25th Sunday 2024
Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37
If you were here last week, you may recall, though you probably won’t, that I asked whether the readings offered anything for our comfort. They comprised what might be seen as a prophecy of the Lord’s Passion, a warning from St. James, and a prediction from Jesus’ own lips of His suffering and death, and of its implications for us.
Today we have an apparent prophecy of the Lord’s Passion, a warning from St. James, and a prediction from Jesus’ own lips: déjà vu or what? Is it déjà vu in another sense in that I ended by suggesting that there was a great deal for our comfort? Will we be able to say the same this week?
The prophecy of the Passion seems fairly clear: Jesus WAS very critical, especially of the supposedly good people, in their way of life; He WAS TO BE tested with cruelty and torture and condemned to a shameful death. As last week, the suffering and death of the Son of God appear to fit a blueprint.
Similarly, St. James follows up last week’s warning that our faith must be “fruitful in good works”, otherwise it will be dead. Today, he pushes the point further, demanding that we be peacemakers, that we be compassionate, that we be free from hypocrisy, a hypocrisy which would be manifested in professions of faith with no good works arising from them. He has stern words of criticism for our self-centredness and ambition. As last week, his words provide a sound basis for a good and thorough examination of conscience. Am I a peacemaker? Am I compassionate? Am I free from hypocrisy?
Finally, the Gospel illustrates that self-centredness and hypocrisy in the behaviour of the apostles, juxtaposed with a further prophecy on Jesus’ part, as He attempts to convey to them that He will suffer, die, and rise from the dead. The Twelve are no more capable than was Peter to take these prophecies on board. At least Peter had his Lord’s interests at heart: now they are concerned only with themselves.
What are our concerns? Are we focused on the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, and on how these play out in, and influence our own lives, both now and in eternity? Do we have faith in Jesus, and are we concerned to exercise that faith by meeting the needs of others? Or are we essentially selfish and self-centred, pre-occupied with the things which appear to enhance our own comfort and status; even our own salvation without reference to the salvation of others?
I have seen and heard a great deal of criticism, probably justified, of the Government’s decision to limit the elderly persons’ heating allowance to those in receipt of pension credits. Over and over again, though, this reasonable criticism is coupled with the vilification of immigrants, claiming that the money withheld from pensioners is being spent, indeed squandered, on giving immigrants a cushy life, something which is far from the truth. It then tempts one to wonder whether the claim to be concerned about pensioners is genuine or largely a manifestation of the struggles to which James draws attention, a pre-occupation with our own well-being joined to a need to find a scapegoat, dragging in an unrelated problem to enable people to compensate for altruism with rage? I do not know.
What do we make of Our Lord’s use of a child, as a model for our behaviour? Surely, children are the most self-centred people of all? True, but that isn’t the whole story. That is their childish, as distinct from their childlike, side. The apostles have an abundance of childishness: what they and we are called to imitate is the child’s innocence, its enthusiasm, openness, positivity, willingness to learn. Is the child in you and me childish or childlike?
Finally, do these readings tell us aught for our comfort? They do, don’t they? They give us a blueprint for better, more generous behaviour, and they remind us that, in Jesus, God has done great things for us: that He is our Redeemer, and our model.
