26th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

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.

Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

GOSPEL EXPLANATION

The gospel for today may be divided into three parts:
• The exorcist. Jesus teaches tolerance.
• Reward. A good deed done to a disciple of Christ will be rewarded.
• Scandal.

He who scandalizes one of these little ones who believe, it would be better if a the millstone of an ass is tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea.

The phrase “he who scandalizes…” may be translated as “He who causes one of these little ones who believe to fall…” Others translates it as “he who casues one of these ones who believe to sin….”

In the gospel “to scandalize” does not mean to give a bad example or to do a disgusting deed. The Greek word means to put an obstacle, or to trip. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells Peter who has been reproving Jesus for talking about his passion and death: “Away from me, Satan. You are a scandal to me.” Jesus was not telling Peter: “You are giving me a bad example.” No. Instead, he was telling Peter: “You are an obstacle to me. You are preventing me from obeying the Father’s will.”

What are the possible sources of scandal? The gospel speaks of hand, foot and eye. But there are other sources as well.

Surprisingly Jesus may be a source of scandal. In what sense? When Jesus was brought to the Temple, Simeon uttered this prophecy: “He will be the cause of the fall and rise of many in Israel.” Jesus may be the cause of your fall (scandal also means to trip) if in the face of his teachings, we reject them or refuse to live by them.


Persecution may be a source of scandal or fall. Remember that not all of the companions of Lorenzo Ruiz died for the faith. Some of them denied Jesus to avoid torture and death.

The world may be a source of scandal or fall. Technology may be used by some to cheat other people. We just have to recall the Nigerian scam through email.

People are often the source of scandal or fall of others. A high school student was caught shoplifting at SM Mega Mall. He did it because he was prodded to do so by his classmates.

When Jesus spoke of the little ones who believe, he was not talking about children. He was speaking about adults with a simple faith or whose faith is still weak.

There are two kinds of millstone. The small one can grind wheat with the use of one hand. The bigger one grinds wheat with the use of an animal, like an ass. The millstone Jesus was speaking of is the big one.

What about Gehenna?

This Greek word, as all authorities admit, is derived from the name of the narrow, rocky Valley of Hinnom which lay just outside Jerusalem. It was the place where refuse was constantly burned up. Trash, filth, and the dead bodies of animals and despised criminals were thrown into the fires of gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom. Ordinarily, everything thrown into this valley was destroyed by fire—completely burned up. Therefore, Christ used gehenna to picture the terrible fate of unrepentant sinners! (from Bible Tools)

25th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME ( B)

“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

Mk 9:30-37

CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

Jesus had been teaching his apostles that he must suffer and die. If that were the case, then who would become leader when he is gone? That was probably what they meant when they were discussing who was the greatest among them.

Jesus took the opportunity to explain the kind of leadership that is expected among them. The leader is the servant. The servant-leader is he who seeks the wel-fare of the community. In this community the servant-leader has authority but this authority is meant to enable him as servant-leader to effectively work for the good of the said community. But in this community it is the weakest that are closest to his heart.

Two well-known figures who are poles apart may serve to illustrate the concept of servant-leader.

The first is Lee Kwan Yew. In 1965 Singapore was expelled from Malaysia. As its first prime minister, he transformed Singapore into a financial and industrial pow-erhouse, despite the lack of natural resources. He turned a malarial land into a mod-ern city-state. However, he is an authoritarian, by Western standards. Nevertheless, he qualifies as a servant-leader for he had the welfare of his nation at heart.

The second example is Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She best exemplifies that special concern of the servant-leader for the weakest members of the community. She founded the Missionaries of Charity. Its mission was to care for "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a bur-den to the society and are shunned by everyone."

EXEGESIS

Perhaps Jesus did not want people to know where he was so that he could instruct his disciples without disturbance. The topic of his instruction was of utmost importance: his destiny and its significance.

Jesus and his disciples…began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples….

Perhaps Jesus did not want people to know where he was so that he could instruct his disciples without disturbance. The topic of his instruction was of utmost importance: his destiny and its significance.

But they did not understand the saying….

The disciples did not understand the instruction of Jesus because the suffering messiah did not fit into their concept of the Messiah. A person can not possibly un-derstand celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom if for him marriage is the only possible option for a human being.

