September 27, 2015

26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time B

Numbers 11: 25-29; James 5: 1-6; Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48

So I ask, ‘What am I proud of?  What is a privilege for me to have?  What is it an honor to enjoy?  What advantages do I have over others who are in the same social unit?  What favors and benefits do I have that others do not have?  Does being a priest carry any special significance?  What about being a Catholic, is there anything special in that?  When I look at myself do I consider myself to be in the ‘have group’ versus the ‘have not group’?  Or am I in the ‘have not group?  What do I feel I need? 

The readings today, force me to take a look at who I am…what I have been blessed with…how I am living my life with God’s blessings?  

Sunday Homily Helps begins a reflection on today’s readings in this way, “An interesting phenomenon of our times is the emergence of social media.  Through websites and mobile applications, we can access Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Pinterest, to name only a few.  It’s hard to know how many of these sites there actually are, but it would be safe to say they are in the hundreds.             

   Some of these sites have redefined the very meaning of friendship.  It’s possible now to have ‘friends’ whom we’ve never met and might never meet in person.  With so many connections or linkages, we find ourselves able to belong to many virtual communities.   APPLICATION:    While we tend to organize ourselves in groups or communities, God doesn’t pay attention to those divisions, treating each of us the same and giving the same benefits of membership to us all.”  

In the reading from Numbers, Moses has found it ‘just too much’ to handle all the complaints of the people. So God helps by providing him with 70 others to speak on God’s behalf to handle difficulties that arise.  Two were not present when Moses prayed for the Spirit, but they also received the Spirit and began prophesying.  One young man complained that two ’outsiders’ were prophesying.  Moses rejected their complaint, speaking about his desire for inclusiveness.  His answer is special, “Would that all people of the Lord were prophets!” It is God’s call to judge, not mine.  The question is ‘am I on God’s side of things?’  Or do I feel that I have to be the one to interpret God’s intention?  

James situation seems different but is really much the same.  James’ letter contains a series of reprimands to help his Christian community toward a behavior in keeping with what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  He is specifically addressing the wealthy to look at their practices.  Are they hoarding…are they selfish…are they withholding wages…are they thinking only of themselves?  James says that they have, “fattened (their) hearts for the day of slaughter.”  Their riches will suffer corrosion, and “that corrosion will devour (their) flesh like fire.” Who are they concerned about?  Do they realize that the gifts that they have, the affluence they have accumulated are meant to be helps for others who are in need?  

Mark shares how Jesus is on His journey to Jerusalem which will begin the end of His days.  Today Jesus attempts to tell help them with what it means to belong.  Jesus came to be a servant of all and to show the disciples that this is what they are called to be.  John is indignant because one who is not of their group is driving out demons in Jesus’ name.  Earlier in Mark 3:15, Jesus had appointed the twelve giving them the name of ‘apostles’ and bestowed on them the authority to drive out demons.  John felt that he and the others are in the ‘in group.’  Jesus says that all those who are not against Him and those who serve the disciples, those who do not cause others to stumble, and those who avoid sin ‘”will surely not lose their reward.”  (Mark 9: 11).    

The bottom line is that no one really wants to feel that they ‘don’t belong’.  And since they ‘do belong’ they have many privileges.  Jesus is reminding us that it is out of love that each of us were created.  It is that same love that we continue to receive daily through the Spirit and through God’s gifts.  Now the question is am I living love? 

So it is important for me to remember that it is the will of the Lord that each person becomes witnesses of the love of God. I do this by helping out one in need, giving comfort to one who is hurting, and by sacrificing my time and my gifts to be Jesus to others. 

It is also very important that I am aware of those things that can so easily get in the way of me being Christ for others.  The devil is the master of deception and of distraction.  He can so easily provide me with a false sense of security, so that I think that I don’t need God.  My wealth or the comfort that I live in can so easily dull my sense of solidarity with those who suffer in poverty, something Pope Francis is constantly reminding me about.  So I look into those areas of my life which keep me from being an example of Jesus’ love.  What is getting in my way?  When I find this out, I am not to take time to negotiate or to rationalize but to eliminate.  What are the demons in my world that so easily distract me from the Lord?  I have found that it is materialism, consumerism and self-centeredness.   Is what I have and what I do with what I have bringing me closer to the Lord?  Mark uses very harsh words:  millstone around the neck…cutting off hand…cutting off my feel…plucking out my eyes. When he uses these words one of initial distractions is that Jesus didn’t mean this, so therefore I don’t have to listen to it.  Jesus means what He says.  Mark is talking about the stumbling blocks “from within.”  Dr. Bonnie Thurston, a Marcan Scripture Scholar in Preaching Mark states, “The hand, the foot, and the eye are metaphors for those faults and shortcomings that are very close to us, so close that they are depicted as parts of our own bodies.  If hand or foot or eye caused hindrance to the way of Jesus (to discipleship), they should be removed.”  So there goes the Devil again, distracting me.  Am I on the right track?  Am I listening to what God is saying to me in Scriptures and life or only to those things that I want to hear?   

So I reflect on: 

• When I fail, especially in my faith life, do I go back and review myself with God and through His eyes?  Do I think God judges me as harshly as I judge myself?
• Do I seem to repeat the same failures over and over?  What do I learn from my failures? Or do I say that’s just me, that’s the way God created me?  Am I then cutting off what God wants to do for me?  
• Is it hard for me to ask forgiveness from God?  From each other?

Sacred Space 2015 shares:     “Discipleship is not some personal privilege to be jealously guarded.  We have no monopoly on Jesus.  Appreciation of the good deeds done by others is essential.  In His kingdom, power seeking and rivalry have no place; they are an obstacle and a cause of scandal.   Lord, self-renunciation and attention to the needs of our brothers and sisters are the hallmark of belonging to You.  You call me to be a stepping stone for others, not a stumbling block.”