26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 29, 2024

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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
  • We Are Called (see YouTube @maryelizabethanne2)
  • 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

By Jude Siciliano, O.P. (jude@judeop.org). From “First Impressions” 2021, a service of the southern Dominican Province:

I wonder why Eldad and Medad weren’t at the great meeting with Moses and the seventy elders when God bestowed the spirit of prophesy on them? Did they forget the time and date of the gathering? Had there been a disagreement between them and the others and so they refused to attend? Still, Eldad and Medad received the spirit of prophecy, just like the rest. Joshua, part of the “in group” protests, and wants Moses to restrain Eldad and Medad. Joshua has a restricted spirit and a small heart. If things aren’t done by the standards of the inner circle they must be stopped. Only those who are on our side and who think and do things according to our ways get to share in the gifts of God and experience God’s presence. But Moses will have none of that kind of thinking because he has met and experienced God’s bigness of heart. We don’t have to clutch God to ourselves as our private property. Some religious people do that, restricting God’s presence and activity to conforming members and in precisely enacted rituals.

The gospel parallels the reading from Numbers. A person who is not a member of the disciples’ community is driving out demons using Jesus’ name. Wouldn’t you think the disciples would be happy to know a person had been cured of a dreaded ailment? Why didn’t they also celebrate that Jesus’ name was spreading and others would be learning about the master they had left everything to follow? Apparently, when they chose to follow Jesus and leave their possessions behind, they did not leave their sense of entitlement behind as well. The disciples were closest to Jesus and they had never given permission for some stranger to use Jesus’ name to heal – a power that Jesus had shared with them. You would think that if good is being done and evil overcome in the world, what does it matter who is doing the good deed, especially if they are doing it in Jesus’ name? We do not belong to an exclusive and privileged club with strict rules for participation. God’s love breaks out beyond our restrictions and borders. Nor is God’s activity limited to our using the right words and formulas and performing the proper gestures.

As a Christian I look for Christ’s presence in the world doing what he did in his lifetime. The details may differ from the gospel’s; someone may not be invoking Jesus’ name in doing the good they do. Still, when someone forgives a wrong done; a neighbor sacrifices time and resources to help someone in need; medical personnel travel across the country to relieve a pandemic-swamped emergency room; a grammar school collects food and clothing for the poor – though the name of Jesus may not be spoken, and the people involved might not be Christian, still, I see him present, doing what he always did, reaching out to raise up the fallen and rejected. A quote from THE INTERPRETERS BIBLE sums up this part of the passage: “These words of Jesus, then, are a rebuke to all our blind exclusiveness, our arrogant assumptions, that God’s action in the world is limited to the forms with which we are familiar. ‘Something there is that does not love a wall.’ It is the mind of God. The church has suffered terribly, and the world has suffered terribly, from this fence-building frenzy. If one tenth of the time which Christians have devoted to building fences had gone into building roads as a highway for God, the world would be a far better place today. Jesus came to heal the sick and help the poor. If a doctor dedicates her life; giving of her free time; not charging indigent patients who don’t have health care; even providing free medication – but doesn’t explicitly invoke the name of Jesus – would she also come under Jesus’ banner -- “For whoever is not against us is for us”? Mother Theresa thought if you gave a cup of water to a thirsty person out of love, you were in fact a follower of Jesus. While we don’t need to “baptize” every good, non-believer for their works still, we can say they are living in a way Jesus would recognize and applaud.

There is a shift in today’s gospel that may be hard to hear, the part about putting a millstone around the neck of a scandalous member and casting them into the sea; cutting off an offending hand; casting someone into an unquenchable fire in Gehenna, etc. What’s going on here? We must recognize Jesus’ Middle Eastern way of speaking and the use of hyperbole to make a point. Note, that Gehenna wasn’t another name for hell, but referred to Jerusalem’s smoking, foul-smelling garbage dump – a perfect metaphor to warn disciples of the consequences of sinful behavior, being cast into a smelly, burning garbage dump! Mark follows the conversation between John and Jesus about the disciples’ sense of entitlement, with this teaching about extreme measures to avoid sin. In the context, the disciples’ elitist attitude can be a scandal to the “little ones” in the community. Those of rank in the community, or the “established members,” must set an example of humility and sensitivity for the believing faithful. In the images of the gospel, if we seek the place of honor in a procession we should cut off our foot. If we refuse to see the abusive behavior of some in the community, we should pluck out our eye. Could Jesus have made his point in any stronger terms? We know from recent coverups of abusive behavior by some of our church leaders, that Jesus’ words have not worn out their meaning.

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
    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?
  • 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?

Meditations

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, of 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 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 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 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

“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

Closing Prayer

Lord, help me to be open to bringing your word to others regardless of their religious inclination, their political allegiances, or my particular biases. Help me to prune from my life the “branches” that are impeding my growth, or hurting others with their sharpness, especially [a particular behavior].