This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
26th Sunday of Ordinary YearOne-man show….A stumbling block!Nm 11:25-29; Jas 5:1-6; Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48Dear Sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, I welcome you to this Eucharistic celebration. We gather around the altar of God to remind ourselves that we belong to Christ and we are called to witness our community celebration of faith. There are various groups emerging and continue to rise throughout the world. All don’t stay long; some die early, many struggle and few persevere. The hindrance for this is nothing but jealousy in leadership. We shall offer all our secular and religious leaders at the altar of God that they may realize their call to lead and to empower the suffering humanity.In Ireland, a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister and a Jewish rabbi were engaged in a heated theological discussion. Suddenly an angel appeared in their midst and said to them. “God sends you His blessings. Make one wish for peace and your wish will be fulfilled by the Almighty.” The Protestant minister said, “Let every Catholic disappear from our lovely Island. Then peace will reign supreme.” The Catholic priest said, “Let there not be a single Protestant left on our sacred Irish soil. That will bring peace to this land.” “And, what about you, Rabbi?” said the angel. “Do you have no wish of your own?” “No”, said the rabbi. “Just attend to the wishes of these two gentlemen and I shall be well pleased.” Jealousy is the root cause of division, hindrance and any non-promising group. Threat is the cause of jealousy, lack of self-worth is also another reason. Such persons continue to cause scandal and impediments as leaders of organizations and groups around us. When:…Longtime leader does not allow the group to grow and the members to advance……. Longtime head of an organization tries to continue with various excuses…… Legion of Mary leader was blaming me for changing the leader after a decade…. Choir members were very upset after introducing the youth and children choir…. I have been doing this for years…..It is my role…..counting money, reading novena, leading rosary, arranging flowers, how can others take my place…we see this drama in parishes! Preachers are insecure to call other preachers, how can you call him in my place! There is jealousy in families, in churches, in organization and in politics…… World wars, wars in the Middle East, ISIS attacks, all are because of jealousy. Someone is rising up, and it is a threat to my position. Holding onto position, power, authority and right is not a good leadership. Jealousy causes division. Brother kills brother because of jealousy in politics, business and education. The good leader enjoys seeing the growth of another…..the good leader allows the next generation… The good leader breaks the division……The good leader recognizes the strength of the others. Am a jealous person? Am I a stumbling block? Do I make room for others to grow? We have experiences of stumbling blocks in the first and the Gospel reading. Moses signifies a great leader who recognizes the talents of others and allows them to rise as ministers. On the other hand Joshua, who was trained by Moses, felt jealous and expressed that to Moses. Moses cried out to Yahweh for more help to shoulder his leadership responsibility. Yahweh answers, as 70 were appointed with the outpouring of the spirit. Two persons, Eldad and Medad, who were simple and genuine, were present in the camp but did not come into the tent; they started preaching, teaching and praying as ministers sharing the role of Moses. Joshua felt them as threats to this leadership, role and power. Moses called to him to not to be a stumbling block, rather to accept and include them as God’s instruments and co-ministers. Jealousy causes division and destruction. It was the jealousy of Joshua, who desired the sole authority, and did not want to include others in his ministry. Do I recognize the call of others and encourage them? This incident is narrated by the author of Numbers to the Diaspora community in 6th Century, so it confirms that jealousy and a one man show continues to be the cause of division and destruction. In the Gospel, the beloved disciples of Jesus: James, John and Peter, wanted to assert their right of being close to Jesus and hold onto their right to be disciples of Jesus. They felt insecure, they felt that their position was shaken and they wanted to safeguard it. Their response creates anger in Jesus, who shouts at them as a stumbling block, scandal and hindrance. He also says bluntly, that ‘it is your jealousy, handle it.’ The cutting-off phrase is the exaggerated usage existed at the time in Palestine. Jesus invites them to accept them as co-workers and not to avoid them as enemies. It must have been a great help for these and all the Apostles to establish Christian communities and continue the proclamation of Good News after the Ascension of Jesus Christ. Mark is writing this to the growing Christian communities by emphasizing the discipleship of team work and the joint venture of proclamation. The single cannot mingle with little ones. The person of a one-man show will be narrow-minded, intolerant, unwilling for new ideas and not wanting new ventures. Thomas Aquinas called this, “beware the man of one book,” because his or her approach and attitude will be from one book and one point of view. St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote that, “God's gifts are distributed according to the capacity of the recipient, even to those who are outside the ecclesial assembly.” (St. Cyril, Catechetical Lecture 16.25). It is for this reason that all men and women who have received the Sacrament of Baptism are qualified by the Spirit of God to serve the Church in many ministries. How will the narrow-minded jealous attitude become a stumbling block and destructive of group? We have an answer in the Gospel, where Jesus compares this situation to Gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnon, which was located south of the City of Jerusalem. There, Ahaz resorted to idolatry and burned his sons as an offering to the pagan god, Molech (2 Chronicles 28:3). Manasseh followed suit (2 Chronicles 33:6), and the valley became synonymous with sin and evil. When Judah’s great reformer, Josiah, became king, he put an end to human sacrifice and declared the site unclean (2 Kings 23:10). Thereafter Gehenna served as a dump where the city’s refuse was burned. Such will be life of a one-man show situation. The First readings invite us to be open to the spirit or “ruah” wind, breath and spirit in acknowledging the gift and call of God in others and work as team. A man divorced her wife after seeing her kissing their Arabian horse..girl said I feel sorry for him, In Britain 42 year Debbie uses a lie detector on her boyfriend Steve whenever she feels jealousy. There is a legend told about Abraham, the grand Patriarch of the Jews, in the Mideast. According to the legend, Abraham always held off eating his breakfast each morning until a hungry person came along to share it with him. One day an old man came along, and, of course, Abraham invited him to share his breakfast with him. However, when Abraham heard the old man say a pagan blessing over his food, he jumped up and ordered the old man out from his table, and from his house. Almost immediately, God spoke to Abraham. “Abraham! Abraham! I have been supplying that unbeliever with food every day for the past eighty years. Could you not have tolerated him for just one meal?” We are all children of God. Let our focus on team spirit! Let our efforts be a team and let us broaden our thoughts that we will never be a stumbling block and never become a one-man show ministry-Amen. 
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