Taking a child, he placed it in the their midst….

Jesus did not put forward a child because of its innocence. Rather Jesus wanted to put its powerlessness and dependence as a response to the apostles’ desire for power and position.

Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me…

Other translations make use of the word “welcome” instead of “receive”. “To welcome” and “to receive” mean to respect and serve, that is, to be concerned about the well-being of the powerless.

24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.

Mk 8: 27-35

The gospel this Sunday is divided into three parts:

• Part 1: The identity of Jesus. Who is this Jesus?
• Part 2: The destiny of Jesus, the Messiah. What will happen to Jesus?
• Part 3: The cost of discipleship. What is required of those who follow Jesus?
  

Who is Jesus?

According to the people, Jesus is a prophet who will prepare for the coming of the Anointed One (Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek). But they are wrong. It is Peter who perceives the true identity of Jesus. Jesus is the Christ.

What is the destiny of Jesus, the Messiah or the Christ?

According to Jesus, he must suffer at the hands of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhed-rin is the supreme religious governing body of the Jews. It is made up of 71 members coming from the aristocracy, the priestly families and the scribes. At that time, Caiaphas was the high priest.

Hearing this, Peter reacts by telling Jesus not to talk this way. Jesus responded by calling Peter, Satan, for like Satan Peter is preventing Jesus from ful-filling the Father’s will.

“Get behind me, Satan” is meaningful. Peter was probably in front of Jesus. In the position, he was blocking the way of Jesus. It symbolizes Peter preventing Jesus from doing the Father’s will. By telling Peter to get behind him, Jesus was telling Peter not to be a Satan but a disciple. For where do you expect the disciple to be but behind the Master, following his footsteps?

It is interesting to note that Peter seems to not have heard completely the words of Jesus. He seems have missed Jesus saying that after having been killed, he would rise after three days. In other words, the destiny of Jesus was not tragedy but victory.

What does it cost a person to become a disciple of Jesus?

If you want to maintain a master-disciple relationship with Jesus, you must be prepared to suffer rejection and death like Jesus. But the story does not end there. Like Jesus, the disciple will also experience victory.

DESTINY

Jesus perceived that his destiny was to suffer at the hands of the Sanhedrin. Jesus sees the Father’s will in his destiny. For this reason, he feels he MUST face it even if it appears to be a tragedy. But by accepting the Father’s will, he wins the salvation of mankind and becomes its Savior.

Ninoy Aquino felt the need to leave the comforts of exile in the United States and return to the Philippines. He wanted to convince the dictator Ferdinand Marcos to give up power and return the Philippines to democracy. He knew that it might cost him his life for he had been warned by Imelda Marcos. But he felt he MUST do it. It was his destiny. He did return. He did die. It may seem at the time that his destiny was tragic. But looking back now, we know that his death was a turning point in Philippine history. Three years later the dictator and his family fled Malacanang. Democracy was restored and Ninoy Aquino was hailed a hero.

Destiny in Pilipino is “kapalaran”. Its root is the word “palad”, that is palm. Destiny is often understood as already written in the palm of one’s hand, that is, one’s destiny is already determined. It is unavoidable. There is no way out of it. In this sense, you are a helpless victim of destiny. This is not how we understand the destiny of Jesus and Ninoy.

But there is another way of looking at destiny and it is to understand destiny as something that is in your hands, that is, your destiny depends on you.

First, it depends on you because you and you alone have to discover your des-tiny. By looking at the world and by listening to your heart, you will discover your destiny. Ninoy Aquino looked at the situation of the Filipino people. He saw them suffering at the hands of the dictator Marcos and his cronies. He listened to his heart. His heart told him that it was his duty to try to set the people free. It looked like an impossible dream. But he felt he had to do it.

And second, it depends upon you because you have to make a decision to fulfill your destiny. At least three times, Jesus could have avoided suffering and death at the hands of the Sanhedrin but he chose not to. These times were: the temptation in the desert, the rebuke of Peter and the agony in Gethsemani.

Ninoy could have decided to remain in the United States and enjoy his exile there with his family. He could have decided not to go because there was a threat of assassination. But he decided to return. He declared that the Filipino was worth dying for. And die he did.

