More

Commentary on Luke 15:1-3,11-32

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a marvellous revelation of God’s unending love and mercy for the repentant sinner. In the story, the son demands and receives his share of the inheritance from a loving father. Asking for his inheritance while his father was still alive was tantamount to saying he could not wait until his father had died.

He then goes off to a far country, far from his father. He is not only far away in distance, but also in thinking. He wastes the inheritance he has been given on pleasures and enjoyment of the most immoral kind. And in the end, he has nothing.

When a famine strikes the place he is living, he has nothing to eat and no money to buy food. He is forced (horror of horrors for a Jew) to feed pigs, and is so hungry he is ready even to eat the slops given to them. One can hardly imagine a lower level of abasement and poverty.

But then, he comes to his senses. He thinks of the home and the loving father he abandoned so stupidly—a home where the lowest servants and the slaves are better off than he is, and he decides he will try to go home. But after what he has done, he does not expect to be accepted back. He decides he will beg to be taken in as one of the lowest servants, and he prepares a carefully worded speech for his father.

Then he starts the journey back in fear and trepidation, knowing he deserves very severe treatment, if not outright rejection. He is afraid to hear his father say, “Go back to your pigs and your whores!”

But while still far away, his father sees him. Unknown to the son, his father has been anxiously waiting and hoping during all this time for him to return, but he never sent out to have him brought back. If the son wants to go his own way, the father will not stop him, and he will not force him to come back.

Full of compassion, the father rushes out to welcome his returning son and takes him in his arms. The son tries to make his speech of repentance, but it is totally ignored. Instead, his father gives orders for the best clothes to be brought out and a magnificent banquet to be laid on:

…for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!

It is a time for celebration.

The elder son, working in the fields (the Lord’s vineyard) comes back at the end of a hard day and hears the sounds of merrymaking. When he is told what is going on, he becomes extremely angry. After all, he has been a loyal, faithful, hard-working son and nothing even approaching this was ever done for him. Yet his brother, who was steeped in debauchery and wasted so much of his father’s wealth, is welcomed like a returning hero.

Because of this, the elder son refuses to go into his father’s house (surely some of the saddest words in this story). The father remonstrates, saying:

…you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But…this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.

We have to celebrate, says the father.

The story is a clear reply to the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was mixing and eating with sinners. They simply did not understand the mind of God as revealed in Jesus’ behaviour. How well do we understand?

The two clear lessons from today’s Gospel are:

• I can be absolutely sure of God’s mercy and forgiveness, provided I turn back to him in true sorrow;
• I need to have the same attitude of compassion with people who offend me. I must be ready to forgive and be reconciled. I cannot refuse to love someone that God loves.

There are three people in this story and we can identify with all of them:

• The son who went far from his Father and followed his own way into the most degrading behaviour.
• The son who thought he was good and observant, but deep down, did not have the mind of his Father at all. He kept the commandments and all the rules, but did not have a forgiving heart.
• The Father whose love never changes no matter what his children do, and is ready to accept them back every time without exception.

Which of these three most represents me? Which one would I want to be like? Many say they identify most with the elder son—which of course is the point of the story. They are the real sinners who shut their hearts against God’s compassionate love. The parable does not tell us what the elder son ultimately decides. What would we do?

More

Commentary on Sirach 1:1-10

Today we begin reading the book of Sirach, and we will be with it for the coming two weeks. It is one of the so-called deutero-canonical books and is not part of the Jewish canon, nor recognised by many Protestant churches. In older bibles, and in Universalis, it is usually called the ‘Book of Ecclesiasticus’. In Greek it was known as the ‘Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach’, from which the current name derives. The book, which was originally written in Hebrew, dates from about 190 BC and was translated into Greek about 60 years later. It is the Greek version which we normally translate from nowadays.

It has been described as an encyclopaedia on good religion and wise living. In fact, it forms part of the Wisdom literature of the Hebrew Testament. It was used so much by the Church over the centuries that it came to be called “Ecclesiasticus”, the ‘Church Book’. The name is derived from ecclesia, the Latin for ‘church’ and ekklesia, the Greek word used in the New Testament for the Christian assembly (literally, the ‘gathering of those who are called out’).

