26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 26, 2021

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Who is a true disciple; who is a false disciple?

Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”

Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.

For whoever is not against us is for us.

Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,

where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”

Music Meditations

  • Make Me a Channel of Your Peace---Vincent Ramkhelawan
  • Here I am, Lord---John Michael Talbot

Opening Prayer

Lord, open my eyes to all the good that is being done in your name, whether it be by people in my religious group, or by others. Help me to understand that discipleship is not a competition to prove that I and my religious cohorts are better, more faithful followers. May I show generosity of spirit in welcoming others to join in your mission to save all. I especially commend to you [a specific person], who is not of my religious tradition, but who is a powerful witness to your message.

Companions for the Journey

Commentary Gospel for 26 Sunday B by Walter Burghardt, S.J, in Lovely in Eyes Not His (1988, from a homily given at Georgetown 1985)

What might all of this say to you and me right now? Jesus’ incisive “cut it off” and Vatican II’s “penetrate [your world] with the spirit of the gospel”, how ought these twin commands of Christ and church shape your concrete experience?

First,” cut it off”. Forty-four years of priestly ministry have brought me profound joy and painful sadness. Joy because I have experienced thousands of you struggling day after day to live like Christ, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Sadness because I have seen so many—dear friends and casual acquaintances—set up false gods, idols that controlled their lives, forced the living and true God into the background, ruined human relationships.

The strange gods have been several and seductive: pride or passion, work or play, lust for power or lure of beauty, another human person. Today, sociologists suggest, the strangest and strongest god might be myself, looking out for Number Out never a plaything. Absorbed in your work, but more preoccupied with, the god of [personal fulfillment] incarnate in megabucks. This is not just a green-eyed Jesuit envying your greenback future. Four years ago, a survey in Psychology Today revealed that, from their own responses, a central passion of men and women between 18 and 25 is money. In consequence, they are, in disturbing measure, sexually unsatisfied, in worsening health, worried and anxious, discontented with their jobs, and lonely as hell. And I’m afraid, at odds with the God who alone can give meaning to their lives. Not all, by any means, but enough to cause me deep distress.

All all-important question for each of us, including your homilist: What claims top priority in my case? What tops my Top Ten? Who or what rules my life? What sits up on that throne, commanding me “go!”, and I go, “Move!”, and I move, “Do this!”, and I do it? If it not in some way the God who made me, The God for whom I am made, I am in desperate straits; I had better get my Christian act together. There is no surer way to start than the simple question St. Paul asked after Jesus knocked him from his horse: “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10) I say: “Carry Christ”. Not by mounting a soapbox and spouting scripture. You carry Christ by being Christ. I mean fully human and, by God’s grace, more than human. Fully human, therefore attractive; more than human, therefore a challenge. Concretely a man of woman of flesh and blood, but of spirit and imagination as well. Liking who you are, but loving others as much as you love yourself. Open to all that is alive and life-giving, closed only to what deals in death. Sensuous and sensual and sexual. But always with reverence—sex indeed play, but never a plaything. Absorbed in your work, but even more preoccupied with people. Eager to get ahead, but not at the expense of God’s “little ones”, at the cost of community. Content to live in comfort, but uncomfortable as long as your brothers or sisters hunger for bread or justice or love. In love with God’s creation—persons and things—but more deeply in love with God himself. Critical of the Church, but poignantly aware that the Church is you, that the prophet Nathan can face you as he did the adulterous David:” You are the man” (2 Sam 12:17)

Good friends in Christ: across the centuries we Catholics have been accused of a nauseously negative approach to life on this side of the grave. And many of us lend warrant to such a charge; in religion we are “sad sacks”. Mass is an obligation, and the faith is an endless “don’t”. Lent means “give up”, and holiness says “cut it off”. For ages we have prayed to Mary: “To thee we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.”

Of course the cross is a constant in our lives; death in some form haunts us every day. But you are less than Catholic if you fail to see that “cut it off” is not mutilation but liberation: it frees you to love God with every fiber of your being… you are missing the depth and the thrill and the joy in Catholic living if you carry Christ only into Church, if you fail to carry him from Communion to the concrete and glass outside, to the condo and the slum, to the desk and your bed—in a word, to the men and women who people your days.

Love God above all else and you won’t have to calculate just how you carry Christ to your turf; it will be second nature, as easy as breathing. All you will need is to be yourself; for that self will be Christ. It may not be all fun—even Christ himself did not laugh on Calvary. But I can promise you a delight in human living that will only grow richer as you grow grayer, a fascination with your creation that will rival the breathless day when “God look on what He had shaped and behold it was very good”. (Gen 1:31)

