Numbers 11:25-29 / Psalm 19 / James 5:1-6 / Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Do you ever have a conversation and after it is over you think, “Oh, I wish I would have said this or that?” It happens to me, I imagine it happens to everyone, but also for me, I finish my Sunday Masses, or sometimes even during the readings I think, “Oh, I wish I would have preached on this or that aspect.”
Last weekend I felt that about our first reading, you can open your Breaking Bread up to see it again if you would like to, but the reading said, “With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.”
That was a prophecy about Jesus, the just one is Jesus, and I wish I would have preached on it because, well, we are often the ones putting Jesus to the test, but He is so gentle and so patient with us. We try His patience, we sin and do things we know we shouldn’t do, and He still loves us, He still blesses us with good things even.
For example, a couple weeks ago someone told me about a relative who, a long time ago, intentionally skipped Mass one weekend without a good reason (like being sick), and when he didn’t get hit by lightning for that sin of skipping Mass, he decided, “well, I’m never going to Mass on Sunday again.”
But should we really be surprised or disappointed that we don’t get punished immediately for our sins, especially in light of how patient and gentle Jesus is towards us? It’s a poor understanding of God which says, “well, the Church says don’t do this, and I did it, and nothing bad happened to me, so it must be okay in God’s eyes after all.” That’s bad logic. A bad understanding of our merciful God.
God is gentle with us. He is a perfect gentleman. He never imposes on us, He always just proposes to us, and then He exercises patience towards us (in the meantime as we exercise our free will). Not striking us down with lightning is a sign of His love and mercy more than it is a show of what we should or shouldn’t do.
(In fact, our opening prayer said, “O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy…” - that's a strong statement from the Church about the importance of God’s mercy - which is really His love for us when we don’t necessarily even deserve it.)
So that was what I wished I would have said last weekend, but it fits really well with this weekend. If you still have your Breaking Bread or missal with the readings out, look at that 2nd reading and Gospel again, they are difficult, they are important warnings though, we can’t go through life hurting people by the way we live and not receive a punishment for it in the end.
Jesus is proposing that we work to help others by giving them a cup of cold water, for example. James is following His lead when He says the rich need to help the poor. For us, these are often sins of omission, missed opportunities for us. We won’t get struck by lightning for these sins, (or any sins,) but we miss out an opportunity for ourselves and an opportunity for others to know God through us.
As I told the Elementary school students Friday, God works through us to help others know Him. God works through people. (The rust that accumulates on our gold and silver will be a testimony against us because we didn’t use it to help people when we had the chance.)
And then in the Gospel, Jesus said some frightening things, 1st He says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe 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.” A millstone like this would have weighed a thousand pounds, that’s a pretty graphic death, but it speaks to anyone who is in authority in any way and could knowingly cause someone to sin, directly or by the example of their life.
But Jesus goes on by saying, “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.” Now this is clearly a reference to Hell.
It is not popular to talk about Hell, in fact many people today don’t even believe Hell exists, and if it does exist, they think it is empty. That’s a nice thought, a nice sentiment, but it just isn’t true.
You see, Jesus talks about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible, and it just doesn’t make sense for Him to warn us about it if it wasn’t a real potential reality.
Hell is simply an eternal separation from God. The unquenchable fire will be this pain of knowing that we could have had eternal life with God, but chose by our actions to be separated from Him for eternity.
There are only two options at the end of our life, Heaven or Hell. That’s it. Oh sure we might make a stop in Purgatory on the way to Heaven, but Purgatory is just a rest stop, not the destination. The destination is Heaven or Hell, and we choose it by how we live.
So Jesus tells us “If your hand [or foot] causes you to sin, cut it off. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.”
Jesus is not saying maim ourselves, no, not at all, but He is saying sin is a reality, and if there are things in our lives that are causing us to sin, we need to cut them off or pluck them out, because we all should want to go to Heaven, (so much so that we will do whatever it takes to get there).
For many people, watching the news is an occasion of sin, so stop watching.
For many people, social media is an occasion of sin, so delete the account.
For some, certain people are an occasion of sin, so step back from the relationship.
Again, Jesus is proposing, not imposing, although maybe this is more direct than usual, but at some level He has to warn us, He has to tell us the truth about how our actions can lead us to Hell.
Jesus is very gentle and merciful though, and if we have committed any sins, He will forgive us when we repent, but He is patient with us and lets that be on our own schedule.
As I wrap this up, I just want to encourage everyone to live their faith well, meaning just do what the Church asks. Jesus gave us these Sacraments and invites us to participate in His life now. When we participate in the life of the Church, we participate in the life of God, meaning, we choose Heaven here.
It’s pretty simple, we don’t have to overcomplicate it. People that go to Hell actually wouldn’t want to be in Heaven, they made that decision not to live that Heavenly life here and now, staying in their sin and teaching others to sin.
As we approach Jesus in the Eucharist, remember that this is a foretaste of Heaven. Jesus wants us to receive Him now and then, but He doesn’t impose, He patiently gives us the free will to choose Him.
John is choosing Him today, thanks be to God, so if you are ready and still want to do this, I’d invite John and his sponsor Ray to come up to the Baptismal font and we will start there with the Baptism and Confirmation.