DOCTRINE AND FAITH
Number 11, 25-29; James 5,1-6; Mark 9,38-43.45.47-48; 26th Sunday of Year B, 26th September, 2021)
Today the Gospel’s current teaching can be useful to us for ecumenism. It is prepared from a passage from the book of Numbers that goes along the same lines. The second reading is about dishonest riches.
In the Gospel, John refers to Jesus: Master, we saw one who cast out demons in your name and we forbade him, because he was not one of us. Jesus replies: Do not forbid him! The Gospel also presents us with Jesus’ other affirmations that show us the importance of knowing how to know when it is necessary to be uncompromising, and when it is necessary to be flexible. This discernment is very important in life. Flexibility is necessary in the case of ecumenism. We must not assume a sectarian/fanatical attitude, which rejects any positive judgment on people who are not part of the Catholic Church; we must recognize that they too receive graces from the Lord. Certainly, we must want them to become part of the Church, however we must not be intolerant, but welcoming to them.
John thinks that one must be uncompromising. He forbids anyone who is not of the group of the Twelve to cast out demons in Jesus. It seems right to him that, in order to use the name of Jesus one must be with him and not independent from him. But Jesus has different opinion, and says to the disciples: Do not forbid him, because there is no one who works a miracle in my name and immediately afterwards speaks ill of me. Who is not against us, is for us. So, he was flexible, welcoming, and uncompromising. He didn’t want to forbid the good that can be done, even if certain circumstances do not seem entirely regular. The same attitude is highlighted in the first reading, taken from the book of Numbers. Moses has to share his duties with seventy elders. The Lord takes the spirit that is upon him and infuses it upon the elders. They then begin to prophesy, that is, to speak in an inspired way, thus demonstrating that they have been chosen by God to lead his people. Two men remained in the camp. They were among the members, but they did not go out to the tent. The spirit also rests on them, who begin to prophesy. A young man is scandalized: these two men were not in the group that went to the tent, and, therefore, they must not prophesy. The young man runs to report the matter to Moses. Joshua says to Moses: Moses, my lord, prevent them! Moses, on the other hand, is welcoming. He is not jealous; therefore, he answers to Joshua: Are you jealous for me? And he adds: Would that all of the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would give his spirit to them now! So, he rejects the feeling of jealousy, and possessive love. The graces of the Lord must not be an occasion for feelings of jealousy, envy, but for attitudes of openness, because they are all graces that go in the sense/direction of love, and universal love. Similarly, Jesus in the Gospel tends towards an attitude of flexibility, of acceptance. Therefore, he says to John and the apostles: Do not forbid him! Then he adds: Anyone who is not against us is for us. A person, even if he is far and united with Jesus as a true disciple, but does good in his name, is with him. He is not against him, because he does good with him. In another passage, however, he says: Whoever is not for me is against me (Matt 12,30). But in this case, it is a personal decision to be taken towards Jesus: one must be for him, otherwise one is against him.
Then, Jesus gives us a teaching on cases in which one must be intransigent. These are the cases of scandal. Scandal means to lead someone to evil. Jesus begins by defending the little ones from all forms of corruption, saying: Whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe, it would be better for him to put a big millstone around his neck and throw him into the sea. In our days, we often speak of pedophilia. In itself, this word should have a beautiful meaning, because etymologically it means friendship for children; but in our language it has acquired a very negative meaning: that of inducing children to impure thoughts, attitudes, behaviours and habits. Jesus defends children with extreme vigor: he says that it would be better to suffer the worst of tortures (to pass a big millstone around a person's neck and throw him into the sea) rather than scandalize them. Then he takes other cases in which it is necessary to be intransigent into consideration: If your hand offends you [that is, if it is an occasion for grave sin], cut it off: it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to Gehenna, unquenchable fire. If your foot offends you, cut it off: it is better for you to enter life crippled than to be thrown with two feet into Gehenna. If your eye scandalizes you, tear it out: it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than to be thrown with two eyes into Gehenna. Obviously, Jesus uses a symbolic language here, presenting concrete examples of hand, foot and eye. In reality, it is not the hand, the foot and the eye that lead man to evil, but his bad intentions. However, with these examples, Jesus wants us to understand that, when there are circumstances that lead to mortal sin, we must be radical, accepting even the strongest and most painful renunciations. In this regard, we can recall a phrase that Queen Bianca of Castile used to say to her son, Saint Louis IX, King of France: I would rather see you dead at my feet than you commit a mortal sin. A mother who says these things to her child shows that she truly understands the gravity of the mortal sin, and knows that the death of the soul is worse than that of the body. We must have the same conviction. It is really important to know how to be uncompromising when it comes to serious infidelity to the Lord: infidelities that prevent one from entering into eternal life, into eternal communion with God. The things that prevent entry into eternal life are of extreme gravity; so, they must be rejected with an attitude as energetic as ever. Unfortunately, in our days there is a lot of talk about permissiveness, and many bad behaviors are justified. We Christians must be the salt of the earth, we must keep all our flavor; therefore, we must strongly reject all the temptations presented to us by the modern world.
In the second reading, James also uses very strong words against the rich, dishonest, people who exploit the workers: Behold, the wages you have robbed from the workers who have reaped your lands are crying out; and the protests of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. James wants to make these people repent with the threat of divine punishments.
They too must convert and have uncompromising attitude against all forms of dishonesty.
Today's readings offer us significant lessons. We ask the Lord in the Eucharist to give us the strength to be truly uncompromising when necessary and, on the other hand, to be flexible when charity requires it.+John I. Okoye
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