 Salt is a symbol of the highest value. It is a treasure of incalculable worth, so excellent that, if its flavour is lost, nothing higher can restore it. In the Gospel, 'Salt' is the symbol for the works of Peace. Jesus final exhortation for those who desire to be great is, 'Have salt in yourself and be at peace with one another'. (v.50)
Jesus, the Teacher, has told His disciples that their desire to be 'great' will sabotage the work of the Kingdom. But they have not understood, or integrated, this teaching. In their defence, this is not an easy thing to do. Now they are reacting to an exorcist who does not belong to their inner circle. He is immediately seen as a threat. They guard their turf against anyone who might steal their sense of self-importance. They are so competitive, they do not even see the ones who have been liberated. The fact that a sister, or a brother, has been freed does not enter their minds. They have become, in their own minds, a tight knit power group. When good is being done, and they do not benefit, they want to stop it. The fact that they 'tried' to stop it may indicate that they failed. Now they want Jesus to intervene. But Jesus, as usual, has a different vision of what is happening. His heart is set first on the coming of the Kingdom. Anyone who is helping that happen is a welcome guest. They are part of the family because they are doing the Fathers will. He urges His disciples to be more generous. All are for them, unless they prove otherwise. Until people exhibit hostility and hold values that go counter to the new humanity, they should be welcomed as allies. Disciples must not exclude anyone. 'Servants of the Kingdom' includes those who offer welcome, hospitality and who perform small acts of kindness. They should not be overlooked. Those who want to “Lord it” over others sabotage the Kingdom and might make those who do the little things question if what they do has any value. For Jesus, the little ones will not lose their reward. Their welcome, their hospitality, their kindness stand shoulder to shoulder with the great acts of teaching, preaching and exorcising. The best way for disciples to avoid causing hurt or scandal is to eliminate the causes in themselves. The drive to be great, to save our self, to have power over others or to harm others in order to save ourselves are the ways of the world. They are second nature. They are like a hand, an eye or a foot. If disciples choose to serve, to losing their lives for the sake of the Kingdom, being least of all and servant of all and not harming others, there must be clarity about what is at stake and a commitment to whatever surgery is needed to remain faithful. When disciples amputate from their hearts whatever is preventing them from entering life, the fire of damnation becomes a purifying fire. The emphasis here is clearly on what is kept and not on what is lost. The desire to be great is in us all. We weigh everything, and probably everyone, in terms of whether they promote or diminish us. The craving to be promoted and not diminished might drive and steer the course of our day to day lives! We see examples of this all around us. Hierarchies are everywhere and become the benchmark of how we are doing. So how can Jesus command us to make ourselves last of all? He can't. He has to add one last piece to the jigsaw if disciples are not to become resenting servants. Disciples must come to understand why Service is the only true greatness. Sam Keen (To a Dancing God [New York: Harper & Row,1970]17), was asking the question, 'What can I do to give my life meaning, dignity, density?’ In response he wrote, "The answer came suddenly jumping up and down in my mind with the force of an obvious fact long denied. I woke one night in Manhattan with the words, 'Nothing, Nothing,' on my lips. As I started to laugh at the comedy of my seriousness, my vertigo began to subside. I saw that I had been obsessed with the wrong question. In the face of uncertainty of life and the certainty of death, no human act or project could render existence meaningful or secure ... Either dignity and meaningfulness come with the territory or they must forever be absent. Sanctity is given with being. It is not earned". This is so true! And Jesus with absolute clarity teaches this. He asks us to imagine the worst possible thing that could happen to us. Then adds that it doesn't come close to the horror of extinguishing the light of love in another person’s heart. The stakes are indeed very high. Very high indeed!