Today, the author speaks of the mystery of wisdom. He speaks of true wisdom, namely, God’s external revelation of himself (later, in Jesus, we can see the Incarnate Wisdom of God). Throughout the book he describes in great detail just what wisdom is; sometimes it is divine; sometimes it is a synonym for God’s law; sometimes it is human. But the author makes clear that even human wisdom, properly understood, ultimately comes from God.

Today’s reading is a poem about personified wisdom as the creation of the Lord God. It combines both the hidden-ness, the inaccessibility of wisdom on the one hand, with its availability to humans, especially those whose lives are in harmony with God.

All wisdom, says the author, originates from “the Lord”, its ultimate source. The term ‘Lord’ (Kyrios) in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) is the normal translation of Yahweh, the unspeakable name of God in Hebrew. The author of Sirach uses the term constantly, even when translating other divine titles.

Only God can grasp the enormity of our universe from end to end. Its unfathomable immensity continues to boggle our minds as we penetrate deeper and deeper into it. Only the Creator knows the number of grains of sand by the sea, or can count the drops when rain falls, or the length of eternity. Here we have the aspect of total wisdom as something unattainable, a theme which goes throughout Sirach.

The implication is that only God possesses the fullness of Wisdom. Only Someone who can understand all these things can have complete Wisdom. Such Wisdom precedes all creation and has no beginning in time. Only one Person knows the root of Wisdom, only one Person can understand its subtlest elements:

There is but one who is wise, greatly to be feared,
seated upon his throne: the Lord.

He is the Source of all Wisdom:

It is he who created her…

Here the author makes use of an architectural image. Wisdom is seen as a plan or model for creating the universe.

Here the author emphasises the uniqueness and sublime nature of God. Wisdom is a special attribute of God which is reflected in the whole of creation and is a special gift to humanity. Although it is personified with ‘she’ here and in other Wisdom literature, in this work it is clearly something created and not to be identified as God. For Sirach, wisdom is in God and comes from God, but is not God. For John, in the Prologue to his Gospel, there is a somewhat different understanding: the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word existed from all eternity.

It is God who:

…poured her [Wisdom] out upon all his works…

It is He who has passed her on to us and He who:

…lavished her upon those who love him.

He has shared his Wisdom with all creation. A deep study of nature reveals the Wisdom of God present everywhere. As the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “the world is charged with the grandeur of God”. And God shares it in a special way with us and, most of all, with “those who love him”. There is a special wisdom for those who are deeply united with God in love and service. In fact, we can and do say, that to love God is the beginning of wisdom.

As mentioned, Wisdom here is personified as a ‘she’ and so some like to see the Spirit of God as feminine. God, of course, and the Trinity are above and inclusive of all genders and sexes. The Father is not exclusively male, nor is the ‘Son’ of God who proceeds from the ‘Father’. The Incarnate, Enfleshed Son in Jesus is male, but many would see in Jesus’ character all the best characteristics of both the masculine and the feminine—an ideal for all men and women. Our Creed says that the Second Person of the Trinity was made ‘human’ (homo)—which applies equally to male and female.

Wisdom is not a question of knowledge, although some knowledge must be a constituent element. Wisdom is the gift to be able to see the whole, and to see the inter-relatedness of all the parts. It can only come from experience and applied insight. It is not normally a characteristic of the very young or the very superficial. It is a question of looking into, not just looking at. It’s the difference between being dazzlingly knowledgeable, or perhaps very clever, but not wise.

Ultimately, to grow in Christ is to grow in wisdom. It is to grow into a deeper understanding of the meaning and direction of life. It is a gift God wishes us to have, so let us ask him for it today.

More

Commentary on Sirach 2:1-11

Today’s reading from Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) consists of advice on what to do when things are going against us.

It opens with the address “My child”. This is a typical introduction for a passage of teaching in wisdom literature. It recurs here and there throughout Sirach. We might summarise today’s reading as saying that:

• Serving God is not without its trials; moreover, this service must be given with sincerity, perseverance and fidelity.
• Misfortunes and humiliations help to purify people and prove their worth.
• Patience and unwavering trust in God are always rewarded with the benefits of God’s compassion and result in lasting joy.

First, we are told to be ready for testing situations, which we are all bound to face at one time or another. This is a favourite Old Testament theme and also found in the Gospel and the rest of the New Testament. St Paul is eloquent on this, not least when speaking of his own experience (see 2 Cor 11:21, the beginning of the readings for Friday and Saturday of Week 11 of Ordinary Time).