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • Why does there seem to be competition between religious groups, or between certain members of our own religious group?
  • Do we regard our Catholicism as some sort of personal privilege to be jealously guarded, refusing to acknowledge any good being done by those of another faith tradition?
  • Too oft we think our church is right The other branches wrong It’s we! who spread the gospel light Who sing the one true song ( author unknown to me) Can we often be proprietary about our own religion, dismissing what good things others are doing, or good ideas others may have who are not part of our "tribe"?
  • Do we assume that someone who is not speaking with specific approval from our religious authorities or institutions has nothing to say? Has anyone ever criticized our Church and been right?
  • What is the difference between “Whoever is not against us is for us”, and “Whoever is not for us is against us.”? Which adage do we seem to follow in our present culture?
  • In our personal secular lives, have we ever seen the negative effect of jealousy and possessiveness or the positive effect of being able to rejoice that good is being done, irrespective of the person who is doing it?
  • How do we discern when someone is speaking or acting in God's name and when someone is merely self-promoting, or simply causing trouble to be provocative?
  • How hard is it in our world to “empower” others and let go of the need for personal praise or gain?
  • In Baptism we are anointed as priests and prophets. Do we believe this? Do we live it?
  • How DO we preach? How ARE we disciples in our own little sphere of influence?
  • Overemphasis on the sheer drama of this passage may lead us to forget that Jesus was about love… Basically, anything that denies or negates that love is not what Jesus wants us to embrace. Have you ever done something for someone and had its positive effects ripple out beyond your expectations? Have you ever done something negative to someone and had this action cause more damage than you ever intended?
  • Can you think of anyone who has led others astray and caused great damage to Church or society?
  • Is there anything in my life which I need to “cut out” in order to follow Jesus more closely?/li>
  • When has my need for affirmation or self-gratification let to behaviors that hurt myself or others?
  • Ignatius: Everything on earth is created by God to help us get close to him. What gets in the way? What gifts can be misused?
Catholic Community at Stanford’s Encounter Christ small group faith sharing offers the opportunity to meet and reflect with others on questions like these as well as other aspects of the journey of faith.

Meditations

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship/Memory:
I think of those in my own life who have been an example to me, or who have nurtured my growth and development. Did their religion matter? Why or why not? Who, besides those of my own religious tradition, were mentors and advisors to me? Have I ever let any of them know how much they changed my life for the better? Have there been others from whom I learned how to be more Christ-like, even if they did not know they were mirroring Christ for me? Do you think there is anyone in your life new for whom you might be an example or a mentor? Do I ever stop and appreciate the good deeds done by others? Have I ever acknowledged that to them?
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Adapted from “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits: Jesus noes not jealously protect his power. Rather, He empowers others, or whatever religion or none, and whether they know it or not. He even says that his followers will do greater things than he has done (John 14:12) Do we ever need this reminder? Does it warn me against thinking that I, or my group, have a corner on God’s grace? When I see others doing good or tackling evil, and just because they are “not following us”, do I feel a proprietary resentment? Do I understand that the salvation of the world is collaborative event and not given to one group alone? How can I overcome my narrowness of heart and jealousy of the good others do?
A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
Read the gospel story of the Good Samaritan, (Lk 10:29-37) putting yourself in the place of the outcast who stopped to help a stranger from another culture. How did you feel when you saw this severely wounded person who clearly was a Jew –someone who traditionally hated people like you? Were you tempted to pass him by? What led you to stop and help? Were others around you looking at you strangely, such as the innkeeper suspicious of your motives when you brought this bedraggled stranger to his door? What led you to go the extra distance and leave money for the stranger’s care? Now, imagine you are one of Jesus’ audience listening to this story. Does it make you irritated or even angry that he makes a hero out of someone from group of people that are considered enemies of God and enemies of Israel by those in your culture? Do you believe such a story is possible, or does it seem like a tall tale or purely provocative teaching to you? How do you feel when he discusses the callousness or religious scrupulosity of “your own? Does this parable simple make you angry, does it close your mind to what Jesus is teaching, or are you provoked onto looking at “the other” differently? In your own life, have you ever run into religious and sincere people who clearly have nothing good to say about what is being done in the name of Jesus? Have you ever fallen into the trap of slyly belittling the good works done by another tradition, as if it were a competition between Roman Catholicism and all other religions?
Poetic Reflection:

Here are two poems roundly criticizing the smugness of those who think their religious tradition and beliefs are better than others. What do they seem to say about how God views them and those of us who sometimes think we have a corner on the truth and on God’s regard?

“The Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls”

the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls  are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds (also, with the church’s protestant blessings  daughters, unscented shapeless spirited)  they believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead, are invariably interested in so many things— at the present writing one still finds  delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles? Perhaps. While permanent faces coyly bandy scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D  .... the Cambridge ladies do not care, above  Cambridge if sometimes in its box of  sky lavender and cornerless, the  moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy

—e.e.cummings

“The Hippopotamus”

The broad-backed hippopotamus  Rests on his belly in the mud;  Although he seems so firm to us  He is merely flesh and blood.

Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,  Susceptible to nervous shock;  While the True Church can never fail  For it is based upon a rock.

The hippo's feeble steps may err  In compassing material ends,  While the True Church need never stir  To gather in its dividends.

The 'potamus can never reach  The mango on the mango-tree;  But fruits of pomegranate and peach  Refresh the Church from over sea.

At mating time the hippo's voice  Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,  But every week we hear rejoice  The Church, at being one with God.

The hippopotamus's day  Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts; God works in a mysterious way --  The Church can sleep and feed at once. I saw the 'potamus take wing  Ascending from the damp savannas,  And quiring angels round him sing  The praise of God, in loud hosannas.

Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean  And him shall heavenly arms enfold,  Among the saints he shall be seen  Performing on a harp of gold.

He shall be washed as white as snow,  By all the martyr'd virgins kist,  While the True Church remains below  Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

 

—T.S. Eliot