Prophets

                       26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                      B cycle

 

Capernaum millstone

What are we to make of this puzzling first reading from the Book of Numbers? Who has ever heard of Eldad and Medad, the two unlikely prophets? They are certainly not ranked among the great Hebrew prophets like Isaiah and Elijah. 

 

In today’s account we are told that Eldad and Medad were left behind in the Hebrew camp when the Lord’s spirit came upon 70 elders in the same way that it had come upon Moses. In other words, these seventy were to share in the work of Moses. It was like our sacrament of Confirmation where the Bishop, who has already received the Spirit, shares it with the newly confirmed.

 

However, a problem arose because apparently Eldad and Medad received the Spirit even though they were not present at the ceremony. Our reading tells us that Joshua, the closest disciple of Moses, took offense and urged Moses to forbid Eldad and Medad from prophesying.  Moses replied,

 

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! 

 

Moses understood that the Lord could bestow His Spirit on whomever he chose, whenever He chose, and wherever He chose. 

 

It is no coincidence that the Church pairs this reading about Moses, Eldad, and Medad, with today’s gospel account. Moses was the savior of the Israelites. He had led them out of the slavery of Egypt. Jesus, of course, is the savior of us all. Moreover, we are told in today’s gospel that the Spirit of the Lord was just as bountiful and unpredictable as it was in the time of Moses. 

 

You may remember that in last week’s gospel the Apostles had been arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest. Now another bone of contention comes up. John, one of the twelve chosen Apostles, tells Jesus that they saw someone who was not a disciple driving out demons in the name of Jesus. In other words, John believed that only he and the other Apostles and disciples of Jesus, who had been called to do his work, were the ones who could do the work.

 

In the same way that Moses told Joshua not to impede the good works of Eldad and Medad, Jesus tells John and the others not to impede anyone doing good works in His name. He teaches John and the others that the spirit of God moves in many and mysterious ways.

 

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.

 

The spirit of God is infinitely more powerful than any human being can understand. We certainly cannot control it. Nor can we think that it only operates through standard bureaucratic channels. Notice that in this passage Jesus says that anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink will receive a reward. That’s all it takes. We don’t give drink to the thirsty or food to the hungry because we are Christians. When we give drink to the thirsty and food to the hungry, we become Christian. 

 

The rest of today’s gospel deals with the burdens we put upon ourselves that Jesus compares to putting a large millstone around our neck. It contains the famous words about cutting off a hand or foot, or plucking out one’s eye if they are leading you astray. 

 

While not to be taken literally, the words used by Jesus are strong. In today’s second reading from the letter of the apostle James, we see how they were understood by his disciples. The hand, the foot, and the eye are just symbols of things like wealth, power, and prestige that we think will bring happiness. But:

 

You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;

You have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.

 

Prophets did not so much tell the future as point out the evils in their own time. James was as good a prophet as any, but he was just an ordinary fisherman until he was called by Jesus, and encountered the Spirit of the Lord. I don’t know what the names Eldad and Medad mean but I like to think they could be translated as just “you” and “me.” As Moses said, it would be good if we were all prophets. 

 

 

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Reading 1.  Numbers 11: 25-29

Reading II. James 5: 1-6

Gospel. Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48 (whoever is not against us, is for us)

Who is the Greatest?

                      25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                      B cycle

 

It goes without saying that goodness is not always rewarded in this life. We like to think that people will profit from the good example of others but often people get jealous and envious to the point where they even attack the good. This can happen anywhere and at any time. It can happen in our children’s playgrounds and in the highest levels of our politics. Human nature being what it is, envy and bitterness have always been with us.

 

In today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom we see the wicked conspiring against the good. The reading speaks of a just one, a good person whose words and actions shame the wicked. They say,

 

He is obnoxious to us;

He sets himself against our doings,

Reproaches us for transgressions of the law

And charges us with violations of our training. 

 

Rather than accept criticism and change their ways, the wicked will put the good to the test. They will revile and torture, and even condemn to a shameful death. 

 

These words naturally make us think of the fate that Jesus would suffer at the hands of those who were shamed by his words and example. In today’s gospel account Mark tells us that Jesus predicted his own passion and death. As they journeyed through Galilee Jesus was teaching his disciples:

 

The Son of Man is to be handed over to men

And they will kill him,

And three days after His death the Son of Man will rise.