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 Jesus, the Beloved Son of God, does not seek fame and recognition. He does not want to be the centre of attention. As he travels with His disciples He wants to avoid notice. This is especially true when He is teaching His disciples about the fate of the new humanity. It is a difficult teaching. His disciples are puzzled by it. But it is blunt
enough: the Son of Man is guided by the hand of God, but He will be killed by human hands. They hear the words, but can the disciples understand what He is saying? Their minds and hearts are still bound to the 'Things of the Human' and not the 'Things of God'. They want to avoid suffering and pursue high status. As they are so deeply self-centred, they are naturally afraid of losing. They are so afraid, they won't even ask Jesus to expand on His theme. Instead ..... On the way, they were having an argument - the same old one that is around today. Who is the greatest? Jesus, the Teacher, sits down and gathers the Twelve, who will guide the new humanity (notice there were others there too, since a child is at hand as a prop). For Jesus, the Great are those who engage and work with the Fathers Love. These are not interested in their own status. Rather, the new humanity goes out to meet all and to lift their basic humanity to a new level. And so, those who would be first do not seek their own glory, but the health and wellbeing (salvation) of others. How it is with God, who is the first and the greatest, should be how it is with all who seek to be the first and the greatest. We have to be careful here that our all too human mindset does not doctor the teaching of Jesus to make it fit our own purposes. We might tell ourselves that we have to endure a period of doing 'lowly stuff' in order to get to the higher stuff. If being a servant is the quickest route to being the greatest, then we will be servants! But all the while we will be thinking that we are in reality better than everyone else. It's hard for disciples to let Jesus break open the meaning of 'first' and 'greatest' and fill it with a new meaning. They sidestep Him and renegotiate the terms. Consider Luke's ironic suggestion, 'When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. That they cannot repay you means you are blessed, and you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous'.(Lk 14:13-14) Jesus places a child in the heart of them. The child is a tragic and eternal symbol of the powerlessness which many will seek to exploit. Jesus, in setting the child before them as their spiritual director, commands a mystical transformation to the mindset of his disciples. It goes something like this ..... When we begin with the least we subvert the normal ranks of society. Those at the top - the rich - are refusing invitations because they receive too many. Those at the bottom are excluded. At first glance, it seems they have nothing to offer. But, when we say that the path to the Fathers heart goes through the welcome we offer to those whom no one else will invite, we undercut the world and turn everything on its head. Furthermore, the word least has another meaning. In this meaning it can be applied to the socially least and the socially most. Dag Hammarskjold once said, " People comment of Jesus' lack of moral principles. He sat at table with publicans and sinners and consorted with harlots. Did He do this to obtain their votes? Or did He think that, perhaps, He could convert them by such appeasement? Or was His humanity rich and deep enough, to make contact, even in them, with what in human nature is common to all people, indestructible beauty, and upon which the future has to be built?" (Markings, p.157) Here is the great breakthrough. The naked face of our shared humanity reveals the face of God to all. This is what is most beautiful and most valuable. It is the greatest and the first precisely because it is the least. When we make ourselves the servants of this last, welcoming what is common to all and excluding none of it, we find ourselves strangely in pole position.  The question, 'Who is Jesus?' will be asked sooner or later. His closest disciples talked about this when they were alone. But now it is Jesus who asks the question. The people place Him within the prophetic tradition. Some identify Him as having the Spirit of Elijah and of John the Baptist. This means He is the one who is ushering in the Messianic Age. But does Jesus fit this picture? Peter is the one who calls Him Messiah. Peter has the right word, but he doesn't have the right meaning.
The Messiah is the Son of Man. The Son of Man is one who lives in solidarity with God and Creation. This is certainly Jesus Himself, but it is also true of His disciples. They are the new humanity that His teaching will bring to birth. The new humanity, however, will not be welcomed by the religious and political elite. They will be rejected. They will suffer for it and be killed. But their efforts will not be in vain. The Father’s energy (three days) will resurrect it. Peter is not happy with what Jesus is saying. He obviously has something different in mind when he uses the word Messiah. Although he is only a disciple, he rebukes Jesus, reversing their roles. But Jesus pulls him to a deeper understanding. One rebuke deserves another. Jesus reasserts His role and commands Peter to get back in line and follow Him. If he rejects Jesus teaching on the role and destiny of the Son of Man, Peter will join the ranks of those who wish to subvert God's plan. David Rhoads contrasts the 'things of God' with the 'things of humans'. The Things of God are faith, courage, losing one’s life for the sake of the Gospel, being least, being servant and doing good. The Things of humans are lack of faith, fear, saving one’s life, being great, lording it over others and doing harm. (Reading Mark: Engaging the Gospel. p.88). It is time to be clear about what discipleship is all about. It is not about the chronic concern to save and enhance our lives at the expense of others. The larger, more valuable life flows from God's love and follows the impulses of that love. Instead of wanting to become great, we become small. Instead of wanting to have power over others, we grow in service. This way of thinking is deeply troubling to the rich and powerful who will not just look the other way. They will want to make us suffer but we must accept this as the price of loving in a loveless world. This is the way of heaven. Will Jesus’ straight talking dislodge one of our favourite fantasies? We are little people. Even if we have status it is never high enough. Even if we have money, we are never wealthy enough. Even if we command respect, there will always be someone who demeans us. We long to be important and we eagerly promote ourselves as much as we protect ourselves. We sense the utter fragility of our lives. A fall from the little Grace we have, haunts us. We fear becoming sick, and old, and dying. So, we fantasise. We become Tevye from 'Fiddler on the Roof' and sing of the days when we will have enough! We can even spin this fantasy into scenarios of revenge. We imagine ourselves being 'in charge', making decisions that impact thousands who offer us due adulation. We may be little in reality but in our dreams, we are large. Some Messiahs will feed this fantasy, and, for a short while it looked as if Jesus would do the same. But perhaps the real reason He came was to free us from our fantasy. The Son of Man walks a different pathway and commands all who follow Him to do the same. He chooses a life of trusting in God and of service to others. He does not harm anyone to secure His own status or His own life. In fact, saving Himself is the last thing on His mind. And that is why He will not sanction our chronic concern with our own status and position. That is why He will not permit us to look the other way while others suffer so we can have a better life. In short, the True Messiah is revealed in the precise moment that He will not give us what we want  The Gospel story for the 23rd Week in Ordinary time, in this year of St. Mark, is astonishing and rich with lessons for growing disciples!