In order to be ready for such times, we should make sure that our heart is focused on God’s will in our lives, and that we are firm and consistent. At the same time, we ought not react impetuously when things go badly wrong. That is a time for reflection and discernment. By staying close to God, we can ensure that our “last days may be prosperous”. Concerning this we mean not just in the material sense, but in being genuinely enriched in those areas of our life where it really counts.

Without being fatalistic, we need to meet positively whatever happens to us, and in times when we feel belittled, to practice patience:

For gold is tested in the fire,
and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.

What, at the time, may seem to be painful and destructive experiences can be a source of strengthening and maturing if undergone in the right frame of mind.

Second, we are advised to stay close to God, who will give us strength, and to face up to realities which cannot be avoided. On the one hand, we put our trust in God and in his help. We do our best to live upright lives and put our hope in God’s care for us. But escaping from reality is not going to provide a solution.

You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not stray, or else you may fall.
You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.

These are the qualities of those who “fear the Lord”. ‘Fear’ here does not mean ‘being afraid’, but rather submitting ourselves in deep reverence to a God who is so far beyond anything we can imagine. This God, awesome though he is, is a source of compassion, worthy of our trust and hope, and the ultimate source of joy and happiness.

For those who are close to God and accept his truth, humiliation by other people is purely an external experience. As the song says, “they can’t take away my dignity”, no matter what insults or degradations they throw at me.

Sirach advises that we:

Consider the generations of old and see…

He is speaking of those among our predecessors who followed the advice given here. Sirach gives many examples in chapters 44-50.

And he goes on to ask:

Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?
Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken?

These questions can only be answered by direct experience, but there is abundant evidence from the lives of the saints and other servants of God that the answer to all these questions is a resounding ‘No’.

And, if we do fail in our service of God, let us remember that:

the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he forgives sins and saves in time of distress.

The Lord’s compassion and his saving his people in time of trouble is a common theme in the Psalms and the prophets. And it confirmed again and again in the life of Jesus, and proved forever by his dying on the cross in the greatest act of love that anyone could do for others. Perhaps, in addition to being confident of God’s compassion for our sins and weaknesses, we might try to show the same compassion for those who “offend” us.

More

Commentary on Sirach 4:11-19

Today’s passage deals with Wisdom, personified as an educator:

Wisdom teaches her children
and takes hold of those who seek her.

There then follows a series of comments about the qualities and effects of Wisdom in people’s lives. The precious fruits of Wisdom—life, favour, blessings and God’s love—are intended to arouse desire for her. Whoever loves her loves life, and those who wait on her early will be filled with happiness.

This will naturally happen, because it is through Wisdom that we come to a fuller understanding of what a true life is all about, and with the living out of that understanding comes happiness.

To adhere to Wisdom is to pave the way to inherit final glory:

…the Lord blesses the place she enters.

Where there is Wisdom, there is God. There is an echo here of entering the Temple, the place where God is present:

Those who serve her minister to the Holy One;
the Lord loves those who love her.

In a similar context, her disciples are like priests, who enter into the holy places of the Temple to find God. For God himself is the source of all Wisdom; there is only one Truth. As we come closer to that truth we come close to God:

Whoever obeys her will judge the nations,
and whoever listens to her will live securely.

Wisdom’s adherents are like judges. True wisdom gives one criteria by which to evaluate the world around one, and those who “listen to her” will experience a sense of security. They have a sense that they are in the right place and doing the right things.

People who remain faithful to God’s call—especially as it comes to us through the Word of God—will continually seek to open themselves to receive Wisdom and be enriched by it. Seekers of Wisdom are here seen as faithful marriage partners, who open themselves fully to each other.  And what they learn will be passed on to those who come after. Thanks to our forebears, we are indeed the recipients of centuries of Wisdom passed on to us.

However, there is another dimension to Wisdom which we should be ready for. In our search for the truth, there is no guarantee of an easy life:

For at first she will walk with them in disguise;
she will bring fear and dread upon them
and will torment them by her discipline…

Indeed, it is often through the most painful and frightening experiences of life as we come face to face with failure, disappointment, sickness and death, that we gradually grow into real wisdom about the most important things in life.

