September 27^th 2015.  Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Mark 9:38-43.45.47-48

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Mark 9:38-43.45.47-48

John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.

‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ,
then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.

‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Jesus uses very severe language this Sunday! If my hand causes me to sin, then it should be cut off. If my eye causes me to go astray, then it should be gouged out. Evidently Jesus does not intend us to take these words literally! But they are nevertheless the harshest words that he uses in the New Testament and he obviously wants to make a very strong point. How fragmented the Church is! We belong to cliques and factions and often consider ourselves to be superior, or more enlightened, or less hypocritical than others. We exclude others from our faction because we consider them to be unsuitable or unworthy in some sense. Jesus uses harsh words this Sunday because he wants us to be aware that anything that causes lack of communion in the Church is to be excluded completely. It is to be cut off like a useless limb or diseased organ. True unity in the Church under the one Spirit is an absolute priority. We are created for love and communion with one another. The alternative to authentic spirit-filled communion is hell itself, as Jesus words point out very clearly. Anything that breaks communion is to be cut away and rejected.

Jesus uses extreme language in this Sunday’s Gospel. We are not to take his words literally, but we ought to consider his point seriously.

Jesus words seem very harsh in this week’s Gospel reading. Of course, the instruction to cut off your hand if it causes you to sin is an example of the kind of paradoxical language that is part and parcel of Scripture. It is impossible to read the Bible if we do not accept the paradoxical mode of expression that is often used to express particular truths. Some fundamentalist Christians try to interpret Scripture in a literal sense, but this can lead to absurd conclusions. Jesus’ use of this type of language in Sunday’s Gospel reading, however, does not mean that we should underestimate the force and seriousness of the point that he wishes to make.

Jesus is telling us that the communion of others with us in the one body of Christ is the most important thing of all. Anything that impedes this communion is to be dealt with harshly

The first reading recounts how Moses extends his ministry to other helpers. This is very important: it is essential to collaborate with others and to delegate duties to competent people. Moses does not seek to keep his ministry to himself and deputises his authority to others who will help him govern the people. Two of the seventy two elders are not present at the moment when the Spirit of God descends on the assembly, but they still receive the Spirit nonetheless. This irregularity in protocol upsets one of the young men in the assembly. Sometimes young people can be more fixated with procedure than the elderly (and it can happen that they are more self-righteous too. In the scene of the woman caught in adultery, Jesus says, “Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone”. It is the oldest men who go away first, while the younger ones remain longer with the stone in their hands, still doubting their own sinfulness). In the first reading, this young man is upset that the gift of the Spirit has not respected protocol. Moses replies, “Are you jealous on my account that the Spirit has also been given to them? I wish that the entire people were prophets! That the Spirit would be poured out on everyone!” One of the temptations of the spiritual life is to try to exclude others from the beautiful things that we possess. We tend to think that God does not wish to give these gifts to these lesser mortals. It is not uncommon in the Church to encounter the attitude that my faction is superior and have certain rights not possessed by others. But this is like an army assaulting its own members accidentally with friendly fire! It is hard to overestimate the gravity and tragedy of this situation for the Christian community. In fact Jesus speaks of this rupture of communion within the Church with an uncharacteristic harshness. Warnings of this severity from Jesus are rare in the New Testament and this is perhaps the most shocking example of all. “If anyone places an obstacle that causes another to be out of communion with the Church, then it would be better that they mutilate themselves rather than the harm they have caused to the other. If your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell.” Jesus is telling us that it is hell itself that is the real alternative to communion.

Each one of us at some point has fallen into the trap of thinking that we possessed a characteristic that set us above others

We hear people saying this like: “Our side is right”, “We are permitted to do this”, “You are not permitted to do that”, “We belong to this group”, “You do not have the right characteristics to belong to our group.” All of this factional talk is destructive because there is only one thing that all of us belong to and that is the Catholic Church - a single body by virtue of a single baptism, under one Lord and united in the one Holy Spirit. He who insists on distinctions and attains his importance on account of the counter distinctions that he has made, “it would be better if he were thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck”. These severe words can be applied to all of us because all of us have been the cause of obstacles been placed in the way of others at some point in our lives. All of us have had moments when we tended to think that the Spirit of God was reserved to people with those same characteristics shared by me, instead of recognizing that God can give his Spirit to whoever he wishes, to people that we consider ill-qualified or unworthy. The Lord can make a saint in a moment from individuals who allow Him to operate in them.

This Sunday’s Gospel calls us to break down barriers and create communion in the Church

This Sunday a very important challenge is placed in front of us. We are asked not to create divisions of any sort, to work towards communion and to seek to esteem others as much as possible. We must forgo the tendency to make distinctions and confrontations. The body of Christ must not be fragmented by these cliques and factions! May the Lord help us to recognize that what really counts is to be one in Christ. Communion, unity, love: these are the most important issues in the Church. May the Lord cut away that in us which damages communion, may he help us to defend dialogue and fraternity. Instead of competing with others, we must contend with them only to the extent of respecting and esteeming them as much as possible.