Homily for the Week of September 30, 2012

Twenty-sixth Sunday, B 2012 First Reading: Numbers 11:25–29 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 10, 12–13, 14 Second Reading: James 5:1–6 Gospel: Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48 A few years ago once a week in the Plattsburgh newspaper Rabbi Marc Gellman and Msgr. Tom Hartman write about a religious topic each from a Jewish and from a Catholic viewpoint. They take a look at how religious beliefs are the same and different from each other, issue by issue. They wrote stories for parents and for the classroom as a way of understanding the Bible better. Among their books is one by the title of DOES GOD HAVE A BIG TOE? Another little book is titled HOW DO YOU SPELL GOD? In the book they tell the story of a king who had a beautiful ring and three sons. Each of the sons wanted the ring. When the king died he left three rings one for each of his sons along with a letter telling them that one of the rings was real and two were fake. The way you will know who has the real ring, wrote the king, is that the son with the real ring will be kind and generous to all people. The story goes on and tells us that each of the sons spent the rest of his life being good to others to prove that he had the real ring. The truth of our religious how well we live as a follower of Jesus is not proven by yelling and screaming about our values but by LIVING them. That was not quite the case in the story with Moses and Joshua as told in our first reading today. Joshua was a tattling. He was talking about persons whom he thought were outsiders but acting as if they were God. Joshua was unwilling to share what he had been given by God. Moses tells him that he must not keep it to himself. And that God at times takes a person whom we do not like very much of to do good things. But each of us, if we would admit it, have favorites. Each day we usually meet persons whom we will accept and others whom we do not care much about. This unequal treatment of each other is known as prejudice. Prejudice springs from ignorance, insecurity, thoughtlessness, and sometimes jealousy. Prejudice begins when someone sees someone else as not one of us. The Bible's response to prejudice is very clear. Moses shows a generous attitude in the face of Joshua's complaints: Joshua's jealousy must not stand in the way of the Lord's work. The Lord gives his love and care to all persons regardless of their personal life story. Some of our second reading by St. James seems very James very 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 the residents called the highway department to remove the stone. That is justice and not charity. If you looked carefully at the various examples listed in our second reading you can quickly see what happens when a society depends on the laws of justice to get things done rather than the gifts of charity and love to do them. In our life both justice and charity are needed, but they must not be confused. 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 insufficient reason for him to be excluded from the ministry of Jesus. Prejudice has no place among those who say they believe in Jesus. The judgment of Jesus is not against those who differ or stand apart from the group but rather against those who tolerate sin. We could interpret the cutting off of the sinful hand in a literal way, although even the most literalist of Christians find a way of avoiding this drastic advice of Christ. We can instead see it as a comment on the Christian community, that what is sinful and what hinders spiritual growth must be removed. When we tolerate prejudice we agree with it and therefore are guilty of it. 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. Neither Joshua nor the disciples of Jesus receive praise for this thinking. We, too, can expect to receive little reward for thinking and acting with charity. 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 our 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.