Readings: Nm 11:25-29; Jas 5:1-6; Mk 9:38-43,45 47-48
The God of compassion, tolerance and inclusiveness.
The readings this Sunday challenge us to be humble, inclusive and tolerant. The
message centers on God's Spirit who is poured out to all the baptized, and not
limited only to those of our company. The mark of a true disciple of Christ is
an attitude of tolerance, compassion and acceptance of the gifts of others. In
the First Reading from the Book of Numbers, we are led to discover the
temptation of showing that we are better than others. God tells Moses to bring
together seventy of the elders of the people to share the burden of the people
along with him. These elders would share the responsibility with him. But
among the seventy elders chosen, Eldad and Medad stayed behind in the camp and
prophesied. When Joshua heard this, he was upset because two men, who had been
absent when God gave the gifts of the Spirit, also received the same gift as
the seventy elders. Joshua was trying to put limits to God's gifts and action.
The response of Moses to Joshua is important: “Would that the Lord might bestow
his spirit on them all!” It points to the fact that carrying out of God’s
message in the world is not the task of only a chosen few in the Church. It
challenges us to be humble, inclusive and tolerant.
In the Gospel we find a similar episode. The disciples
had just been given the authority to expel demons in the name of Jesus. On
their way they found someone not of their company expelling demons in the name
of Jesus, and had tried to stop the man. John who belonged to the inner circle
tells Jesus how they tried to stop him and point out to him that they alone are
the chosen ones and not he. Jesus also had sent the disciples on a
mission where they had worked the miracles and had healed the people and cast
out devils. They had received the praise for their good work. But
now they felt threatened because a person who was not of their group had cast
out devils as well. And not just driving out evil spirits but doing so in the
name of Jesus. So they tried to stop him. Jesus responded that the man should
have been left alone, because anyone performing miracles in Jesus' name is
certainly on their side. Once again, the response of Jesus is not simple, nor
is it immediately evident when he declares, “Anyone who is not against us is
for us.” Elsewhere Jesus says: “He who is not with me is against me.” What
exactly did Jesus mean? The kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus is not confined
within the boundaries of the Catholic Church. The mission of the Church is to
reveal and proclaim its presence, not to claim a monopoly over it. Looking at
both the first reading and the Gospel, we discover that perhaps we tend to
behave very much like Joshua and the disciples. We tend to take our belonging
to Christ or even to the Catholic Church as some kind of an exclusive club, or
even as a monopoly of Christ's gifts of the Spirit. So what message do we take
home? 1) The mark of a true disciple of Christ is an attitude of inclusion, tolerance,
compassion and acceptance of the gifts of others. 2) God's Spirit is not
limited to those of our company or to a chosen elite group. The Holy Spirit is
not even limited to this or that Church. 3) God's Spirit is at work in all
those who seek him with a sincere heart as we pray in the Fourth Eucharistic
Prayer.
©2018 John S. Mbinda
No comments:
Post a Comment