Homily for September 28, 2003
Year B - Cycle I
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Dcn. Tony Porto
Topic:  Don't Get Buried in the Sand
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Gospel Reading:   Mark 9:38-48

"At that time, John said to Jesus, 'Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.'  Jesus replied, '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.  For whoever is not against us is for us.  Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.  Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.  If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.  And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.  And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.  Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.''" 

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I read something recently about a pastor who announced to his congregation that he would be going away on his fourth week of vacation for the year.  A youngster turned to his mother and says, “How come the Pastor gets four weeks and Dad only gets two weeks in a year?”  (Obviously Dad doesn’t work for the laboratory!)  The response was, “If the Pastor is a good one, he deserves it.  If he’s not, the congregation deserves it.”  In our case, I think he definitely deserves it.

In today’s first reading taken from the Book of Numbers we hear an account about Joshua, Moses’ aide.  He is reporting to Moses that two men, who are not members of the group, had been prophesying in the camp where they had been staying.  Joshua is quite determined to have Moses stop them from doing that.  Moses refuses to do so.  He indicates that the Lord’s Spirit is bestowed on anyone he chooses, even if they are not part of their group. 

A similar incident occurs in the Gospel.  John, one of Jesus’ apostles, said, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we tried to stop him because he is not of our company.”  Interesting to hear Jesus say, “Do not try to stop him.  Anyone who is not against us is with us.”  Here’s Jesus, who came to heal and teach.  Which, by the way, was not restricted to the chosen people.  We are now seeing that he sees no reason to exclude anyone who is willing to follow His example of ministering to others.  Now we have both Moses and Jesus showing their approval of people outside their group, as long as they are displaying a love and service of neighbors.  Whoever is not against us is with us. 

It is the second part of the Gospel that I find troubling.  The Jesus that we hear seems out of character with our usual picture of the gentle and loving Savior, the Good Shepherd, and a divine physician.  His words sound somber and threatening.  Is he truly serious about cutting off a hand or a foot or tearing out an eye?  The reason it sorrows me is that when I was growing up, someone in the neighborhood came home after joining the Navy displaying a very impressive tattoo.  We youngsters thought that was cool.  When I mentioned this to my dad, he informed me that subjecting one’s body to a tattoo was one step towards mistreating the body.  I later discovered that starting in the early Christian era, tattooing and body art were forbidden in Europe and this prevailed for many years.  This is based on Paul’s letters to the Corinthians where he states, “You know that our bodies are parts of the body of Christ.”  Some of the European Christian immigrants carried that idea with them to America, including my parents who came from Italy. 

The question that arises in my mind is how does one square that with Christ’s talking about the removal of a hand, a foot, or an eye.  Seeking an answer to this, I found that some Biblical scholars believe that represents a typically Semitic way of making a point using exaggeration.  I have to admit Jesus certainly made his point rather emphatically; nothing is more important than eternal salvation.  In other words, no sacrifice is too great to attain this.  All I can say is that I am not too many years away from the true answer to this question along a number of others, during that long spell known as eternity.  I’m in no hurry, Lord!  I don’t think there is any question in our mind that Heaven is our goal.  If that were not so, I doubt that we would be in church today.  And yet, isn’t it true that sometimes we become envious of people who seem to get along just fine without any consideration of a moral code, doing whatever they please?  Sometimes we may even feel that we are missing something.  Perhaps we are like the little child who finds a fascination with matches simply because he has been warned not to play with them.  There is a certain amount of tension in the lives of every one of us.  We seem to be called in two directions at the same time, outwards toward God and inwards towards ourselves.  We know that we should be centered on loving God, that we should be unselfish and loving towards others, but all the while still watching out for “number one.”  That makes for tension and consequently unhappiness in many of us.  In one sense, what life is all about is learning to let go from our end.

Some years ago I remember reading about a Jesuit priest conducting an experiment for his philosophy class. He took a large glass jar and filled it with golf galls.  He then began to drop in a bunch of small gravel, which filled the voids between the golf balls.  He then poured in a bunch of sand.  That took care of the voids between the golf balls and the small gravel.  He then explained the point of the experiment.  He told the students that the jar reflected aspects of everybody’s life.  The golf balls represented that which is important - the love of God and neighbor, and all that goes with it.  The gravel was of secondary importance, such as job, house, and car.  The sand was the stuff of least importance that somehow manages to take up a lot of our time and our energy.  Characteristic of sand, he indicated that they could be the most irritating.  He concluded that we should keep our eye on the balls and try not to be mired in the sand or the gravel.

The other day I saw a well-used car that displayed an attractive-looking plaque on the back end.  It was the only thing on the car that didn’t look like it had been through a war zone.  It said, “Don’t let this fool car you, my treasure in is in heaven.”  Now there is someone who is able to choose the proper priority between the golf balls and the gravel!  One of the many situations that causes us to become mired in the sand and distort our view of the ultimate goal is this thing called greed.  Today’s second reading taken from the letter of James addressing that subject with severe words and warnings for the rich who exploit the poor.  We are coming to realize in our day that individuals may not be necessarily rich by themselves.  Groups of people can be very rich and together they find ways to exploit for their own gain.  A couple of examples which come to mind are Enron and World Com.  However, on a smaller and more personal level there are any number of things in that sand and gravel barrier that cause us to lose focus on what is of utmost importance. 

Today we come before God to offer ourselves completely to him in union with Jesus on the altar.  At the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer, we will profess that all honor and glory belong to God through, with, and in Christ.  Let us fix in our minds the words of that profession.  All honor and glory belong to God.  Let us try and live according to those words as we make a constant effort to give to God what is sand…in a word, everything.