Jesus is on the move. He is a Jew among Gentiles. His reputation has preceded Him so they bring to Him a deaf man who has an impediment in his speech. They are looking for a miracle but they are not going to get it without a masterclass in discipleship. Jesus must take the man away from the miracle mongers. They are well intentioned but they are spiritually weak. They are not yet ready to know 'the secret of the Kingdom of God' (Mk.4:11,34). Ears detect sounds. Tongues produce sounds. But it is the heart, the spiritual centre of a person, that speaks. If the heart is open to the Spirit, then a person can hear and speak about spiritual things. If a person cannot hear or speak, it is because they have hardened their hearts and closed themselves off from the truth. When Jesus pits His fingers in the man’s ears, he reverses the flow of attention. The man is no longer struggling to hear what is happening outside of himself. He listens inwardly, to his heart. Jesus spits on His hand and touches the man’s tongue with His spit. Spit comes from the inside and symbolises the Spirit. Jesus is connecting His spirit, the Holy Spirit, to the man’s spirit. Now He, and the man, are in full communion with each other. Then Jesus looks up to heaven. Since His own Baptism, the heavens remain permanently open to Jesus. God is available, the Holy Spirit always descending as Love. But people must look Up! They must open their hearts to sacred things. With a sigh, Jesus opens the man to God through His own openness to God. His words, 'Be Opened' are not addressed to the man’s ears. It is a command to the heart to be open to the Love that is flowing through the Beloved Son. When he opens his hearts, his ears are unplugged and his tongue is loosened. This should be the story that is told - but it isn't. In Marks Gospel Jesus is portrayed, not as powerful, but as one who has given up on power and moved to strength. His gentle strength is a key brushstroke in Mark’s portrait. His strength comes from the certainty that He is loved by God and the certainty that He is the bearer of the Holy Spirit into a world of suffering and darkness. His strength is constant. It permeates all that He says and all that He does. No one can pull Him away from His core conviction. He holds fast to The Voice He heard at His Baptism. But what is amazing is to watch Him in His endless quest to give this steady strength to his disciples. He only engages with what gives Him life; and that is giving life and love to others! It's such a beautifully simple teaching. That if we can hold onto the inner strength that comes from a heart drenched by love, if we can avoid getting sucked into the power mongering of others, we will make miracles. Here is testimony to the power of one. It is even greater testimony to the strength of a Community which refuses the lure of power over others. Jesus, the healer, holds onto wholeness in a broken world. He will not allow anyone to suck Him into their chaos. Instead He brings Himself. If we let Him, He will stick His fingers in our ears so that we will be guided by the spiritual centre of our hearts. He will give His Spirit to anyone who asks. When our heart is United with His Heart we are fully open to God. Only then, when we hear God speak can we act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly in the world. |
Father Danny
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CATHOLIC PARISH OF ST JOSEPH & ST MARGARET CLITHEROW
St Joseph’s Church. 39 Braccan Walk, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1BE (Directions)
Tel: 01344 425729
Email: stjb@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk
South Berkshire Pastoral Area
The parish is part of the Diocese of Portsmouth.
Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust registered charity 246871
St Joseph’s Church. 39 Braccan Walk, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1BE (Directions)
Tel: 01344 425729
Email: stjb@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk
South Berkshire Pastoral Area
The parish is part of the Diocese of Portsmouth.
Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust registered charity 246871