30th Sunday Ordinary B – The 3 C’s – Crowd, cloak, conclusion

These past weeks, the gospel has instructed us on how to follow Jesus - discipleship.  Last week I talked about the 3P’s which we need to balance in our life to follow Jesus more closely- Pleasure, Possession, Power. Today we continue with the theme of discipleship as we see the 3C’s of the story of the blind man: Crowd, Cloak and Conclusion.

There was a crowd and they were trying to make a blindman and a cross-eyed guy start a fistfight. So the crowd told the blind man that the cross-eyed guy was insulting him, and vice versa. Both got angry and with the help of the crowd who brought them together, they found themselves in a distance of each other. The crowd started to shout: fight, fight, fight to bring them nearer… And as they came nearer, the cross-eyed guy got his cloak, raised it up in front of him and tried to hide himself with it.  The blind guy sensing no one was coming nearer in front of him shouted: “Hey cross-eyed guy, don’t hide, show yourself so that I can see you and fight you.” And from a distance, the cross-eyed guy shouted: “I’m not going to fight you… it’s not fair… there are two of you.” Conclusion – no fight followed.

The Crowd - The Gospel of today opens with the following sentence: “Jesus left Jericho, with his disciples and a great crowd” (v.46).  This crowd that follows Jesus is very mixed.  Bartimaeus hears from them about Jesus. He then shouts: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Some of the crowd discourage him, but Jesus hears and invites him. “Call him here.” And the other part of the crowd tells the blind man, “Courage, he is calling you.”  And this crowd bring him to Jesus.

And we, what part of the crowd are we in? Are we those who spread the word about Jesus, and encourage them to come to him or are we part of the crowd who prevent others from seeing Jesus?

The Cloak - When at last the blind man has the chance to approach Jesus, we are told, “So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus” (v.50).  The cloak was a large square piece of cloth that the blind man had spread in front of him to collect some coins from the passers by.   In any case, his act of throwing off his cloak shows a renunciation.  The blind man does not need his cloak any more – he goes out to Jesus in symbolic nakedness.  The blind man does not need his coins any more – because he is going to be healed now.  He does not need his material security any more – because he has Jesus himself now.

As for us, what is the cloak that becomes our security blanket?  What is that cloak that we find so difficult to let go?  What is that cloak that prevents me from being totally available to Jesus?

The Conclusion- What follows then is the cure. Jesus says, “Go; your faith has saved you.” And at once his sight returned and Bartimaeus followed him along the road.”  Two Sundays ago, in the gospel story (Mk 10:21-22) Jesus told the rich man, “Come follow me”, but he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.  But in the gospel story of today, Jesus says, ‘go’… but this man follows him along the road, for now he was totally empty of himself.  One who was sitting on the side at the beginning of the story, is now on the road, following Jesus. 

This is the conclusion of any encounter with Jesus: there must be  a denial of our self if there is to be true discipleship.  One must be able to give up one’s self for the one you wish to follow.

There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

But the girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later the girl found a note from him saying: “My beloved, all I ask now is for you to just take care of my eyes.”

Two blind persons today – Bartimaeus and the girl. The blind man was grateful to Jesus and followed him. The blind girl was not grateful to the boy and rejected him. And that brings us to our conclusion, we have a final C - a Challenge – Shall we follow Jesus to that ultimate letter C – the Cross or shall we reject him? 

Adapted from: Selvam, S. (2015) Towards Wholeness

http://www.sahayaselvam.org/2015/10/20/sermon-for-30th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-–-year-b-homily-bartimaeus/

29th Sunday Ordinary B- Balance the 3P's- Pleasure, Possession, Power

There are three P-s a human person needs to be happy: Pleasure, Possession, and Power.  Pleasure makes us relish our present wellbeing.  Possession gives us access to obtain our needs. And power enables us to control the environment including people around us.  The 3 P’s are needed for happiness. BUT an exaggerated focus on them could leave us unhappy- Being obsessed with pleasure leads to its addiction. Being obsessed with possession leads us to greed. Being obsessed with power leads us to corruption. This is our struggle: to balance our need, our craving for pleasure, possession and power.

