Reading 1
Nm 11:25-29
The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses,
the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders;
and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.
Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad,
were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp.
They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent;
yet the spirit came to rest on them also,
and they prophesied in the camp.
So, when a young man quickly told Moses,
"Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, "
Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’aide, said,
"Moses, my lord, stop them."
But Moses answered him,
"Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!
Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"
Reading II
Jas 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned;
you have murdered the righteous one;
he offers you no resistance.
Gospel
Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
At that time, John said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us."
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"
Meditation: Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48
Wait a minute.
Didn’t Jesus come to bring good news? If we were to interpret today’s Gospel literally, it sounds a lot more like bad news. Since they cause us to sin, our eyes would have to be plucked out, and our hands and feet would have to be chopped off. Imagine how ghastly we would look if every part of our body that led us into sin were cut off: no hands, no feet, no eyes, no ears, nothing. That’s quite a gruesome plan God has for those who want to go to heaven!
Not really. Passages like this one—and the Gospel reading from last Tuesday—show us how much God wants us to use our minds when we read the Scripture. They tell us to guard against reading the Bible without sensitivity to the author’s original intent.
Jesus doesn’t want us to pluck out our eyes or cut off our hands. He wants us to hate sin. He wants us to see that it separates us from him and from one another. Sin is a distraction that diverts us from God and, if left unchecked, can cut us off from him completely.
Today’s readings tell us that we can even be distracted by our good intentions. When Moses heard that people wanted to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying, he said how much he wished that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon everyone. When Jesus saw his disciples distracted by a rival, he put them back on track, saying, “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40).
As we meditate on the readings today, let’s ask the Lord to help us be vigilant against everything that distracts us and separates us from him. Let’s not let our eyes wander where they do not belong. Let’s not touch things that will cause us to sin. Let’s remain true to our ultimate goal in Christ—to be holy, to evangelize, and to serve his church.
“Jesus, give me a greater determination to say no to sin and to say yes to you. Lord, I want nothing to come between us!”
Numbers 11:25-29; Psalm 19:8,10,12-14; James 5:1-6
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