TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – B
Numbers 11:25-29
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-48
More or less. As human beings there are some things we want more of and some things we want less of. There probably isn’t one of us who would complain if we had a little more money. Many Americans would be better off carrying less weight around. When we are young we imagine how great it will be after we’ve had a few more birthdays. As we get older we dye our hair, rub on Oil of Olay and get cool clothes so that our age seems less than it really is. Wouldn’t it be great if there were more hours in the day! But we could all do with less stress and aggravation. Everyone would like to have more friends. But there are certain people the less said about them, the better. More health. Less crime. More cooperation. Less competition. More gratitude. Less gossip. More generosity. Less greed. More prayer. Less sin. Ah, there’s the rub. How are we to conduct ourselves so that there will be less sin in our lives? Jesus has a suggestion: “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” Those words of Jesus are not meant to be taken literally. With the exaggeration which was typical for a first century Jew, Jesus tells us to cut out of our lives anything which keeps us from becoming the people that God has made us to be. What are the things that we need to cut off, to pluck out, to get rid of, to have less of in order to have more of the blessings which God so eagerly seeks to give?
Those of us who were taught by nuns in the olden days might remember the notion of the “occasions of sin.” The idea is an obvious one – if you want to avoid sin then don’t put yourself in a situation where you might be tempted to sin. Cut off, pluck out those times and occasions where you might be led into sin. If you have a problem with alcohol and going into a bar could be an occasion of sin. Why put yourself in a situation where you might fall off the wagon? If you have a problem with your sugar it’s an occasion of sin to bring a two pound box of chocolates home from the store. It is possible that you will be real good and only have one bonbon a day but why take a chance on binging. Maybe there is something on the TV or on the internet which is an occasion of sin for you. You find yourself having bad thoughts because of images that you are seeing. Cut off that TV, cut off the internet if you find it leading you into temptation. There might be certain of your friends who can be occasions of sin for you. You find whenever you are around them you end up saying or doing things that you regret later. They don’t force you to act up but in order to fit in and belong you do things that you know aren’t right. For each person the occasion of sin is different. For more grace and less sin cut off and pluck out those persons, those places, those things which are the source of temptation.
However, looking more closely at the text, Jesus isn’t talking about cutting off, plucking out, getting rid of something out there which leads us to sin. He refers to something about us, some part of us, that there needs to be less off. “Your hand,” not the bartenders. “Your foot,” not someone else’s. “Your eye,” not that of your friend is what needs to be lopped off. Surely it is a good idea to remove those occasions of sin which are external to us. But to heed the gospel command we have to dispose of those parts of ourselves which lead us astray. So what kind of self-surgery do we need to practice so that we won’t follow our noses into sin? Maybe the first and obvious part of ourselves that we must cut off and pluck out are our desires, our cravings, our wants, our hankerings, our ‘druthers. St. James in the epistle said, “You covet but you do not possess.” Madison Avenue exists to make us want things that we don’t have. We run and buy the new car, the latest fashion in jeans, the taste sensation at the fast food joint, the gadget which I’ve somehow managed to live without until now. When we cut off and pluck out our desires then all sorts of sins – greed, selfishness, gluttony, jealousy, avarice – don’t get a chance to move into our lives.
It probably goes without saying that we also need to cut off, pluck out conflict and division from our lives if we are avoid sin. We have to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. Conflicts occur when we aren’t willing to listen with understanding to what another is saying. Conflicts occur when we ascribe motives to other people without checking things out. Conflicts occur when we insist on our way and aren’t open to the opinions and ideas of others. Conflicts occur when our expectations are met. In order to cut off and pluck out conflicts in our homes, our families, our community, our church then we must treat the other with respect, we must listen carefully to what another is saying, we must seek to understand more than to be understood. When we eliminate conflict all sorts of sins – anger, hatred, resentment, spite, malice – are no longer part of our lives. So the gospel challenge for this Sunday: are we going to hold on to our stuff or are we going to cut off, pluck out, get rid of, eliminate, dispose of all those attitudes and actions which keep us from being the beloved children of God.