On the other hand, to go our own way and to abandon the search for Wisdom and wisdom is to give up the search for truth and the way of love. There is no future there—only self-destruction.

As we said before, the acquisition of wisdom does not just come from the piling up of knowledge and information. It does not require a high level of literacy. Even the most illiterate person can be steeped in wisdom. The greatest teacher of wisdom is our immersion in life and in finding God’s Truth, Goodness and Beauty embedded in every experience of life, even the most painful.

More

Commentary on Sirach 5:1-8

The passage speaks of our attitudes to wealth, power and false confidence and consists of a number of distinct pieces of advice on how we should behave. It comes from the first part of a 22-line poetic arrangement of warnings on the disastrous consequences of false presumptions, wrong speech and shameful behaviour. It is particularly directed against the evils of the rich, which tend to pride and a sense of independence, presumption, false security and no regrets for what they do. People who behave in this way are playing a very dangerous game.

The passage begins:

Do not rely on your wealth
or say, “I have enough.”

There are some who believe that with wealth they can get or have anything, or that wealth will give them power to control and manipulate others. Money alone is never enough. Having money has little to do with wisdom or happiness.

Do not follow your inclination and strength
in pursuing the desires of your heart.

The “desires of our heart” can lead us very far astray and bring about our own self-destruction. Pleasure and happiness are two very different things.

Do not say, “Who can have power over me?”
for the Lord will surely punish you.

Wealth can give one a sense of total self-sufficiency, a belief that with money one can get anything one wants, and that one is answerable to no one. And yet, the rich person is, in many respects, just as vulnerable as one who is materially destitute. A tiny blood clot in the wrong place can bring a sudden end to everything. The ultimate life decisions are never ours.

Do not say, “I sinned, yet what has happened to me?”
for the Lord is slow to anger.

One may be very aware of leading a life which is immoral and unjust, but nothing bad has happened so one keeps acting immorally. That is because “the Lord is slow to anger”. This phrase comes from the time the Israelites rebelled against God at Mount Sinai. But instead of punishing them, Yahweh gave them a second chance and told them:

The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin… (Exod 34:6-7)

God’s bias is towards forgiveness and mercy, but there is a limit. In the end, sin and immorality will have to be paid for. The unrepentant wrongdoers put themselves outside God’s mercy.

Do not be so confident of forgiveness
that you add sin to sins.

This is similar to the previous injunction. We can be sure of God’s forgiveness when we repent, but it never justifies our deliberately continuing to act in ways that are evil and immoral, like someone who says he will continue his sinful life, but will make a ‘good confession’ at the end. Once aware of behaving in ways that are in disharmony with the Way shown to us by Jesus, we must abandon such behaviour now.

Do not say, “His mercy is great;
he will forgive the multitude of my sins,”
for both mercy and wrath are with him,
and his anger will rest on sinners.

This is another similar warning. Yes, God’s mercy is great and his forgiveness is always there for us, but as long as we are turned away from him, we close the door on that mercy and forgiveness. The Prodigal Son could only be reconciled when he came to his senses and turned back to his Father.

Do not delay to turn back to the Lord,
and do not postpone it from day to day,
for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come forth,
and at the time of punishment you will perish.

Repentance must follow immediately on our awareness of going the wrong way. If God comes for us and we are facing in the wrong direction, knowingly doing what we know to be very wrong, we may hear those terrible words:

Truly I tell you, I do not know you. (Matt 25:12)

And, of course, we do not know when he will come for us. But we do know that it can happen very suddenly and to anyone.

Finally, the passage says:

Do not rely on dishonest wealth,
for it will not benefit you on the day of calamity.

Immorally acquired wealth may get us far in the world of business and the world of expensive indulgence, but it will do nothing for us on the day we hear the final call. We remember Jesus’ parable about the rich fool, who felt so rich that he could put his feet up and have a long life of enjoyment ahead of him (Luke 12:13-21). How wrong he was! All that matters is here and now to find, to recognise and to serve Jesus in every other person, especially those in need of any kind.

