My dear friends, today we celebrate the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year P. The readings explore the themes of collaboration and cooperation. The first reading, taken from the Book of Numbers, is set in the context of complaints against God. in the wilderness.
Complaints not only from the Israelites but also from Moses. What were these complaints about? The Israelites who were definitely not vegetarians got hangry and asked for meat to eat while Moses complained that he had to lead an uncooperative group of people.
He felt his burdens were too great and he questioned whether God was really with him. Feeling caught in the middle, Moses asked for either relief or death. God responded by distributing some of Moses'spirit among the 70 elders, thus ensuring that Moses doesn't have to bear his burdens alone anymore. However, the spirit rested also on Eldad and Medad who were not at the tent. and they began prophesying at the camp.
Despite efforts by Joshua to stop them, Moses refuses any protection of his authority or restriction of the divine word. He desires to decentralize authority and recognizes the moving of the spirit within the community. Having witnessed the effect of the Holy Spirit on the other men, he was convinced that the people of Israel would be better off if the Spirit came upon everyone.
The call to be a prophet wasn't a calling reserved for a select few but a vocation for all. This narrative illustrates Moses'humility. He realized that God was the ultimate authority over Israel while he has the position of a steward.
Quite often the most difficult thing for us to say is, I need your help. At times we will even risk the success of a project instead of asking for help from other people. Why is asking for help so difficult?
Is it just difficult to accept the fact that God can bless other people as well? Or the difficulty in acknowledging one's inadequacies due to one's pride? In the second reading taken from the letter of James, we see the rich being condemned, which is reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets and serves as a warning to Christians as to the fate of those who abuse riches. The last days here depicts the excessive concern of the rich people to have collected materials that would be sufficient till they die. Unfortunately, these very riches clothes, silver and gold would degrade or get rusted and become evidence against the rich.
The very thing that they look to for comfort and trust in will now result in their final ruin. Thus the rich are called to weep and wail over their oncoming miseries. James highlights the fact that wealth is temporary and that judgment and eternity are ahead. Therefore, to pursue wealth to the extent of neglecting their pursuit of God or to trust in wealth as the solution to your deepest needs is sheer foolishness. James also condemns the rich people for withholding the wages of the workers through fraudulent ways.
The acts of injustice done to the marginalized reach the ears of Yahweh. The phrase is fattening one's heart's day of slaughter. and murdering the righteous all allude to taking away a neighbor's living or to the plot of the godless trying to destroy the righteous poor.
Wealth is a good tool if we are careful in using it as stewards for the Lord. But it can also turn into a dangerous trap if we adopt a worldly perspective towards it. This life is not. the end. So though it may appear that the wicked live luxuriously on earth and oppress the righteous with no consequences, the test will be the final judgment and eternity.
The Gospel extract taken from Mark is a classical sandwich construction and therefore we have to read it along with the passage preceding it, which was a part of last Sunday's Gospel. The Gospel last Sunday was about the disciples'argument over who is the greatest, which resulted in Jesus saying that the greatest are those who welcome vulnerable, weak and Pendant people like a small child. Today's Gospel passage begins with the narrative of the discontent between the disciples. Someone who did not belong to the group performed exorcisms in the name of Jesus.
The Gospel then continues with the theme of greatness with warnings about those who put a stumbling block before any little one who would believe. in Jesus. Let's first look at the theme of greatness.
Jesus brings the attention of the disciples back to his teaching about the child he still holds in his arms. He first tells them of the importance of welcoming the little ones and then warns them of what will happen if they act with hostility towards the same. Jesus begins with a clear and unambiguous statement. Those scandalizing the little ones who trust deserve to be dead.
The text, though, is not to be taken literally. Jesus is not telling us to harm ourselves to deal with sin. Rather, it speaks about the dangers of how our personal sin might affect others who believe in him. It is better to act now in this life than suffer the effects of sin for the age to come.
A reminder that decisions taken now have eternal consequences. To not deal with sin now is a sign that our hearts do not belong to God. Thus the question we must ponder is, are we serious about our sin, its effects on those around us and its eternal life? eternal consequences. Which is more important, this life or eternal life?
Hence, if anything comes in the way of us attaining eternal life, we need to cut it out quickly. We now look at the central portion of the sandwich, namely the discontent between the disciples. This text is comparable to the first reading where Moses accepts that God can do whatever God wants because God is God. Jesus tells the disciples to not prevent the other person because if demons are being expelled, then God's grace is operative. The disciples were perhaps jealous as just a few verses earlier, they couldn't heal a boy with the spirit and now an unnamed disciple was casting out demons.
Jesus points out to the disciples that all against evil, are on the same team, even though they might don jerseys of different colors. A team that we are on through grace, not effort. Most of the times, the focus lies not so much on the good work being done, but rather on who is doing the work.
What's more important, the work or the affiliation one has? For the church to have a wider impact, it has to begin to collaborate with others and go beyond its small circles of influence. When Jesus says, who are my mother and my brothers, whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. He refers to the wider human family, the human society, not our narrow understanding of religion. Collaboration and cooperation are the need of the hour if we desire to defeat the forces of evil in our world.
We need to be humble and accept that we require the help of others. We need to accept that God can work in other people as well. He does not restrict himself to only the church. To defeat the forces of evil, we need to start with ourselves. What do we need to cut off from our lives?
Is it anger, unforgiveness or jealousy? I pray that each one of us may be able to reach the true greatness that Jesus desired for each one of us. May God bless us all.