1.Num
11:25-29
|
2.James5:1-6
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Mk
9:38-43,47-48
|
"On
not being a stumbling-block"
In life we can
categorize groups of people, those who can show us the Lord's way, by living
that way themselves, and those who can lead us astray, inviting us to take path
that are not in keeping our baptismal calling. They can become obstacles to us,
tripping us up as we struggle to follow in the way of Christ.
In today's gospel Jesus
shows a strong awareness of these two
possibilities. He speaks of the one who gives a cup of cold water to one of his
followers; the one who supports and the one who blocks. Jesus personally had
experienced Peter, the leader of the twelve, as an obstacle. When Peter Sought
to dissuade Jesus from taking the path God was asking him to take, simply because
it would involve the cross, Jesus rebuked him with the words, ' You are a
stumbling block to me' ( Mt 16:23). Our today's gospel suggests that the
disciples of Jesus proved to be stumbling blocks to others on more than one occasion.
Mark tells us that when parents were trying to bring their children to Jesus
that he might bless them, the disciples spoke sternly to the parents and tried
to block the children from reaching Jesus. In today's gospel we find Jesus'
disciples trying to block someone from doing the Lord's work. Just because he
was not one of them. In response, Jesus rebukes them, ' Do not stop him.....
Anyone who is not against us is for us.
Peter and the
disciples meant well in all these cases. Even well-meaning people, it seems,
can become obstacles to the Lord’s work. We can all find ourselves in the role
of the stumbling block without realizing it. Thinking that our way is the
Lord’s way, we can then proceed to try and impose that way on others. The
disciples in today’s gospel had to learn that their way was, in fact, a much
narrower way than the Lord’s way, and that their narrow perspective was an
obstacle to the Lord’s work getting done.
Those they judged to be ‘not one of us’, Jesus regarded as
‘for us.’ In contrast to his disciples, Jesus was able to recognize and
encourage goodness wherever he found it. He knew that the Spirit blows where it
wills. He was alert to the signs of the Spirit’s presence wherever he came
across them. In the same way, Moses in the first reading recognized and
rejoiced in the movement of the Spirit in the lives of Eldad and Medad, even
though Joshua wanted Moses to stop them prophesying.
We all have a role to play in
recognizing and supporting the working of the Spirit in each other. Towards the
end of his first letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul says, ‘Do not
quench the Spirit.’ To quench the Holy Spirit in others is to become a stumbling
block, an obstacle, to God’s working in their lives. We can quench the Spirit
in others and hinder the good work that God is doing through them for a whole
variety of very human reasons. We can be motivated by jealousy, as Moses
suggests Joshua was in today’s first reading. Like the disciples, we can refuse
to acknowledge God’s good work in the lives of others because they are not ‘one
of us’, because they belong to a different church or religion or ethnic group.
We can be dismissive of the good someone else is doing simply because it is not
the way we would have done it, forgetting that the Holy Spirit works in many
diverse ways in people’s lives. Living as we do in a culture that is awash with
obstacles and stumbling stones to God’s working in our lives, we who seek to be
the Lord’s followers need to ensure that we do not become stumbling stones for
one another. The Lord looks to us to give the cup of cold water, to nurture
what is good in each other, and to rejoice in the working of the Spirit in the
lives of others.
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