By Father Paul Nord, O.S.B.
Sunday Scripture
First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29; Response: Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-14; Second Reading: James 5:1-6; Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
In the Book of Numbers, chapters 5-9, the Israelites are preparing to depart from Mount Sinai — where God had made a covenant with them and had given them the Law through Moses. Finally, in Numbers 10:11, they depart Mount Sinai into the wilderness — as directed by the Lord God.
After the Israelites grumble that they miss the food of Egypt, Moses complains to God that he cannot “carry” all the people alone, considering all their needs (Numbers 11:1-15). In response, God instructs Moses to choose 70 elders to assist Moses in the responsibilities of leading the people (11:16-23). Moses obeys God, and he instructs the 70 elders to gather around the “tent of meeting” — where God spoke regularly with Moses (11:24).
Today’s reading relates to what happened next: “The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.” Then the LORD bestowed upon the 70 elders “some of the spirit that was on Moses.” Thus, God enables these 70 elders to prophesy and to act with the same divine authority which God had given to Moses. These elders will now be able to assist Moses in his leadership, which was given by God.
The remaining verses recount the curious case of Eldad and Medad, who had been listed among the chosen elders, but they had not gone out to the “tent of meeting” with the other elders. Despite this, they too received the same spirit from the Lord God. Consequently, they begin prophesying in the camp. This upsets Joshua, who asks Moses to stop them. But Moses refuses, saying: “Are you jealous for my sake? ... Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!” With these words, Moses recognizes that the Lord God has chosen to give his spirit to Eldad and Medad. Moses refuses to be jealous that God is acting prophetically through these elders — albeit in an unexpected way.
Next, the letter of James condemns unjust actions by the wealthy. They are accused of withholding wages from their harvest workers — as well as condemning and murdering “the righteous one.” The riches of the wealthy will rot away and corrode. Their possessions will be destroyed.
In the near future, the wealthy will suffer miseries — as opposed to the “luxury and pleasure” in which they have previously lived. Thus the wealthy should “weep and wail over your impending miseries.” This contrasts with “the cries of the harvesters” which “have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.” The wealthy treated these harvesters unjustly, so now they will suffer the judgment of the Lord God — who hears the cry of the oppressed.
In today’s Gospel, John — son of Zebedee — protests that someone was driving out demons in Jesus’ name, although “he does not follow us.” Jesus refuses to prevent this unnamed exorcist from acting in this way, explaining: “whoever is not against us is for us.”
It is notable that John — with his brother James — is also rebuked by Jesus in Mark 10:35-45 when they ask Jesus to, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” In both cases, it seems that John wants to protect his special status as a disciple of Jesus. He resents non-followers for casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and he wants a place of honor even among Jesus’ disciples. But Jesus praises all those who do good “in my name” and those who do good to his followers because “you belong to Christ.”
In the second half of today’s Gospel, Jesus strongly warns “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin.” Jesus demands that the innocent be protected from harm. Jesus says it would be better for such a person to die a horrible death (drowning by millstone) than to harm innocent little ones. Jesus then prescribes radical actions to avoid sin: cutting off your hand, cutting off your foot and/or plucking out your eye. Jesus says that any of these would be better than being “thrown into Gehenna.” These three images are usually understood hyperbolically. Sin is not defeated by maiming oneself in such a terrible physical manner. Instead, Jesus’ message is that we must be willing to make any earthly sacrifice to avoid sin. Repentance in this life can spare us judgment for our sins after death.
The name “Gehenna” is derived from the Hebrew name “Ge Hinnom” (the Valley of Hinnom), which is located southwest of Jerusalem. The prophet Jeremiah (19:4-6) described this as a place where children were sacrificed as offerings to Baal. This valley was outside the protective walls of Jerusalem and it was considered a place of violence and death. By the time of Jesus, the name “Gehenna” described a place where those who committed injustice would face punishment after their death. In these verses of Mark’s Gospel, Gehenna is described as having “unquenchable fire.”
In this reading, Gehenna is described as a place where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” — a reference to Isaiah 66:24. This final verse of the prophecy of Isaiah announces judgment upon “the people who rebelled against me.” Such rebels die, and then their corpses are consumed by worm and fire. This gruesome image of Isaiah is applied by Jesus in Mark’s Gospel to the suffering of the unjust in Gehenna after death. Thus Jesus gives us a strong warning to do justice and avoid sin so that we may “enter into the kingdom of God.”
Note that our reading omits verses 44 and 46. Most modern Bibles likewise omit these verses because the best ancient manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel lack this text. Both verses say “where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” The manuscript evidence suggests that this line was inserted into the original text by an early scribe. This twice-added textual phrase was still believed to be original when Biblical verse numbers were given to New Testament writings in the mid-16th century.