The Book of Numbers contains a historical account of various events in the life of the nation of Israel. Complaining to God is a common thread that weaves the pattern of how God cared for them. The chapter from which our First Reading is taken (Numbers 11:25-29) centers around such griping.
Israel has been wandering in the desert and they have little to eat. Perhaps you have traveled outside your own country and experienced the foods of the area in which you were traveling. Then you begin thinking of, and then remembering, and then almost tasting, what was not available to you right now. Likewise, the people of Israel began thinking of the vegetables that they used to have on hand while they were in Egypt as slaves. They began to complain. But God promises them an even a better menu would soon be available to them.
They have been marching along and Moses is quite burdened with the demands of leadership and the complaints of the people. God tells Moses to select seventy elders who would receive the same spirit of holiness that God had shared with Moses and Joshua. This anointing would be given to them to assist him and help them to carry the burdens. Ah, but two of the elders were inside the camp and not at the exact and proper place to receive the blessing. Later, these two were found prophesizing in the camp, though they were not in the official starting lineup. When Joshua complains on behalf of the group of elders, Moses expresses a wonderful wish. He would have the Lord inspire ALL the people with the spirit so they might all live and speak as prophets.
The Gospel (Mark 9:38-48) has a little of the same theme about who belongs and who doesn’t. Somebody is reported to be driving out evil spirits in Jesus’ name but is not a bona fide member of the “God-squad”. Jesus, as did Moses, calms down everything with a few wise words.
These verses continue from last week’s Gospel. Jesus is still holding a child in His arms and refers to this little person as He makes a wisdom statement. “Those who are with us cannot be against us.” The more important thing is to live the holy life of reflecting the love of God and thereby not spreading the plague of sin to others. Holding the child, Jesus, as did Moses, wishes all to live in such a way as not to cause this child to even know what sin is. This, the lesson teaches, is a stronger way to drive out evil in Christ’s name.
The final verses are a strong condemnation of those who cause sin to flourish and so infect others. They would be better not to have been born than to experience their eternal lives living in torment.
There is a cute little theory that sin is spread genetically. At the moment of conception, when human life begins, that life is tilting a little bit toward what we call “sin”. You might say that we don’t have a chance. It is true that we must spend years learning to be virtuous. So we are born into and live our days in the tension between being “with” Jesus and being “against” Jesus. The real sin that gains such strong condemnation by Jesus is that of causing others to tilt, even a little, toward being “against”.
The family is where we are likely to experience ourselves as both sinner and saved. My parents did not “cause” me to sin; but they did provide me the opportunity by giving me brothers and a sister. Sorry Maureen and Chris (and Mark, now deceased). But the truth is, even my siblings did not “cause” me to sin. They might have provided the scenery and props for me to use, but the “cause” was inside me somewhere.
I knew what “sin” was in my family experience, but even more, I knew what forgiveness and what true holiness was. My mother, even though she was blind herself, took care of her cantankerous father in his old age until she herself died. My father stood up for a co-worker, who was black, and told his boss that he would have to fire my father, too, if he followed through with the decision to “lay off” his friend. And more importantly, my “minor” transgressions, many though they were, and which will go unmentioned, were forgiven with parental grace.
Where sin comes from, blamed Adam, blamed parents, other persons, that is not as important as where do we learn about redemption, recovery, holiness. Sin is like this “COVID” going around the world. On our flight back from Africa five years ago, we spent 26 hours in planes breathing rebreathed air. My brother, Chris, contacted a respiratory infection. In that case, somebody was the cause! But sin is different. Sin tilts us toward the earth, towards selfishness, towards violence.
We should be the “elders,” the “prophets,” that Moses wished for. In families, communities, classes, playgrounds, even in the workplaces, we are inspired to be more the cause of grace than the cause of dis-grace, more agents of the light, than tilters toward darkness.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!