 

We are told that the disciples did not understand these words or perhaps did not want to understand. Instead, they changed the subject and got into an argument among themselves about which of them was the greatest. It seems childish to us but are we any better? Jesus is teaching them that he must suffer and die in order to complete his mission, and they argue among themselves about their status.

 

He has to sit them down and try to explain what his suffering and death will mean for them.

 

If anyone wishes to be first,

He shall be the last of all and the servant of all.

 

They must be willing to serve, not to lord it over others. He will give up his life so that they may also give up their own lives in the service of others. He takes a helpless child in his arms and says that the care of such a child is more important than the respect and admiration they might gain from others. 

 

We know that it took time but this lesson was not lost on the apostles. After they witnessed the resurrected Lord, they devoted themselves to the service of others even to the point of suffering martyrdom. 

 

The lesson was certainly not lost on the apostle James. He understood that human nature was prone to jealously and selfish ambition. His words in today’s second reading are as appropriate now as they were in biblical times. They apply at every level of our lives today. 

 

Where do the wars

And where do the conflicts among you come from?

Is it not from your passions

that make war within your members?

You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;

You fight and wage war.

You do not possess because you do not ask.

You ask but do not receive,

Because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

 

Jesus had to work hard to make his disciples see that divine wisdom was different than human wisdom or desire. The wisdom from above is “peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy and insincerity.”

 

It’s worth a try.

 

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Reading 1.  Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20

Reading II. James 3: 16—4:3

Gospel. Mark 9: 30-37 (who was the greatest)

You Are the Christ

                            24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                           B cycle

 

         

In this Sunday’s first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah the speaker is the famous suffering servant who has always been identified with Jesus.

 

I gave my back to those who beat me,

My cheeks to those who plucked my beard;

My face I did not shield

From buffets and spitting. 

 

Isaiah’s account of the suffering servant serves as an introduction to today’s gospel. It has always been believed that the evangelist Mark was a protégé of St. Peter who plays a prominent role in today’s account. Mark was not present and it is possible that his account is based on Peter’s remembrance. Walking along to the villages of the area of Caesarea Philippi, our Lord engages in conversation and asks his disciples for some feedback. “Who do people say that I am?”, he asks. They mention some names they have heard but then Jesus asks what they think?

 

It is Peter who replies, “You are the Christ.” They must have been shocked when Jesus then explains that his mission is to suffer and be killed, and then rise after three days. Peter can’t believe it and rebukes Jesus. Rebuke was a very strong word in those days. It’s like a Marine sergeant dressing down a new recruit. But Jesus rebukes Peter. “Get behind me Satan,” meaning, get out of my way.

 

Today people like to think of Jesus as a wise and good man who performed many good works. Even non-Christians regard him as one of the greatest men in history. However, he made it clear that that is not what he is. He is the Christ who has come to give his life for the world. Not only that, Jesus insisted that our mission was like his.

 

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,

Take up his cross, and follow me.”

 

What does it mean to take up one’s cross? A few years ago, I attended a funeral service in a local Baptist church. The small church was packed for the deceased woman had made many friends in her 58 years. There were traditional hymns and beautiful scripture readings and then the pastor gave a very fine sermon. He noted the woman’s extraordinary life of service to others, and even wondered if her own life had been shortened by her lack of concern for her own well-being. 

 

The pastor then reminded the congregation that despite all of the woman’s good works, it was not those works that had merited her salvation. It is Jesus who saves and it was the woman’s belief in Jesus that saved her. I thought to myself that I am in a Catholic church for the pastor was preaching traditional Catholic doctrine although religious propaganda wars have tended to exaggerate the differences between Catholics and Protestants on the importance of faith and good works. 

 

But who is a believer? At one point in the gospels Jesus said that not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. At another point, he told the story of the man who asked his two sons to work in the family vineyard. One said “yes” but never showed up. The other initially said “no”, but then changed his mind and did the work. Which one was the believer? Isn’t it obvious that it was the one who did the work.

