26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Few of us go through life without joining some kind of group or club. Joining a particular group, religious, political or social, can enlarge our world and introduce us to new people and new possibilities. It can help us to move within a relatively secure network of relationships. That sense of belonging is important to our identity: membership is proof of how others accept and recognise how we see ourselves. Rejection is a clear signal of disapproval and this is what this Sundays Gospel reading is all about rejection. The man in the Gospel who was healing in Jesus name is put before us as the example of someone who was rejected because he was not one of the apostles. The disciples consider Jesus their own personal treasure and they want keep him for themselves.

The Apostles seemed to have been an ambitious group last Sunday we heard them arguing over who was the greatest among them.  This Sunday they complain that they saw someone who was not part of their group performing a healing in Jesus’ name. If there had been laws  concerning  copyright at the time I think the Apostles would have copyrighted Jesus name and the power that went along with it. I can just imagine them licensing the use of Jesus’s name and then asking “How many times do you want to use Jesus’s name that will cost so much. How many times do you want to cure someone in his name that will be so much more”. They felt they were privy to Jesus that is to say he was the apostles and no one else’s, it’s as if Jesus was a rock star and they are his agents, with exclusive rights over what he does and says. What they really wanted was a tidy little religious box, clearly in their control but they hadn’t factored in Jesus and what he had been sent into the world to do and the fact that they were not in control God the Father was.

They forgot how compassionate he was, remember Jesus compassion for others never ran out and wasn’t limited to a few people or those who had the proper disposition to receive it.  There was plenty for everyone in terms of Love and Compassion  then as there is now. Jesus is the visible face of the God that we can’t see and yet we believe; we believe in the God who wants to speak words of love and joy to everyone, not just a few; who wants to reach out and touch all those broken in mind body or spirit, not just those who carry the right credentials. After they see Jesus crushed on the cross and later, when he rises from the dead, the apostles finally get the message and understand what had happened to them as a result of their involvement with Jesus. Then they would do exactly what we are doing right now, retelling the stories about Jesus as they set out to continue to write the story without restrictions or limits of any kind. When they went out to continue the story they would have been speaking and acting in Jesus’ name, not just to a select few, but for everyone they met, or came to them in any need. In Jesus’ name they opened the eyes of the blind, cured the cripples, and gave the people a sense of something special, the great love that God has for them. At first they got it wrong, but when they learned what it meant to speak and act in Jesus’ name they knew that everything was possible for them and that meant they were able to share the message of Jesus with the people of the world.  In our world today we often forget that faith is not about the chosen few but faith is for everyone who accepts it as a gift from God freely given and accepted as such. We need to understand  that we don’t always get it right and remember that everything is possible to those who have faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God and the message he proclaims and that is the  message of the compassionate love of God the father for all people regardless of who they are or where they are in the world.

We are called to take up the challenge to be messengers of Jesus in our daily lives sharing the compassionate love of god with those we meet wherever we are.

25TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

In our Gospel for this Sunday we begin with the second prediction of the passion. Like many things in the biblical tradition, a threefold repetition gives emphasis and dignity to the pronouncement. The predictions are also a reminder to us that Jesus was not surprised by the later events in Jerusalem; he had seen them on the horizon for a great part of his journey. The predictions are each constructed in the same way with Jesus’ teaching followed by misunderstanding. Towards the end of this Gospel Jesus brings the child to centre stage and instructs his disciples: “Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” In this instance Jesus doesn’t ask his disciples to become like children; he asks his disciples to welcome them. The disciples have a problem about welcoming littleness because they think that they are at the top of the tree and are above this. This basic Christian teaching, common to all the Gospels, is one that has not always been honored. “To be first in the group is to occupy the last place and to be a servant to the group.”

That means to be the greatest you must make yourself the least in service of other people especially those around you. Jesus taught his followers the true meaning of leadership. Leadership does not mean power but service. Power often strangles life and brings a slow death. But, service brings life, even from death itself. An attitude of serving others should not be a triumphal attitude lording it over everyone else, yet much of our history has been about individuals seeing themselves as better than everyone else. In this passage we listen to the words of Jesus about the child he tells us “Whoever receives a child like this in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives God”. In the first part, the disciples are told that a measure of their discipleship is their attitude to power. In the second part, discipleship can be judged on the disciple’s attitude to children who are powerless in many ways. Jesus compares himself to the little child, the one who cannot resort to power tactics when threatened or maltreated. Jesus’ protection is his Father; his trust is placed in the God who will ensure his protection. When suffering comes, Jesus refuses to abandon trust in the Father.  

That trust makes him vulnerable, like a little child, but unless the disciples can come to welcome that vulnerability they will never understand the way of Jesus. When we welcome the stranger we might understand what Jesus means in this Gospel reading that wee bit better. Jesus offers us a permanent challenge to welcome the powerless, to take to heart the weakest members of the community. He places himself in their company. Their vulnerability is something that Jesus not only shares but values. May we understand that to be be first in the group is to occupy the last place and to be a servant to the group.”  May we take up the challenge that Jesus places before us in this gospel reading and that challenge is to become humble servants of those who need us whoever they are.