If we have been following the gospel readings of these three consecutive Sundays, all from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, we notice that we have been invited to reflect on these three temptations that we face. 

The gospel passage of the 27^th Sunday (Mk 10:2-16) invited us reflect on marriage and family:  Christian marriage is not to be based on the sole principle of pleasure, but on faithfulness and love. 

The gospel passage of the 28^th Sunday (Mk.10:17-30) was on the inability of the rich man to be a disciple of Jesus because of his possessions.  Christian life is to be based on detachment and simplicity. 

Today, the 29^th Sunday, the gospel reading (Mk.10:35-45) invites us to reflect on power.  As Christians we influence our environment not through power and control, but in humble service and willingness to suffer for another.

A battleship had been at sea on its routine manoeuvres under heavy weathers for days. The captain, who was worried about the deteriorating weather conditions, stayed on the bridge to keep an eye on all activities.

One night, the lookout on the bridge suddenly shouted, “Captain! A light up ahead.” “Is it stationary or moving?” the captain asked.

The lookout replied that it seems to be stationary. This meant the battleship was on a dangerous collision course with this other vessel. The captain immediately ordered his signalman to signal to the ship: “We are on a collision course. I advise you to change course 20 degrees east.”

Back came a response from the other ship: “No, You change course 20 degrees west.”

Agitated by the arrogance of the response, the captain asked his signalman to shoot out another message: “I am a captain of the US Navy, you change course 20 degrees east.”

Back came the second response: “I am a Canadian seaman, you still better change course 20 degrees west.”

The captain was furious this time! He shouted to the signalman to send back a final message: “I am a battleship. You better, change course 20 degrees east right now or I’ll ram you.

Back came the flashing response: “Ok Go ahead, I am a lighthouse.”

The captain duly changed course.

Sometimes we are like that Captain. Obsessed with power, wanting to control everything. This reminds us of what Machiavelli once said: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Now, the more we recognize there is somebody bigger than us, then the better we could be humble servants like what Jesus would like of us. In the gospel he reminds us: “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” (Mk.10:43)

Being a servant means giving up my rights for others. In the 2^nd reading from the Hebrews: “We have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. We have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb.4.15)

Being a servant means becoming less so others can become more.

Isaiah in the first reading: “The righteous One, my servant shall bear their iniquities and in doing so shall make them righteous.” (Is.53:11)

Being a servant means being obedient whatever the cost. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk.10.45)

There is a story of the three stonecutters: "A man asked three stonecutters them what they were doing. The first replied, “I am cutting stones to earn a living. By doing so I get more money. ” The second said, “I am doing the best job of in the world. Doing this give me the greatest pleasure in my life.”  

The third person whose name was Francis looked up with a visionary gleam in his eye and said, “I am building a cathedral.”  And the man asked:“Why?” And Francis narrates: One day in the church of San Damiano, a chapel right outside of Assisi, I heard the invitation of Jesus: “Francis, go build my Church, which you see is falling into ruins.” And I replied: “Yes Lord! If this is what you want, this is what I want, this is what I long for with all my heart.” 

That man was St Francis of Assisi, a truly humble servant. And because of this our Pope chose that name. Pope Francis, and he tells us: “Let us never forget that authentic power is service.” 

References:

Selvam, S. (2012). Towards Wholeness.

http://www.sahayaselvam.org/2012/10/16/sermon-for-29th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-–-year-b-homily/

Wittman, C. (2007). Sermon Series 2. What does Jesus want from us? Humble Service.

http://www.lifeway.com/Article/sermon-what-jesus-wants-humble-service-philippians-2

Lee, H.T. (2013). Coaching Journey.

http://coaching-journey.com/coaching-story-the-battleship-on-a-collision-course/

George, B. (2013). We are all called to be servant leaders.

http://www.billgeorge.org/page/we-are-all-called-to-be-servant-leaders-address

Prichard, S. (2014). Lead with Humility.

http://www.skipprichard.com/lead-with-humility-12-leadership-lessons-from-pope-francis/

27th Sunday ordinary B- Marriage Matters

Why get married? “The Lord God said: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” Gen.2

Marriage – is it all about looking for a wife or a husband?

