Twenty - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
† Sunday 1st October 2000

Theme: God gives his Spirit where he wills

A reading from the Book of Numbers 11 : 25 - 29
Moses calls the seventy elders to assemble at the Tent of Meeting, and there the Spirit of God descends upon them. But two of the elders are left behind in the camp, yet the Spirit comes upon them too, and they begin to prophecy. This is quickly reported to Moses, but he points out that God gives his Spirit to whom he wills. Nobody has the right to control when and where the Spirit is to be active.“Are you jealous?” Moses asks, “If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all!”

A reading from the Letter of James 5 : 1 - 6
The wearing of fine garments and jewellery, was one of the chief ways of showing off then and now! James reminds us his readers of the transitory nature of such riches. Such wealth often built upon the payment of low wages to labourers under hire, or cheating in trade, giving short measure, is fed by avarice and greed. But James, says, “On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury...start crying and weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths!”

Gospel according to Mark 9: 38 - 43, 45. 47 - 48
This passage follows on from that of the previous week, where Jesus is teaching his followers what it means to be a true disciple. Jesus’ tolerant attitude in the reading today, when told that others are casting out demons in his name, only serves to underline that the true disciple is not possessive, but recognises the Spirit of God at work in others. Jealousy, is just one of many things that can prevent us from being true disciples. Mark gives us a list of ‘saying of Jesus’, “if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to Gehenna.” This place ‘Gehenna’ was a valley to the southwest of Jerusalem which was the city rubbish tip, a place of abomination, unclean and was often used to dispose of the corpses of the poor. Definitely not the place to go! These ‘sayings’ are strong in character but serve to emphasis the essential nature of discipleship which is seen in the act of service in giving the cup of water.

© Peter Harrison 2000