After preventing his disciples from stopping
the outsider exorcist and letting them know that the discipleship ministry is
extended to all believers, Jesus discussed the consequence of causing someone,
even the least one, to sin. He says its punishment is worse than having a
millstone tied around their necks and being thrown into the sea. He calls his
followers to radical repentance to avoid this extreme sentence in “Gehenna,”
which means hell. Using the imagery of cutting off and plucking out one’s
members of the body, Jesus exhorts his believers to do whatever it takes to
remove from their lives anything that leads them to sin and causes others to
sin.
Notice
the fourfold repetition of “to cause or to lead to sin” Jesus employs here. The
first one concerns how we treat our ordained and lay ministers who have
dedicated their lives to the mission of the Church. Jesus calls them “the
little ones.” Previously, he said that if we assist his ministers even with the
simplest needs (a cup of water to drink), we will surely not lose our rewards
(v.41). Now here he warns his disciples and us that if we cause them to sin,
meaning we weaken their commitment, our punishment will be worse than being thrown
into the sea with a massive stone hung around our necks. Jesus uses strong
language to emphasize the necessity of not weakening the commitment of our
brothers and sisters who minister to our Church communities.
The other three repetitions of “to cause
or to lead to sin” concern how everyone must strictly avoid sin. He asks his disciples
and us to cut off our hands and legs and pluck out our eyes if they cause us to
sin. It is better for us to go to heaven maimed, crippled, or with one eye than
to go to the unquenchable fire of hell with all our body members. Jesus does
not mean we should physically remove our body members if they lead us to sin.
If so, many of us would have lost our legs, hands, and eyes long ago. Instead, Jesus
challenges us to cut off and pluck out any behavior that causes and leads us to
sin. For instance, we need to cut off any addictions (to alcohol, money, sex, etc.),
pluck out anything that prevents us from coming to Church, especially on
Sundays, and cut off any anger that prevents us from forgiving and loving our
brothers and sisters and ourselves.
In our second reading, the Church gives us
James as another model of a prophet. He strongly warns and challenges the
unjust rich who work mainly to accumulate wealth and material possessions for
themselves and abuse those who work for them. As Christians, we are the
prophets of our time. We are called to address wrong practices in our families,
Church communities, neighborhoods, and societies by warning people and inviting
them to “pluck them out” and “cut them off.” For instance, jealousy (like that
of Joshua and disciples in our first and Gospel readings) prevents many of us
from accepting good things other people accomplish in our Church, families, and
societies just because they do not belong to our clubs, Church communities, social
classes, or political parties. We need to “pluck jealousy out”. Racism is another sin we need to “cut off.” It
causes division among us. We must “pluck out” criticism that discourages people
and fear that prevents us from serving God as we should. We must “cut off” any addictions
(alcohol, shopping, gambling, etc.)
Let us ask God’s grace in this Eucharistic
celebration that we, clerics and laity, might collaborate perfectly in our prophetic
mission of warning and inviting people and ourselves to radical repentance.
Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
SVD USS Biblical Apostolate
Coordinator &
Retreat Center Director
No comments:
Post a Comment