TWENY SIXTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B (Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) Theme: We are called to construct a human and christian community Reflection: Good News to be proclaimed – Our God is the Father of all - Today, the Church is inviting us through the force of the scriptural readings to be the builders of the human family and mutual community. It is the first step towards constructing of the Kingdom of God. Infact, in the Kingdom of God there is no division and disputed separation. It is the reign of peace and reconciliaiton. It is the unity of all. It is the community of understanding and reciprocal respect. St. Paul comprises in a phrase and describes it in this way: “Kingdom of God is not the question of food and drink; but it is the peace, joy and love in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). In this sense, it supercedes all the human institutions and even all the religious structures. Kingdom of God reveals and proclaims the truth that God is One and the Father of all. - This is the good news that Jesus has preached. This is the good news that we are called to announce. God is God of all. Gospel holds that God makes the rain come down both on the just and unjust equally and He makes the sun shine on each one equally irrespective of the state of living of the person (Math 5:45). For him all are same. For him all are children. For him all live in him. Jesus manifested that God embraces all with the same content of love. This manifestation is made clear in his Incarnation and in the mystery of his Death and Resurrection. - Our christian vocation is this: participating in the same life of Jesus. This participation empowers us with the mission of being authentic carriers of the kingdom he has established with is body and blood. We have to carry within us and outside of us the virtues of the kingdom of God. With our life we have to give testimony to it. What does it mean? It means this: we have to be the makers of peace, justice and fraternity. We need to embrace every one with the sentiments of brotherhood and solidarity. We should not exclude anyone, even our enemy. We should not excommunicate anyone, even our foe. To put in a nutshell the goespel of today, we should not say ‘he is not with us’ and ‘he is not for us’. Each one, in spite of differences of religion, region and race, is an image and likeness of God and each human bieng shares in the dignity of God’s children. At this point of reference that the readings call us to the transformation of attitude. We need to walk towards transformation from that attitude of ‘he is not of us’ to the christian attitude of ‘he is one of us’. Only this transformation of our attitude and spirit-filled behavior makes the creation of the community possible. When we imbibe this attitude we call every one to our fellowship. We accept everyone as one of us. We hug each one with the mutual respect. In this way we create a new world: better human world. In fact, christian world has to be enlarged and reached to everyone so that there will be the possibility for the human society and fraternal community. - Christians are the constructors of the better human world: the truth is that christian is called and chosen for the particular and special mission in the world. His mission is to be a witness for the kingdom of God. He has to enter deeply into the roots of faith and fruits of truth. He has to live his faith in Jesus and at the same time he has to see how the same Jesus is working in the world in the various other modes. Jesus in fact works in the world with the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit has no confines and preferences for his work. He can work with anyone and in any place and in any form. Christian way is one of the ways that the Spirit works and works effectively. But in any way we cannot restrict the power of the Spirit. Therefore, Christian needs to understand that the Spirit works even outside the sphere of faith and he can enter into the sphere of humanity. Each human being is capable of receiving the Spirit. Or the otherway round, Spirit can take hold of each human bieng for his work. Christain has to comprehend this well. When he understands this we has respect for everyone and he reaches out to each individual. For he realizes the truth that each individual contains in himself the possibility of the presence of the Spirit. He starts searching for the various ways and modes of Spirits action. One primary action of the Spirit is to unite and all human beings are united with the bond of brotherhood and all have one common and ultimate Father: God. Traditional Exhortation: Seeds of truth, Seed of the Word, in other religions - As the wind which blows where it wants, so also the Spirit hovers where he wills. The evangelist John puts it most clearly in 8:12 (to be verified). Each man is created with the immesurable of goodness and thus he is the vehicle of the Spirit. Each man has the rays of knowledge and love and thus he is the bearer of the Spirit. Each man recieves naturally the power of regeneration and can become the creator and thus he is the instrument of the Spirit. If image of man is such, the spirit is present in each man. For this vision and mission of individual man there should not be any barrier. All the barriers like