By looking at the world in which we live, by listening to what our heart is telling us what to do in this world and by deciding to do what our heart is telling us, we shall fulfill our destiny, our kapalaran. And in so doing, we not only become better for it. We also leave this world better than it was before.

23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

“He has done all things well.”

Mk7:31-37

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis.

Jesus was in pagan territory, that is, the inhabitants were non-Jews.

And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.

Curing the deaf and mute was expected of the Messiah. “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe” (Is 35:5-6).

He took him off by himself away from the crowd.

To keep the healing secret and his identity as the Messianic.

He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue.

These actions were what healers during the time of Jesus were doing. However, the difference was that these actions of those healers were thought to produce healing by themselves, that is, they worked like magic. In the case of Jesus, it was the power of Jesus that produced healing.

Then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!”

Ephphatha was incorporated into the ancient rite of baptism.

But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it.

The verb used here is “kerusso” (κήρΰσσώ) from which the noun kerygma is derived. That noun is used to translate the proclamation of the good news. The proclamation about the healing of Jesus is an anticipation of the proclamation of the good news (gospel).

“He has done all things well.”

Astonishment and awe is the response of Christians before the work of God carried out by Jesus Christ.

PRAISE

I heard someone say this: “Don’t praise anyone, otherwise he will become proud. When he is dead, that is the time to praise him.” What do you think about this statement? Would you agree with it?

In my opinion it is the fear of appearing proud that makes us belittle our suc-cesses and achievements outwardly. When someone tells us, “ang galing naman!”, we respond with “hindi naman.” When someone tells us: “Congratulations for winning”, we respond with: “Chamba lang ‘yon.”

But humility is truth. The only proper response to praise is “thank you”. I once heard an actor who received a trophy begin and end his speech with thank you’s. In fact he began by saying, “First of all, I would like to thank him (pointing his fingers upward) for this trophy.” And he followed that by a litany of thanks. He mentioned his director, his fellow actors, his wife and children, etc.

Educational psychology and parenting manuals state that students and children thrive when there is more praise than blame. This is because a child who is often praised feels encouraged while a child who is often blamed is feels discouraged.

Moreover, a teacher or a parent who is seen as a source of encouragement is able to get the cooperation and good will of the student or the child. Whereas the parent or teacher who is seen as a source of discouraging remarks are disliked. Would you want to cooperate with someone who you dislike?

For this reason, when I was principal, I made it a point to praise publicly the senior students for a job well done. But when I had to scold them, I made it a point to do so away from the hearing of the lower years. I also made sure that I explain why I was scolding them. I would end by expressing my confidence in them.

In connection with parenting, fathers should keep in mind that a boy desper-ately needs his father’s blessing. The boy must know that he has the approval of his father. Consider the tragedy of this story. The team of a high school student won the gold medal in the school intramurals. He was excited to show it to his father. He wanted his father to be proud of him. When he arrived home, he went straight to his father to show him the gold medal. The response of the father was: “Where did you buy that gold medal?” The boy burst into tears.

One characteristic of a happy family is mutual affirmation and appreciation. Affirmation and appreciation makes you feel that you are valued.

One religious community made it a tradition to hold an appreciation circle for the birthday celebrator. After the special supper, each one takes turn in telling the celebrator the good that he sees in him. You might want to do it differently; you might want to write your words of appreciation on a birthday card.

Affirmation and appreciation are not only needed in families. The workplace can also benefit much from it. In some stores, the manager gathers the employees before opening time. One manager uses that time to congratulate a team or an individual for work well-done.

Does God need our appreciation? In a sense, yes. In as much as he has decided to create us and to relate with us as a father with his children, he desires the appreciation of his children. The prayer of praise and thanksgiving is precisely the way by which we express our appreciation to God.

I suggest that at the end of the day, before you go to sleep, review the day and discover how God has been good to you. Your discovery should lead to prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

I have told you in the beginning about the advice of an elderly person. He said we should not praise a man while he is still alive for fear that it would make him proud. He said we should wait until he is dead. Do you agree with him?

I for one, don’t. I feel that even if the only good that praise brings is a happy person, it is still worth the effort of being generous with our praise towards others.