More

Commentary on Sirach 6:5-17

Sirach today gives some advice on friendship. He has some wise things to say. According to the Harper-Collins Study Bible:

Friendship was an important concept in social relations during the Hellenistic period and is referred to several times in Sirach (9:10; 11:29-14:2; 22:19-26; 37:1-6). In Greek literature of the time, a friend was one who remained true in times of distress and could therefore be trusted with one’s official or private interests and affairs. Today’s reading brings to an end a section of instructions and admonitions which test one’s resolve, integrity, and capacity for making judgements in keeping with wisdom piety. (edited)

True friends are discerned, not by how much money they have, but by whether they will continue to stand by one in times of difficulty and misfortune. Such friends are rare, and their value is beyond estimation.

The word ‘friend’ is one we tend to use very casually, and we call people friends with whom we have only a relatively superficial acquaintance. Or we term as friends people who are useful in getting things we want. A genuine friend, with whom one can open oneself completely and in whom one can have total trust, is not easy to find.

Some of the points made today are worth considering:

• Friends are won by our speaking kindly and being courteous to people. Why do some people seem to have lots of close friends and others have very few? Perhaps one of the main reasons is here. To find a friend one has first to be a friend.
• People with whom you are friendly can be many, but a close adviser and confidant will be “one in a thousand”. As we said, the word ‘friend’ can be used very loosely. It is genuine friendship that we are speaking of here.
• True friendships, which are based on genuine love, take time to develop. Mutual attraction is not enough. Hence, “…gain them through testing, and do not trust them hastily.”

Sirach gives a few examples of what we would now call ‘fair-weather’ friends:

…there are friends who are such when it suits them,
but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.

…there are friends who turn to enmity
and tell of the quarrel to your disgrace… [one thinks of bitter divorce proceedings]

…there are friends who are companions at the table,
but they will not stand by you in time of trouble.
When you are prosperous, they become your second self
and boldly command your slaves,
but if you are brought low, they turn against you
and hide themselves from you.

Sirach advises us to “Keep away from your enemies”, those who are hostile to us. But in this, we also have to remember the Gospel injunction to pray for them and be ready to forgive and be reconciled with those who have harmed us.

At the same time Sirach tells us to “be on guard with your friends”, that is, those who call themselves friends but who, in time of stress, are likely to ditch you.

Finally, Sirach speaks of the true friend, a treasure more valuable than anything money can buy:

Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter;
whoever finds one has found a treasure.
Faithful friends are beyond price;
no amount can balance their worth.
Faithful friends are life-saving medicine,
and those who fear the Lord will find them.

True friendship is based on love and, where there is love, God is inevitably present, for God is love.

Last of all, Sirach provides an astute piece of advice:

Those who fear the Lord direct their friendship aright,
for as they are, so are their neighbors also.

This last phrase may mean ‘one’s friends are as dear to one as oneself’, but it may also mean ‘one’s friend will inevitably be, like oneself, a God-fearing person’.

When we live in truth and integrity, we live in God, and we are likely to make as friends those whose lives are also based on truth and integrity. There can really be no other kind of true friend.

One of the greatest tragedies in life is never to have had really close and intimate friends. The sign of a true friend is the sense of emptiness that comes on permanent separation because of death or some other irreversible reason.

More

Commentary on Mark 9:14-29

As Jesus comes down the mountain of the Transfiguration with Peter, James and John, they find the rest of the disciples surrounded by a large crowd. They are in a deep argument with some scribes, the experts on the Jewish law. Jesus wants to know what they are arguing about.

A man comes forward and describes some terrible symptoms his son is experiencing. He had asked Jesus’ disciples to exorcise this demon, but they were not able to do so. Reading the passage with contemporary eyes, it is possible for us to see the boy’s symptoms as perhaps some kind of epileptic seizure. It is understandable that people in those days would see in it some kind of evil possession. A person having epilepsy may seem to behave in very bizarre ways and even to be in the control of some external power.

Jesus exclaims:

You faithless generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you?

He asks that the boy be brought to him. Immediately the boy has another attack, lying writhing on the ground, foaming at the mouth—all typical symptoms of a seizure.

The father says the boy has been like that since birth and then he makes a heart-rending plea:

…if you are able to do anything, help us! Have compassion on us!

Jesus’ response is immediate:

If you are able! All things can be done for the one who believes.

Jesus does not just help people who ask. They must have a firm trust and confidence in God. We were told earlier that in Nazareth Jesus was able to do very little healing because the people there had no faith or trust in him.