A man inserted an ‘ad’ in the classifieds: “Wife wanted”. Next day he received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: “You can have mine.””

As the boys admire the girls and the girls admire the boys they remind us of the words from elsewhere in the book of Genesis, “God saw all that he had made and indeed it was very good.” (Gen 1) When the girls look at the boys and when the boys look at the girls they say everything God has made is very good, and so after some time they get married to enjoy this goodness more fully and to share in each others joy and sorrows.  And continuing on Genesis 2: “the Lord God took one of the man’s ribs and made it into a woman and brought her to the man.”

Matthew Henry wrote: “Be careful if you make a women cry, because God counts her tears. The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”  Marriage therefore is an equal partnership.

A wedding lasts only one day, but marriage for the rest of life. Thus our reading from Genesis concludes with: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24)  Becoming one doesn’t happen overnight. It is something that is learned and that the couple becomes better at as they share their married life together.

Becoming one means loving each other, sharing their lives with each other, and taking each other into consideration always. Becoming one means getting rid of all selfishness because there is no room for selfishness in marriage.

When two people get married they bring with them to their marriage normal human weaknesses and discover weaknesses in the other which previously they did not know. This is an opportunity to love the other, heal the other, and forgive the other. There are times when like at the wedding at Cana it will seem as if the wine really has run out, times when they forgive each other and make a fresh start.

All marriages are happy–it’s the living together afterward that causes all the problems. It doesn’t matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.”

Well truthfully in marriage Jesus is the boss. Marriage unites the couple with Jesus, and brings them God’s blessing. It is not just husband and wife united to each other in marriage; it is husband and wife united to each other with Jesus in marriage. All sacraments have lasting value, and the sacrament of marriage has lasting value. The couple’s promise to each other is until death, to be faithful to each other always, and that is why Jesus rules out divorce in today’s Gospel (Mark 10:2-16).

A couple had been married for 45 years and had raised a brood of 11 children and was blessed with 22 grandchildren. When asked the secret for staying together all that time, the wife replies, “Many years ago we made a promise to each other: the first one to pack up and leave has to take all the kids.”

So, “Is there anything more beautiful in life than a boy and a girl clasping clean hands and pure hearts in the path of marriage? Can there be any thing more beautiful than young love?” And the answer is : “Yes there is a more beautiful thing. It is an old man and an old woman finishing their life’s journey together on that path. Their hands are gnarled, but still clasped; their faces are wrinkled but still radiant; their hearts are physically bowed and tired, but still strong with love and devotion for one another. Yes, there is a more beautiful thing than young love. Old love. Enduring love.”

There is a story about President Grant. (He’s the one whose picture is on the US fifty dollar bill.) When Grant was a young man, he was traveling in a carriage accompanied by a young woman named Julia Boggs Dent. They arrived at a flooded creek with a flimsy bridge over it. Grant said, "Don't be frightened, Julia. I'll take care of you."

Looking at the turbulent creek, she said, "I will cling to you whatever happens." When they reached safety on the other side, he said, "Julia, back there, you said you'd cling to me whatever happens. Would you cling to me for the rest of our lives?"

Well, she would. However, Julia's dad opposed the marriage. He did not consider Grant good enough for his daughter. It took Grant some time to convince her father. In spite of her dad's fears, they had one of the happiest marriages of any public figures. Even in their 50's, the couple still held hands and insisted on being seated next to one another on trains and in restaurants.  Ulysses Grant and Julia Boggs Dent had a beautiful, lifelong marriage.

For those who are married, our prayers for you today is that it may indeed last for a lifetime under God’s mantle of love and protection.

References:

Fisher, J. Those Memorable Memoirs. http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/weddinghomily.html

At the end of his life, Grant made a heroic sacrifice. Even though he was greviously ill with throat cancer, out of concern for the material welfare of Julia and children, he wrote the Memoirs - his only literary work.

Henry, M. (2008). Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. Hendrickson Publishers.

Lane, T. (2013). Marriage is a school of love and forgiveness.

http://www.frtommylane.com/homilies/year_b/27.htm