Sunday Reflections

 

Twenty Sixth Sunday of the year - September 26, 2021

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

(Image Courtesy: Mangalore diocese)

Many years ago, in one diocese in Nigeria a priest began a high-profile prayer ministry in the diocesan pastoral centre. Many other priests had similar prayer ministries in their parishes, but on a smaller scale. Now this priest goes to the bishop and makes him sign a declaration that his prayer ministry is the only officially recognized one in the diocese. Any person in the diocese who needed the healing ministry must, therefore, go nowhere else but to his centre. What that document says, in effect, is that God has no right to heal anybody in the diocese except in the pastoral centre.

This incident tells that we as humans limit God who is all-powerful. He belongs to all and everything belongs to Him. The liturgy of the day invites us to go beyond our narrow mindedness and see the goodness of God around us.

In the first reading, we understand that Moses, more than 3000 years ago knew God’s ways of sending down his blessings. The Israelites whom he was leading to the Promised Land had clear ideas about God’s holiness. They made their camp in the valley, far from the mountain where they believed God lived. Halfway between the camp and the mountain they built a special tent, a place of meeting between God and their leader Moses. Anyone who strayed to the mountain was put to death; he or she had trespassed into God’s territory. Similarly, they believed that God would not trespass into their own territory by coming into the camp. The lines were clearly drawn. Everything was neatly worked out. They believed they knew where God belonged and where He did not belong.

At the same time, God cannot be limited. This bitter truth dawned on them the day they were consecrating seventy elders as Moses’ assistants. As we read in the first reading, the seventy elders had been selected beforehand. On the day of their consecration they were to present themselves in the Tent of Meeting where the Lord would impose on them some of the spirit that was in Moses. On the appointed day they all turned up except two, Eldad and Medad. Who knows why they felt to turn up? Did they oversleep, were they drunk, or did they simply forget? It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that when the spirit of the Lord descended on the sixty-eight men in the Tent of Meeting, it also descended on these two who were still in the camp. And they began to prophesy exactly as the other sixty-eight in the Tent.

Here we see how God deals with humans. God goes beyond the human borders. This might have really given a shock to the Israelites. 

On the other hand we see in the Gospel, James and John, the Sons of Thunder, report to Jesus how he tried to stop a man who did not belong to their group casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Why did he do that? Because, according to his poor theology, God should limit himself to their group. But Jesus, the new Moses was there to correct him: “Do not stop him. ... Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39-40). Do not stop him. He is doing a good job. It is by their fruit you will know them, not by their foliage.

The Second Vatican Documents too stresses on the point that the Spirit of the Lord is active in other religion too. In our multi-religious context, we need to understand that God is present everywhere and he sows the seed of Goodness in other religion and it is our duty as Christians to recognize that Goodness of God and promote them. We as Christians have a better ability through our baptism to recognize the ways of the Lord. Wherever there is goodness the Spirit of the Lord is active and at work in our world today.

(You are most welcome to add your thoughts and reflections in the comment section below)

 

Happy Sunday