Scripture:
Numbers 11:25-29
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Reflection:
As I was reflecting on this Sunday’s readings, the thought came to me, “By their fruits you shall know them.” In our first reading (Numbers 11:25-29), and in our Gospel reading (Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48), this is a positive statement. In our first reading, God takes some of the spirit that was given to Moses, and bestows it upon seventy elders. Two who were meant to be at the gathering to receive this spirit, Eldad and Medad, weren’t there. But they received the spirit anyway – What God wants God gets done. But someone sees Eldad and Medad prophesying, reports it to Joshua, who then reports it to Moses, and tells Moses that he should stop them – they weren’t at the meeting! But Moses replies, “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” Even though Eldad and Medad were not at the official gathering, God saw fit to bestow His spirit on them, and by the fruits of their prophesying, they testified to God’s goodness.
A similar thing occurs in our Gospel reading. The apostle John tells Jesus that he and the other disciples saw someone driving out demons in Jesus’ name, and they tried to “prevent him because he does not follow us.” Like Moses, Jesus replies, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a might deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.” I don’t know if this startled John or not, but it shouldn’t have. Think about it. What John and the others were trying to do in preventing this person from doing good, was the exact same thing the Pharisees were trying to do, going against Jesus! They tried to prevent Him from doing things because He was not one of them.
It seems to me that people of good faith, no matter what system of belief they have, or even if they have no belief in a Higher Power at all, can come together and try to make the world a better place. That is a “good fruit” worth working for. We believers would see it as following Jesus’ command to love and helping build up the kingdom. Others would probably see it differently, but the world would be better with the efforts made.
In our second reading from James (5:1-6), we have the opposite side of the coin. James tells those who are rich because they have withheld wages from their workers that God hears the cries of those who have been exploited, not the prayers of the unjust rich. Being rich in itself does not indicate God’s favor. It is by our fruits with regards to others that we shall be known and be judged.
How can we best obey Jesus’ command to love? By doing good for others, working for justice, avoiding sin, and avoiding leading others to sin. Jesus says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin [an example for me would be fomenting fear and hate], it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
May the depth of our convictions lead us not to sin, but to “good fruit.”
Fr. Phil Paxton, C.P., is the local superior of the Passionist Community in Birmingham, Alabama.