religion, race, nationality, status and what not, are the creation of few selfish and arrogant people who despise the power of the Spirit. - The Church, the community of believers in Jesus Christ, from its part has always expressed and manifested this truth from the beginning. It always recognized that the presence of the Spirit can be anywhere and in any sphere of life. Many a time we are tempted to think that the Spirit is and can only be with us and not anywhere else. We often conclude that the Spirit takes the side of only one part of the humanity and that too only us christians. In this way we block our minds and hearts to the efficacy of the Spirit. It is impossible to think this way and it would be very bad also to understand this way, because who are we to stop the power of the Spirit and who are we to measure his actions. But the stand of the Church is always the same: she believes in the immense and tremendous power of the Spirit. She has always this conviction that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are spread throughout the world. - Already in the beginning of the christianity itself, the Fathers of the Church have testified that various periods of history, the cultures and the religous practices contained the “seeds of the Word” even before the Christ. It is Saint Justice in the second century who speaks clearly of a “seed of the Word placed in all the men”, of “implanted word” in his Apology II, 8. It was the beginning. Now in the Second Vatican Council the Church affirms it once again, after two thousand years, inviting us to “create the rapport of esteem and of love” with the people around us, “for discovering with joy and respect those germs of the Word which are hidden in them” (Vatican Council II, Ad Gentes, 11). From the initial stage and until now the Church maintains and carries the same truth. St. Paul sees the presence of the Spirit already in the religious aspirations of the Athens (Acts 17:22ff). St. Peter also recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of the pagan centurion Cornelius and he proclaims that God has no preferences of the persons but takes the side of each one who acts according to the good will (Acts 10:44ff). - It is this power of the Spirit that encourages to be positive about each individual. It is this Spirit that invites us to be away from the selfish attitude and from jealosy. Our God is not the God of partiality and preference, infact, He is the God of all. Our Jesus is not the savior of one group but is the savior of all as manifested in his arms widely open to embrace all. Our Spirit is not the Spirit who supports only few but is the Spirit of all. This is the greatness and generosity of God who loves all and who gives himself to all in Christ and in Spirit. The readings of today present to us this truth of ultimate generous and open heart of God. They invite us to change our vision and our mentality so that we destroy the group of enmity and construct the community of fraternity and friendship. Readings: One who is not against us is with us - It is Spirit who makes the prophets (first reading): God comes down in the clouds and speaks to Moses and he fills the seventy elders with the Spirit. Once the spirit has rested on them they started preaching. However, there are two who do not belong to the group of seventy elders, by names Eldad and Medad, who are preaching outside the camp. Joshua wants to block them because he thought he is outside of the elected ones and thus they do not have the spirit. Finally, Moses warns Joshua not to stop them. For he knows that if the Spirit is not there they could not do preach. Spirit can empower and inspire anyone for the proclamation. The jealous attitude has to be suppressed. - Who is not against us is for us (Gospel): the similar incident appears in the Gospel. One who is not disciple of Jesus is expelling the demons and John becomes very furious and jealous and complaints to Jesus about this saying that “he does not follow us” (v.38). But Jesus’ treatment is different. He says that anyone who does good is always with him though he doesn not follow him directly. Jesus teaches two things here to his disciples: o The disciples are not to be a closed group. They should not build any walls in their relationship towards others. They have to be a group which accepts all those who accomplish good acts in the name of Christ. o The disciples have to overcome their feelings of jealousy and intolerance. Instead, they have to search for the truth in every good act and to embrace all the “seeds of truth” spread in the world. - Prophecy is the gift of the Spirit: God wants to communicate himself and his love to the humanity. He uses various modes of revealing himself: through the word, through the silence and through the deeds. In whatever way he wants to manifest himself, it is his Spirit that appears on the scene to bring the man closer to this revelation. God’s desiring instrument for his self-revelation is man himself and Christ Jesus is the unique and ultimate manifestation of God. God calls man to be his agent of love and to be a prophet of his presence. God chose many prophets in the history of the people of Israel for revealing his plans. Finally, he has shown his tremendous and unconditional love through his Own Son, Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ. Even