Readings: Numbers 11:25-29;
Jas. 5:1-6; Mk. 9:38-43, 47-48
They Are Not One of Us
1. There is a story told about a young man who died and went to Heaven. As he was being conducted around Heaven, he saw many people around having fun and enjoying themselves. He would ask who the people were, and he would be told, those people there are Hindus, by my right there are Muslims; over there are the Protestants etc. etc. They came to a tall walled fence with people feasting and celebrating with dancing and music. He asked who those people were, and the angel told him not to make noise, that those were Catholics, they believed they were the only ones in Heaven. Whenever I think of this story, I recall the old belief that outside the Catholic Church there was no salvation. Some people still hold that belief till today.
2. In the first reading we read about Eldad and Medad who were among the 70 elders appointed to assist Moses. They did not join others at the ceremony and yet, they too received the spirit and prophesied. Joshua wanted to stop them, but Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” Also, in the gospel John approached Jesus and reported, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” To him 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.” This brings in a powerful dimension on how we receive people of other faith.
3.
We
often find ourselves in a position of trying to prevent people from doing a
good deed because they are not one of us. We like to put people in boxes and
divide them into groups of those who belong to us and those who do not? We see
people as foreign, strangers, international born. We see their color as brown,
black or white, but of course ours is better. They are Asians, or Europeans, or
Caucasians or Latin Americans, but we are Americans. They have an accent and do
not speak like us. They are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. They don’t
like us, and we don’t like them, because we are better than them. This
perception and way of thinking is sinful and scandalous. It is wrong! It makes
it hard to accept people for who they are, sons and daughters of God, created
in the image and likeness of God.
4. St. James referred to this way of thinking and perception in his epistle. We rely on our self-importance, arrogance, and pride. He said, “Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire.” This is because we see ourselves as deserving while others are undeserving. We are the ones who will go to heaven while others are hell-bound. Christ made it clear that all good deeds come from God. We cannot, on our own, do any good without the grace of God. Therefore, we should avoid giving scandal by how we live.
5. We sometimes bring this perception and way of thinking to our ministries in the Church. We will not do anything that was done by another parishioner, for fear that we are doing their work. God has endowed us with gift of talent, time, and treasure, we must invest our gift in the building of the kingdom. No one is better than other. St. Paul captured it well in his letter to the Ephesians: “And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy one for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11-12). We are called, gifted, and equipped for ministry. Our gift is not for us alone but to be used for others and to build up the kingdom of God on earth. Therefore, we should not look down on anyone or think that others are not worthy of God’s call.
6.
Let
us pray that we may rather die than sin against God and our neighbors. That we
may never scandalize the young ones by our way of life and our perception of
others. May we see everyone as a child of God, created in the image and
likeness of God. Amen.
Rev. Augustine
Etemma Inwang, MSP
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