 

That is the message of today’s second reading from the letter of St. James. No one knew Jesus better than the Apostle James. Scholars identify him with the James who was present at the Lord’s Transfiguration, who became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, and then died a martyr’s death. Here is the wisdom of James.

 

What good is it, my brothers and sisters,

If someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?...

Indeed someone might say,

“You have faith and I have works.”

Demonstrate your faith to me without works,

And I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.

 

The woman commemorated in the Baptist church dedicated her life to the service of others. She demonstrated her faith through her works. How is it possible for billions of people in China to be saved if they have never even heard the name of Jesus? Isn’t it possible today that many people who think they have rejected Jesus are even doing his work and bearing his cross in their daily lives? So, there really is no separation between faith and good works. They are not opposed. Taking up your cross and bearing it is the work of faith. 

 

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Reading 1.  Isaiah 50: 4c-9a

Reading II. James 2: 14-18

Gospel. Mark 8: 27-35 (Get behind me, Satan)

The Deaf and Dumb Man

                       23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

                 

 

       

The passage in today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah has naturally been taken to point to the work of Jesus. Isaiah foresees the signs of the coming of the Lord.

 

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,

The ears of the deaf be cleared;

Then will the lame leap like a stag,

Then the tongue of the mute will sing.

 

Of course, we know that Jesus did all of these things. He gave sight to the blind man. He told the paralytic to take up his mat and walk. And, in today’s gospel, we see that he cleared the ears of the deaf man, and enabled him to speak for the first time. In this passage we see Jesus in his role of healer. 

 

What was the occupation of Jesus? We know that people referred to him as the carpenter’s son, and we assume that he learned and practiced the trade of Joseph as a young man. We know that his disciples called him a rabbi or teacher, and no matter what your belief, you would have to admit that Jesus was one of the greatest teachers of all time. Yet, in today’s reading we see him as a healer or physician.

 

Mark relates that some people approached Jesus and asked him to heal a man who could neither hear nor speak. Actually, they asked him to lay his hands upon the man, a traditional method used at the time to cure the sick. It might be instructive to pay close attention to what Jesus did.

 

First, he put his fingers into the man’s ears, and then then apparently spit on the man’s tongue. To us, spitting might seem distasteful, but scholars tell us that it was not unusual for Greek and Hebrew physicians to employ spittle in their attempts to heal. Then, Jesus looked up to heaven and groaned, and uttered the command, “ephphatha” which Mark tells us means “be opened.” The result was miraculous. The man immediately began to hear and speak plainly.

 

We can only guess at why Jesus went through this procedure. You would think that he just could have done it with a word or a thought. Maybe, there is a lesson for us all in his way of healing. He seems to act as a conduit or connector between God and the deaf man. He puts his fingers in his ears as if he was putting cables on a dead car battery. Then, he looks to heaven as if to turn on the engine that will charge the battery. The power surges through Him into the man and he comes to life.

 

I am not offering this as a scientific or theological explanation of the healing. No one can really explain a cure like this one. Nevertheless, there is a good analogy here. We are all asked to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We are all asked to be healers. We are all asked to be involved or “hands on’ healers, and not just distant well wishers. We are all asked to be the conduit through which divine grace or power can flow through to those in need of healing.

 

Sometimes those in need around us seem like hard cases beyond repair. But in today’s second reading St. James tells us not to just take the easy cases but to be a means by which God’s grace can reach those in most need. The rich with gold rings and fine clothes do not need our care and attention. We must be just as attentive to the poor in both body and soul. Just as Jesus cured the poor deaf and dumb man, James tells us not to make distinctions of persons.

 

I love the animal stories of James Herriot, the famous British veterinarian, who spent his life caring for thousands of farm and domestic animals in rural Yorkshire. Herriot must have had plenty of ordinary cases but the stories he tells in his books are about those animals most in need of care. He treated them all, the healthy and the weak, with equal care and compassion. He came to realize that each animal had a value no matter the wealth or status of the owner. In his books Herriot used this little poem that obviously meant a lot to him.

 

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small, 

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

 

It would be great if we could follow Herriot’s example in dealing with those we encounter every day in our ordinary lives.

 

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Reading 1.  Isaiah 35: 4-7a

Reading II. James 2: 1-5

Gospel. Mark 7: 31-37 (Ephphatha—Be Opened)