The man comes back with a magnificent response:

I believe; help my unbelief!

That is the paradox of faith. It is something that we must have in order to come under the power of God, and yet it is also something he has to give us first.

This was enough for Jesus. He immediately drove out the force that was afflicting the boy. It involved one more last attack, leaving him lying on the ground “like a corpse” so that the onlookers thought he was dead. Someone with a seizure disorder can certainly look like that at the end of an attack.

Then Jesus took the boy by the hand and lifted him up:

…and he was able to stand.

As often happens in the Gospel, healing and a restoration to wholeness means standing up, sharing in the resurrection, the new life, of Jesus.

Afterwards, when Jesus’ disciples were alone with him, they asked why they could not heal the boy. Jesus tells them that this kind of problem:

…can come out only through prayer.

Did that mean that they had been trying to heal the boy by their own efforts? Were they beginning to think that the power that had been given them was their own? Had they failed to realise they were just channels of God’s healing power? Jesus spent long hours in prayer before and after his teaching and healing works. We cannot expect to do otherwise.

More

Commentary on Mark 9:30-37

Jesus was now spending more time with his disciples and teaching them. He was teaching them things that the crowds were not yet ready to hear. As we will see, his disciples were not too ready either.

Today we have the second of three predictions of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection which he communicates to his disciples. On each occasion, the pattern is exactly the same:

1. A prediction of what is going to happen to Jesus;
2. Total lack of comprehension of the meaning of what Jesus is saying on the part of the disciples;
3. A teaching of Jesus arising out of their lack of understanding.

The prediction is stated simply. First, Jesus will “be betrayed into human hands”. Other translations say “handed over” and still others use “given up”. These terms are used many times in the Gospels. John the Baptist is handed over; Jesus is handed over; the disciples later on will be handed over; and, in the Eucharist, the Body of Jesus is handed over for our sakes (“This is my body, which is given [tradetur] for you”). Second, he will be put to death; and third, three days later he will rise again.

They arrive in Capernaum and, in the house, Jesus asks them a question. Once again we have a reference to the “house’ with overtones of the Church, the place where God’s people gather, as they do here to listen to the Word of God. Jesus asks his disciples what seems an innocuous question:

What were you arguing about on the way?

Here we have another important word of Mark’s: “way” or “road” (Greek, hodos). In the context of the Gospel it has theological overtones. Jesus is the Way or the Road, and Christians are those who walk on this Way or Road. So the disciples “arguing” has implications about Christians arguing among themselves as they follow Christ ‘on the way’.

Jesus’ question is met with an embarrassed silence, because they had been arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest. The minute the question was asked, they knew they were in the wrong.

Why were they arguing about this? It was once suggested that, as Jesus had now for the second time announced his coming death, they were beginning to accept the possibility of it really happening. They began to wonder what would happen to them as a group without Jesus. Who would be in charge? Which of them had the best qualifications? Hence, their argument. If that was the case, then Jesus’ question was even more embarrassing. They could hardly say, “Well, we were wondering which one of us would take over when you are no longer with us.”

Jesus, of course, knew exactly what was going on in their minds, so he gave them some guidelines if they wanted to be truly his followers:

Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.

This is quite a hard saying, and most of us find it difficult to put fully into practice. It is, of course, totally in opposition to what goes on in the secular world, where ‘success’ means being on top, being in charge, being in control, calling the shots.

Yet, who are really the greatest people in our society? Is it not those, who are especially talented intellectually or in other ways, who use their talents totally for the well-being of others, to the point of even sacrificing their lives?

Apart from the obvious example of Jesus himself, we have a long list of saints who all have one thing in common—they put themselves totally at the service of their brothers and sisters. Success, promotion, status, material wealth or executive power meant nothing to these saints. They served, and their service was their power, a power which inspires in a way that no mere politician, business tycoon or dictator could ever do.

To serve is not to be submissive or weak; it is not putting oneself on a lower level than those being served. It is simply to be totally committed to the good of others, and to find one’s own well-being in being so committed.

Jesus then takes a little child, as a symbol of all those who are vulnerable, weak and exploitable. Children are used by Jesus as symbols of the anawim, the lowly and weak in our society. They are the ones who are most of all to be served and protected and nurtured. In so doing, one is recognising the presence of Jesus and the presence of God in them.

