Sunday, September 28, 2003
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Num 11:25-29

Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the spirit that was upon him and put it on the seventy elders. Now when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this they did not do again.

Two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad, the name of the other Medad. However, the spirit came on them for they were among those who were registered though they had not gone out to the Tent. As they prophesied inside the camp, a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." Joshua, the son of Nun, who ministered to Moses from his youth said, "My lord Moses, stop them!"

But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous on my behalf? Would that all Yahweh's people were prophets and that Yahweh would send his spirit upon them!"

2nd Reading: James 5:1-6

So, now for what concerns the rich! Cry and weep for the misfortunes that are coming upon you. Your riches are rotting and your clothes eaten up by the moths. Your silver and gold have rusted and their rust grows into a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire, for having piled up riches in these the last days.

You deceived the workers who harvested your fields but now their wages cry out to the heavens. The reapers' complaints have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You lived in luxury and pleasure in this world and felt happy while others were murdered. You have easily condemned and killed the innocent since they offered no resistance.

Gospel: Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

John said to him, "Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon your name, and we tried to forbid him because he does not belong to our group." Jesus answered, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon after speak evil of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.

If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear his name, truly, I say to you, he will not go without reward.

If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck.
If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out.
And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out.

Commentary

"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you." A young man in search of salvation consulted an old guru, "What must I do to become saved?" The guru silently drew a line after a meter distance and then asked, "Tell me do you own a house?" The young man answered in the affirmative and so the guru measured another meter. "Do you own a car?" Again the young man answered yes and the old guru measured another meter. "Do you own savings?" Another meter and so on. Till the old guru measured a total of 20 meters. Then the guru told the young man: "Now, jump this distance." The young man answered, "I am not a long distance jumper. I cannot make it." Salvation is the same, the more things you possess the more difficult it is to be saved. It is as simple as that.

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