Mark 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48.
Dear Friends, Today’s Gospel, as usual, seems like a simple lesson that is teaching us about the presence of good outside the community and brokenness inside the community. Once again, Jesus’s words call us much deeper into the mystery of the kingdom of God. Today’s message has truly huge ramifications for our lives as individuals and as a community seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
There are three points about John’s statement and Jesus’ reactions that help us grasp the multilayered meaning of the message of Jesus. First and foremost, John misses the genuine reality of the kingdom that was taking place. The person was being liberated from the demonic powers. This is the basic conflict of good and evil, sin and grace, the weeds and the wheat. Throughout the Gospels, the Scribes and Pharisees missed the same point in the miracles of Jesus. The power of God was on display right before their eyes. Their only concern was protecting their vested interests. Secondly, John is more absorbed in maintaining privilege and power exemplified in his statement “one of us” to the one attacking the enemy of the kingdom. (Mk 9:38) Thirdly, John is drawn inward to safeguard the group’s interests to the neglect of celebrating and exercising the mission of the kingdom. The Church has suffered from this arrogance and institutional self-interest throughout its history.
In the second part, Jesus is using some incredibly strong language to highlight the need to build up the community. The hunger for prestige and power and an elitism and sense of privilege by the leaders is a scandal to “the little ones.” These are the multitude still in the early stages of development in their faith. The prophetic hyperbole of Jesus is a demand to keep our eye on the ball. The mission of the faith community we call Church is to proclaim the kingdom. The Church needs to be a humble witness to service and love, not an arrogant gathering of privileged and powerful. Too often, the Church fails to live up to the calling to treat all within the community with equality and a sense of dignity. There is no clearer example of this than the many dimensions of the sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the Church for the last several decades.
The Church is not the kingdom. It needs to be a witness to the values of the kingdom which is an infinitely greater reality. In the kingdom of God there is no “us and them”. The Church is not a program where the privileged and powerful are in control and use doctrine and discipline to exclude and isolate. The community of faith needs to include all. This requires an ever-expanding horizon of acceptance of the “other.” This is a call to embrace all the marginated and excluded in our day. We are never finished building up and enfolding a rellentlessly greater “us” and an ever-diminishing “them.” Our vocation is to cultivate a gracious respect for the difference for others. We have a calling to reveal the infinite mercy of God.
There are three points about John’s statement and Jesus’ reactions that help us grasp the multilayered meaning of the message of Jesus. First and foremost, John misses the genuine reality of the kingdom that was taking place. The person was being liberated from the demonic powers. This is the basic conflict of good and evil, sin and grace, the weeds and the wheat. Throughout the Gospels, the Scribes and Pharisees missed the same point in the miracles of Jesus. The power of God was on display right before their eyes. Their only concern was protecting their vested interests. Secondly, John is more absorbed in maintaining privilege and power exemplified in his statement “one of us” to the one attacking the enemy of the kingdom. (Mk 9:38) Thirdly, John is drawn inward to safeguard the group’s interests to the neglect of celebrating and exercising the mission of the kingdom. The Church has suffered from this arrogance and institutional self-interest throughout its history.
In the second part, Jesus is using some incredibly strong language to highlight the need to build up the community. The hunger for prestige and power and an elitism and sense of privilege by the leaders is a scandal to “the little ones.” These are the multitude still in the early stages of development in their faith. The prophetic hyperbole of Jesus is a demand to keep our eye on the ball. The mission of the faith community we call Church is to proclaim the kingdom. The Church needs to be a humble witness to service and love, not an arrogant gathering of privileged and powerful. Too often, the Church fails to live up to the calling to treat all within the community with equality and a sense of dignity. There is no clearer example of this than the many dimensions of the sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the Church for the last several decades.
The Church is not the kingdom. It needs to be a witness to the values of the kingdom which is an infinitely greater reality. In the kingdom of God there is no “us and them”. The Church is not a program where the privileged and powerful are in control and use doctrine and discipline to exclude and isolate. The community of faith needs to include all. This requires an ever-expanding horizon of acceptance of the “other.” This is a call to embrace all the marginated and excluded in our day. We are never finished building up and enfolding a rellentlessly greater “us” and an ever-diminishing “them.” Our vocation is to cultivate a gracious respect for the difference for others. We have a calling to reveal the infinite mercy of God.