As Christians, we have much to be proud of in our record of service to our brothers and sisters, especially those who are weak and vulnerable. But we also have to confess that within our Church and in our dealings with the ‘world’, we have had our fair share of hungering for power, status and position. And, we have so often argued bitterly with each other “on the Way”, about just such things.

More

Commentary on Mark 9:38-40

There is another lesson for all of us in today’s brief passage.  The disciples complain to Jesus because they saw someone casting out devils in Jesus’ name.  They tried to stop him:

…because he was not following us.

Jesus tells them very clearly that they should:

…not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.

This is a principle we need to take seriously to heart. There can be a strong temptation among us to a kind of exclusivity.  Many Christian groups (both Catholic and people from other denominations) can fall into this trap.  As Paul tells us in one of his letters:

…the word of God is not chained. (2 Tim 2:9)

God can do his work through all kinds of people—Christians and people of other religions and of no religion.  He may even work at times through people who are ostensibly anti-religious.  Far from being resentful of others doing work which we feel belongs only to Christians, we should be overjoyed.  This is a clear sign of the Kingdom at work.  Wherever there is love, wherever there is service, there is God.

Membership in our group is not the test.  The test is whether what others do fits in with our goals of truth, love, justice, compassion, freedom, peace, non-violence and all that is good.   Our God is to be found in all these things.  The Church is a way to a further goal; it is not itself the end.  The Church is called to be a sign of the Kingdom, but is not the totality of the Kingdom. The goal is that people with good hearts and the Church are working for the good of one another and for the realisation of the Kingdom.

More

Commentary on Mark 9:41-50

Today’s Gospel speaks of ‘scandal’.  It is a much used word in our media today and not always with the same meaning that we find in the Gospel.  In our time it tends to refer to behaviour which we do not expect from certain individuals or classes of people.  We read about it and we say, “How terrible!  How wicked!”  In the Gospel, however, ‘scandals’ are stumbling blocks which impede one’s journey along Christ’s Way. If a head of state behaves inappropriately with someone in his or her office, that may be scandalous in the media sense, but it is not likely to affect the living out of one’s own Christian faith.

The Way of Christ is expressed in love and compassion and, wherever that happens, the action is noted and rewarded.  So anyone who gives a disciple even a drink of water, precisely because that person is known to be a follower of Christ, will not go unrewarded.  That ‘anyone’ is to be taken with full literalness.  It could be a person of a completely different religion or of none.  And one would hope that we would do exactly the same in return.

On the other hand, anyone who corrupts the beliefs of a simple believer is only fit for a fate worse than death.  And that applies most of all to fellow believers who, by their actions, can be an obstacle to a person following Christ or coming to know Christ.

But even within ourselves, there can be things in our lives which can block our living out of the Gospel message.  A wandering hand may steal, may hurt, may sexually abuse; it would be better to be without a hand than to allow it to do such things.  A wandering foot may bring us to places where we are corrupted or cause corruption to others.  It would be better to be crippled than to be involved in such things. A wandering eye can result in our treating other people, however beautiful and attractive, as mere objects of desire and may lead to worse things. We can read stories or visit websites which may lead us to thoughts and actions harmful both to ourselves and others—there are many possibilities. Blindness would be a lesser evil.

Obviously, Jesus is not urging us to carry out such amputations literally.  His point is to warn us of the many things which can be stumbling blocks in our Christian lives.  Perhaps we could reflect a little today and try to enumerate the things that get between us and our following of Jesus.

Jesus says in today’s Gospel:

…everyone will be salted with fire…

To be salted is to be purified and kept from corruption.  This can refer either to penalties by which a sinner is punished and at the same time preserved, or to the purifying trials through which we are made more faithful followers.  This is the kind of ‘amputation’ that can apply to those who have caused scandal.

This purification can happen through the trials which the Christian is likely to face in the faithful living out of the Gospel. But if the salt itself loses its taste, what can be used to give taste back to it? Rather:

Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

Good “salt”, that which ‘seasons’ us, seems to be the inner essence of the message of Jesus.  It is certainly the key to peace in our own hearts and in our relationships with those around us.  And if that salt is within us, we are not likely to be a stumbling block to others looking for Christ and his Way.