Homily for the Week of September 27, 2009

Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time,2009
Nm 11:25-29 · Jas 5:1-6 · Mk 9:38-43,45,47-48

Birth is always a painful experience -- for mother and child. Birth is also a painful experience for organizations and nations. The establishment of this country was preceded by a Revolutionary War. The first centuries of the Catholic Church were marked by struggling, internal bickering, and divisions. For example, St. Paul, the new convert, differed radically with St. Peter, the first pope, with regard to how strictly the Jews were bound to follow the old law of Moses once they became Catholics. The Creed that we will all pray together after my homily was formed in the 4th century but had violent disagreements over the basics of what Catholics were to believe.
The idea of God and who is God was especially difficult. It still is. We are like the kindergarten child who was scribbling on a paper drawing the picture of God. When her teacher told her that no one knew what God looked like, the child replied: They will when I'm finished.

Today our church defines the human person in terms of ''body and soul.'' But not so with Jesus. Mediterranean Middle Eastern people thought of the human person in terms of three zones of the body. The heart and head was the zone of will and emotion. The mouth and ears was the zone of self-expression. The eyes and extremities were thought of as the ''zone of purposeful action.'' Jesus insisted that we should be willing to sacrifice our eyes or extremities if they cause us to give scandal or cause us to stumble.

At the end of our Gospel we hear the word ''Gehenna'' which most persons think it means hell. Gehenna was a real place. It was a valley outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem. It was used by pagan cults for child sacrifice which the Jews forbade. Because it was so desecrated by these killings it was turned into the Jerusalem garbage disposal. The garbage fires burned continually. Their glow could be seen at night, and the stench could be smelled in the wind. No wonder it became our modern image of hell.

In our second reading James is harsh in his condemnation of the rich and powerful who take advantage of the poor and weak. He challenges the so called important persons who went out to plan the murder of Jesus. St. James points out that there is a difference between doing things out of charity and doing things out of justice.
Charity is needed for justice, but they are not the same.

For example what if we heard that a huge stone rolled down the mountain and landed in the middle of a narrow, curving roadway. A car crashed into the stone. Families living nearby rushed to rescue the injured passengers, brought them into their own homes and took care of them until they got medical attention. That's charity. Two weeks later, another car collides with the stone and the families take care of them also. That's charity. But after taking care of the medical needs of the persons some of the neighbors got rid of the stone. That is justice. In our reading today, James was not recommending charity; he was recommending justice.

When John tries to stop a man casting out devils in Jesus' name because the man is not one of the disciples, Jesus corrects him. 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. The fact that the man is not among Jesus' followers is not a good enough reason for him to be excluded from the ministry of Jesus. Prejudice has no place among those who say they believe in Jesus. The judgement of Jesus is not against those who differ or stand apart from the group but rather against those who tolerate sin.
Jesus says: If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Jesus did not intend this literally, but as a way of speaking. We can instead see it as a comment on the Christian community, that what is sinful and what hinders spiritual growth must be removed. Jesus is using examples to help us understand that we must be in a healthy relationship with him. That is called Grace. Grace is not something we store up but our relationship with God. It is not something we earn. It is a gift. When we do something our conscience tells us we should not do, then we break of that relationship with God. In a sense we become God less.

Rather than looking for security in groups, we can dare to reach out to others who do not belong and perhaps have nowhere to belong. We can see in the outsider the person to whom Christ would reach out. Those who do not actively oppose the gospel can be on the side of the gospel, even if they do not seem to belong to any Church or religious grouping.

We can expect to receive little reward for thinking and acting justly. But Jesus does tell us that those who even give a drink of water to his friends will receive a reward. How do we give that drink of water? Maybe it could be by helping each other find God in their lives. At this time of the year we have beautiful colored oaks, maples, elms. Each of them give praise to God. Each of us can give praise to God if we invite God into our lives.