now, through the power of the Spirit, Jesus is calling each one of his followers to be a prophet. We are all, thus invited to be the prophets of God’s presence. The Church affirms it once again it its latest teaching in the Vatican Council II: “Christ, the greatest prophet, who with the testimony of his life and with the power of his word has proclaimed the reign of the Father, accomplishes his prophetic office to its full manifestation of glory, not only through the hierarchy, which teaches in the name and with the power of him, but also through the laity, who infact construct its witnesses providing them of the sense of faith and grace of the word, because the force of the Gospel shines in the daily life, life of family and society” (Lumen Gentium, 35). To put in brief: God invites every christian, not only the consecrated persons but all those who accept the good news with the baptism, to be the preacher and the builder of his kingdom. Therefore, each one of us has received, as the consequence of this mission, a gift of the Spirit who speaks in the name of God. There is no preference of the hierarchy or laity, consecrated or common. All are equally important to God and all are offered equally the possibility of salvation. Conclusion: We are the community of the Spirit - Include all and respect for all: what we are asked by the Chruch, through the gospels, is that we have to leave aside the feelings of jealosy and intolerence. As we have already seen in the first reading, we many times return to the times of Moses and we become and act as Joshua. We do not want to accept those who preach the gospel outside of us. We fail to join and listen to them just because they do not belong to us or because of presumption that they are not worthy of the gift of the spirit. As we have already seen in the gospel, we often go back to the times of Jesus and we become and act as John. We want to stop and condemn not only the preaching but also the preacher. We fail to observe well the magnanimous power of God which can pass through anyone and anywhere. By blocking such people who are doing good, we are not just hindering the human act alone but God’s will behind it. Todays readings pull us out of this pathetic condition we are living in. They call us to hold fast to all that is good. They encourage us to accept every human bieng that accomplishes an act for the wellbeing of many. We are to return to our christian vocation and mission: to reach out and to include all into our life. - The attitude of jealosy and suspect make us the destroyers of the unity instead of constructors of the community. God is infinitely greater than man. The action of the Holy Spirit rises beyond the barriers we install. He can eliminate all that hinders His voice to be heard and all that blocks His redemptive presence to be recognized. We need not have any fear of discoving in others the tremedous power of God’s presence. We need not tremble to find out what God is continuously telling us through the various modes which come from the world. Whatever is rising against evil and to combat the powers of evil is nothing but the presence of the Spirit. It may come from the serious followers of Christ, from us Christians. It may also come from various good people outside the Christianity, from those who work for the justice and equality and who work for the construction of the better world. Every good act being done in the world can proclaim the presence of God. It is this we have to learn today and with this attitude we have to call everyone into our fellowship and brotherhood. - Our journey towards the transformation of our attitude: It is Jesus, our Master, who tells us not to block anyone. He exhorts us to see the reality as he sees it and with his eyes. For him all are equal and important. For Jesus the qualification of the man is not the matter. ‘He is not with us’, or ‘he is not one of us’, and phrases like this do not fall in the field of Jesus. He is above all of these. Everyone who does something good with the right conscience is worthy of his kingdom. Everyone who gives a glass of water for the thirsty is already in his company. Our christian vocation is not to divide the society into groups but to unite all as the community. Creating the community is not a simple thing. We need to go out of ourselves. We need to open ourselves. We need to sacrifice our wishes and our thoughts. We need to inculcate the virtues of understanding and respect. This can be only possible if there is radical change in our attitude. This can be possible only if we wear the character of Jesus. This is possible only when place ourselves in the foot steps of Jesus. As Paul time and again reminds, we need to conform ourselves to the same mind of Jesus (Phil 2:5). Here the transformation is possible: we journey towards the community of life by giving up the phrase ‘he is not with us’ and by proclaiming the phrase ‘he is with us’. Jesus wants this kind of conversion from us. We renounce blaming and accusing others. We renounce torturing and murmuring others. We renounce jealosy and intolerence which hinder us to participate fully in the joy and well being of others. Instead, we learn forbearnce and acceptance of others. We learn to gather each brick, each individual, to build the edifice of love, the community of the spirit.