26th Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year B, By Rev. Fr. Lucas Binnah Junior

First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29 / Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:7.9.11-12.13 (R. 8ab) Second Reading: James 5:1-6/Gospel Acclamation: Jn. 17:17b/Gospel: Mark 9:38-43.45.47-48

Theme: Culture Of Exclusivism, Intolerance And Exploitation

Today, we encounter those who do good by acting in the name of God but do not belong to our own group. We also see those who may belong to our own group, who should know and do better but do the worse by exploiting people. Do we become exclusivist, intolerant and antagonistic towards the former and condone the latter? How best can we handle this situation? In what ways can we weed out these negative tendencies from our lives? Let us turn to God in the readings.

We hear in the first reading that “The Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses, and took some of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied” (Num.11:25). This happened in the Tent of Meeting. The outpouring of the Spirit (anointing) was so dramatic and wide reaching that even two of the persons, Eldad and Medad, who were not in the tent but in the camp, also experienced the prophetic anointing. When it was reported that they were prophesying in the camp, Joshua, the son of Nun, servant of Moses, said: “My Lord Moses, forbid them” (Num. 11:28). Nonetheless, Moses replied: “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:29). Hence, God can gratuitously pour out his gifts – what we call charisms – on people regardless of their social status and backgrounds.

In fact, the Prophet Joel had prophesied that: “After this, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even upon my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days” (Joel 3:1-2 or 2:28 in some other Bibles). In consequence, God is generous, gratuitous and does not show favouritism. His gifts can come to anyone he chooses, who is receptive, docile and willing to cooperate with him. The Spirit of God is free; he cannot be domesticated or caged or confined within any boundary but acts freely through any person. So, we have to see and do things in the light of God, as God sees and does them. In other words, we need to see things with the eyes of God and to do things with the mind of God. It is no wonder the Psalmist understands this principle and so teaches us to imitate God thus: “The precepts of the Lord are right; they gladden the heart” (Ps. 19:8). All will be glad if we follow this path and judge things this way!

Like the first reading, the Gospel also presents a similar episode. In the first reading, Joshua wanted Moses to forbid Eldad and Medad from prophesying. In the Gospel, John, the New Joshua wanted Jesus, the New Moses, to forbid those reported to be casting out demons. As a matter of fact, John had already forbidden those people simply because they were not seen to be visible followers of Jesus Christ. It is most probable that the ‘we’ in John’s statement: “we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him…” (Mk. 9:38) includes some or all of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Another distinction from these two readings is that, whereas in the first reading, the issue was about prophecy, in the Gospel, it was about deliverance. Be that as it may, both are charisms from the same Spirit and he gives them to whoever he chooses. Perhaps, the actions of Joshua and John amount to ignorant intolerance, that is, intolerance borne out of lack of knowledge or ignorance of the truth. At the root of exclusivism and intolerance are fear, pride, jealousy, envy, selfishness, greed and monopoly. The same can be cited as the causes of exploitation. The medicine that could heal Joshua and John is the profound prayer of the Gospel Acclamation: “Your word, O Lord, is truth; sanctify us in the truth” (cf. Jn. 17:17). We ought to make this prayer always because by lack of knowledge people perish! Also, we need to know and accept the truth found in God’s Word for it will set us free. To be sanctified in the truth is to accept the terms of Jesus who is both Word and Truth (cf. Jn.1:1, 14:6). It also means commitment to truth and integrity of life.

Jesus’ antidote to exclusivism, fanaticism, nepotism, ethnocentrism, racism, cliquishness, envy, marginalisation, intolerance, bigotry and feelings of superiority is this: “Do not forbid … for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us” (Mk. 9:39). We need to work on ourselves to believe and accept the fact that human beings are God’s creation and that we are all children of God. If that is the case, then it has implications for our earthly living. We must live in peaceful coexistence, mutual respect and tolerance. It implies that nobody is more human than others; we are equal in dignity irrespective of our colour. We need to throw away the spectacles of division that isolates others. For some of us, these negative tendencies are the things we need to ‘cut off’ from our lives (cf. Mk. 9:43-47).

Furthermore, we are told to ‘cut off’ our hand, foot and eye if they cause us to sin. A literal and fundamentalist interpretation of this text will lead to a catastrophe in which some people will excise some body parts. However, what Jesus is trying to say is that in life there is a goal worthy of any sacrifice to attain it. In all three instances given by Jesus in which he asks us to ‘cut it off,’ he also says that it is better to enter life…enter the kingdom of God with part of the body than for the entire body cast into hell (cf. Mk. 9:43-47). Our ultimate goal in life is to have eternal life, salvation, beatific vision where we will see God face to face. Whatever habit, friendship, appetite, pleasure, custom, anything whatsoever, which is a hindrance to this goal must be dealt with and abandoned, however painful it may seem like a surgical operation. Hence, to make heaven, we need to make an ultimate sacrifice; all other ground is sinking sand as we sing in Edward Mote’s 1834 hymn.

Again, in the second reading, St. James reiterates biblical passages which support social justice and paints a graphic picture of economic exploitation whereby the rich pursue wealth through unjust and exploitative means, the type that snuffs out life from the labourer (cf. Deut. 24:14-15, Lev. 19:13, Prov. 3:28, Jer. 22:13, Mal. 3:5, Sir. 34:26-27, Tob. 4:14, Lk. 10:7, I Tim. 5:18). St. James tells us: “Behold the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts… You have condemned, you have killed the righteous man; he does not resist you” (Jas. 5:4, 6). As we read this now, many workers and pensioners in some parts of the world have not been paid their salaries and pensions. Some have died trying to defend their rights to demand their salaries and pensions. Also, their dependants have been put in very unbearable conditions akin to a life[1]support system. What about those who are underpaid or are treated as pure slaves while they do domestic chores as house-helps? Furthermore, we are not oblivious of the unfair world economic order which most of the times, exploits countries with natural resources by giving them peanuts for producing raw materials. It may not be surprising that in all these cases, there may be Christians involved. St. James warns us of such a habit, indicating that, in the final analysis, all earthly riches are worthless and those who acquire them placing all their hope in them while trampling down the poor will be punished (cf. Jas. 5:1-6). This warning is apt, and we must do well to guard against it.

Additionally, we are to note that terrible consequences await those who scandalise other people or lead others astray by inciting them to racial bias, exclusivism and other evils. We are told: “It will be better for him if a great milestone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea” (Mk. 9:42). According to William Barclay, “To sin is terrible but to teach another to sin is infinitely worse”. Thus, deliberately or thoughtlessly making it easier for someone, especially a weaker person, to sin is a scandal which is punishable by God. Dearly Beloved, let us not live carefree! Christ has shown us the way. Let us follow him by applying his words in our life. Happy Sunday and may God bless! Remember to avoid: #Exclusivism-Intolerance-And-Exploitation.