Differences Unite us in the Mission of Evangelization
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Wow, Jesus has some harsh words for us today!
Jesus is pointing out the gravity of sin, in particular the gravity of the sin of scandal, that is leading others to sin by our own sinfulness AND he is pointing out the consequence of unrepented sin: Gehenna, or as it’s translated into English, Hell. Hell it the eternal place of torment where one resides who has cut himself off from the presence of God by his own unrepented sin. We often use the image of fire to describe the suffering in this place but the real suffering of hell isn’t being burned by fire, but it is the suffering of being cut off from God’s life and love by the free will of a person who is unrepentant of their sinfulness at the end of their earthly life. Hell isn’t something that is often referred to in our modern world as we tend to try to avoid talking about this kind of torment, but the reality is Jesus never shied away from talking about the eternal consequences of our actions and today’s Gospel is one of those passages.
Now Jesus isn’t talking about Gehenna to make us depressed, but rather because out of His all-encompassing love for us, He desires the redemption of sinners. That’s why he died on the cross for our sake! He reveals the consequence of sin to prompt conversion in the hearts of those who hear Him, that they would turn from their sinfulness and embrace true discipleship of Jesus, which leads to eternal life!
So, to understand that better, it is helpful to understand the nature of what is going on both in our First Reading and in our Gospel because they parallel each other and teach us the way forward towards eternal life.
We see Pride and selfishness on display this week. Remember last week we saw the result of Envy and jealousy, which is divisiveness and destruction within a community. The same is true in what is happening this week.
In our First reading, God is giving some of the Spirit He gave to Moses to 70 elders in the Israelite community to prophesy and help lead the people to God. 2 of those men were not in the camp when God bestowed his Spirit and that caused those in the camp to respond with pride. They wanted to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying because Eldad and Medad were doing it differently than how they thought it should be done. They viewed Eldad and Medad as a threat to themselves, not because they were, but because they were doing it differently than was expected. Moses responds to them by pointing out their jealousy is a hinderance to God’s Spirit. “Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” Eldad and Medad were not operating outside of God’s grace and power and they were, in fact, not a threat to the rest of the community, but rather a benefit by revealing that God works different in different people. That is not a bad thing, but rather a great thing!
In the Gospel we see a similar event. Someone was casting out demons in the name of Jesus and the disciples are offended. This person casting out demons was not one of the 12 and the disciples see this person as an obstacle because he is not acting in a way the disciples think he should (he is outside their community of the 12 and isn’t one of them journeying with Jesus). And so in their pride and selfishness they try to stop him. Jesus responds in the same way as Moses and points out that “No one who performs a mighty deed in my name can at the same time speak ill of me.” He tells them that just because this person isn’t acting like the 12 (and how they think this person should act), that doesn’t mean he is acting outside of God’s grace and power! In fact Jesus makes it clear this person is acting with God’s grace and power! God gives His grace to whom He wills and often people proclaim the Gospel differently, but that doesn’t mean that they are an obstacle or a threat, but it is God’s grace operating in someone else differently!
Does this sound familiar? We, in our own brokenness, do this all the time too! We look at each other as threats because other people do things differently than us or have different philosophies than us or act differently than us, even in how they proclaim the Gospel. Whether in our worldwide community down to our parish community to our families, we can fall into this temptation of pride and selfishness and see others not as fellow disciples, but as threats to us. We can fall into thinking that my way is the only way to do things or to proclaim the Gospel and this kind of attitude tries to prevent God’s Spirit operating in other people differently than us. It can lead us to act like how John did initially in the Gospel, by trying to prevent others from doing good! How do we try to prevent them? Not usually by physical restraint, we act in a more conniving and very sinful manner: we gossip about them. Gossip by its nature is meant to destroy someone’s reputation and result in prevent them from acting; gossips aim is to paralyze the other person and cause them to quit doing what they are doing (even if good!) because of all the negative talk around them! Gossip is also one of those sins that causes more sin, especially in other people. It draws others into sin because gossip has to be shared with others and those said others often engage in the same behavior by spreading the gossip even more! This is incredibly destructive not only to the person who is gossiped about, but also to the entire community as it hinders our mission of being disciples of Christ!
So what are we to do? We must heed the words of Jesus like John did. We have to see others as Christ does: to see them as fellow disciples in the same mission of Evangelization. We must act towards them as Christ does, to love them as Christ showed us how, that doesn’t mean we have to be best buddies or like them, but we do have to love them and desire their salvation. The reality is that God gives his Spirit to each of us differently and He works in everyone differently. Those differences shouldn’t divide us and be seen as threats to us, but unite us in our Mission of Evangelization.
Jesus is clear, the eternal consequences of our actions are not to be taken lightly. In fact Jesus uses quite a striking image. He says if our hand, or foot, or eye causes us to sin, cut them off. Now Jesus isn’t being literal here, He’s not advocating we actually maim ourselves. He’s exaggerating to make a point. His point is that we must look at the root of sin in our lives and cut them out of our hearts if we are to live in the life and love of Jesus and attain eternal life. We have to recognize the evil thoughts we harbor toward one another as sinful and cut them out of our lives. If we do not, then we are not truly repentant and we will continue to fall prey to our own pride and selfishness. Jesus is clear, if we let ourselves stay in our sinfulness and not repent, then we will cut ourselves off of God’s life and love and suffer for eternity in Hell. But if we repent and come back to him through the Sacraments, we can continue to strive to be united to Christ and to one another and further the mission of evangelization both here in our parish and in the worldwide community as we live as disciples of Christ!
So let us strive to recognize our own sinfulness, not to be depressed about it by any means, but to bring it to the Lord who offers us His mercy and forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation. And as we come to receive Him in the Eucharist today, let us be united to Him and to one another as we leave Mass today to continue in the mission of Evangelization that God calls each of us to participate in, precisely through our differences!