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Today the 11^th of September  is the 20^th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. As we know nearly 3000 people lost their lives on that day and all of us remember where we were at the time of the attacks in New York and Washington. I am sure there are many people out there still wondering why this happened and still hurting because of their loss even now. We pray for all those who lost family members friends and colleagues in the events of 9/11 and we pray for peace. Peace for our world and peace for ourselves and all those who are dear to us wherever they are.

In our gospel reading this Sunday we hear Jesus asking Peter and the disciples the famous question “Who do you say I am the apostles guesses all lead us  to someone else, Elijah or John the Baptist or one of the prophets, the people  who were celebrated for pointing to the Messiah. In contrast to what others think, Peter speaks on behalf of the disciples who have shared Jesus’ life intimately: he identifies Jesus as the Christ. Jesus then tells his disciples that his way to glory is only via suffering and the cross.  The first reading is one of the great poems of Isaiah on the theme of suffering.  The servant of God is described in clear unambiguous terms. God gifts the disciple with a well-trained tongue.  This is not an orator’s tongue, capable of delivering prize-winning speeches, but a tongue with the ability to rouse the weary from despair, the ability to bring comfort and compassion to the suffering. We know this response to the pain of the other does not require words but is an attitude of the heart and spirit. In the Gospel Jesus speaks to us about himself using the figure of the Son of Man, the suffering servant who will be rejected and put to death. Not only must he suffer, but experience comfortless suffering in being rejected. That rejection robs the suffering one of his dignity. He has to face the forsakenness and the loneliness of the cross. He will not die of natural causes, but be put to death by the authorities of the time. And this experience of dereliction and emptiness will be answered by God who will raise him up on the third day.  Although the message given to the Disciples was only vaguely and dubiously grasped, Christ had forewarned his Apostles, in order to prepare them for the scandal and folly of the cross.

While it did not really prepare them because they were still too worldly-minded, it did help to strengthen their faith once the facts of the empty tomb convinced them of the resurrection. When they realized that their beloved Master was more than Messiah, that he was in fact the Son of God, who freely accepted his humiliations and shameful death for their sakes and ours.  The apostles gladly gave their lives to bringing the Good news of God’s great love for all people  to the four corners of the world. From being a scandal the cross became the emblem and the proud standard of God’s love for all of us. If Jesus was to stand beside us today and ask who do you say I am? What answer would we give would we answer the same way as Peter when he said you are Christ the son of God or would we answer something else given all that is going on around us these days?

23rd Sunday of ordinary time

This Sunday the schools are open again after the summer holidays which are distant memory. Many people are asking themselves where did the summer go?  Even with the COVID19 pandemic it seems like a blink of an eye since the end of June and many things have happened all over the world since then. We have seen the end of the American involvement in Afghanistan as well as the continuing COVID19 risk to the world as we head towards the 20^th anniversary of 9/11, there is much food for thought this weekend for so many reasons personal and otherwise and we pray for all those who might need our support through prayer at this time.

In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus comes face to face with a deaf man who has a speech impediment. The man is doubly afflicted: he is a Gentile, regarded by the Jews as unclean, and is also physically disabled. Jesus takes him aside, away from the crowd, and cures his deafness and his stutter. Mark emphasises the response of the crowd, who publish their judgement that Jesus has done all things well.  

Thus the messianic prophecy of Isaiah heard in the first reading is seen to be fulfilled: “the ears of the deaf [are] unsealed… and the eyes of the blind are opened”. Jesus’s love is available to everyone, without any conditions attached. He is not disconcerted by the disabled; neither is he prejudiced against those weren’t members of his own race or religion as we see with this man. The uniqueness of Jesus was not employed to lord it over others, but to be of service to them. In his presence there is no need to hide one’s disability, no one has to remain isolated, and no one has to be rejected. Jesus’ acceptance and love open up new possibilities; for him, nothing is settled. Prejudice, on the other hand, tries to settle everything and in reality settles nothing and causes so much hurt and anxiety. We are people of faith, but our spiritual focus is often based on what we want. Many times we struggle between our “real needs” where god works through us and what we think we need. These shortcomings can lead us to discouragement many say that the “church does not fulfill my needs anymore”. On the other hand those same shortcomings can be turned around into a challenge for us to grow.

 Through growth in faith, we begin to listen and understand. Then, we can speak clearly.  Our ears are no longer blocked. Our tongue is no longer held bound. Despite our shortcomings and weaknesses, Jesus will touch our lives and call out to us.  Are we prepared to open our ears to the call of Jesus and open our eyes to see the needs of all those around us as we are asked to do, so that people around us may say that united to Jesus in faith we have done all things well.