Tuesday of Week 7 of Ordinary Time – First Reading
Commentary on James 4:1-10
Strong words today from James. He speaks about the origins of the conflicts and disputes that can tear communities apart. He attributes it to inner “cravings” (Greek, hedonon), uncontrolled desires to have our pleasures fulfilled at any cost. Our word ‘hedonism’ comes from the term used in the Greek original. Traditional spirituality often used the word ‘passions’.
These desires can even drive us to murderous hatred (if not to murder itself). Rampant crime and violence are among the most evident fruits of our materially affluent societies. People are driven by never-satisfied desires to have more and more and to have it now:
…you covet something and cannot obtain it, so you engage in disputes and conflicts. [literally, ‘fight and go to war’]
‘War’ here is not the internal spiritual struggle of a Christian, and it seems to be more than just heated arguments between Christians, but rather resorting to physical violence. Sadly, a perfect description of our affluent societies.
You do not have because you do not ask.
Whom should we be asking? In the context of the letter it is pretty clear – God. And when we do ask, we do not receive because we ask wrongly. We ask simply to satisfy our own personal satisfactions and the objects of our passions. What we ask has very little relevance to either our own real well-being or that of others.
What should we be asking for? If our requests are directed honestly to God and his will for us, we will probably find that we are modifying our lists somewhat. God is hardly interested in our desire to have a Tesla or that holiday on the French Riviera.
James is saying very clearly that the problem is not that God does not listen to our prayers, but that we are approaching him in a completely wrong frame of mind. In rather blunt language he accuses his hearers of being “adulterers”.
Adulterers! [in the Greek, ‘adulteresses’ but applying to both men and women] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
The imagery is of Israel as the unfaithful wife of Yahweh, a traditional image in the Old Testament (Hosea 1:2). Jesus, too, speaks to the Pharisees as an “evil and adulterous generation” (Matt 12:39). ‘World’ here points to those elements whose behaviour is totally opposed to God’s way. Love of God and love of the world in this sense are incompatible:
No one can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matt 6:24)
James’ hearers are unfaithful in choosing the “world” as their friend, in the sense of an environment which is in conflict with all that God stands for.
Whatever we ask of God, it should not be simply for passing satisfactions. It should be something that is directed to the purpose and meaning of our own lives and those of others. Even when we ask for healing from sickness, what will we do with our health when it comes back?
James, quoting a Scripture text that is otherwise lost to us, says:
Does the spirit that God caused to dwell in us desire envy?
Yes, our God is a “jealous” God in the sense that he calls for the total dedication of ourselves to him. It has to be all or nothing:
…none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (Luke 14:33)
God is jealous for all of our love, not just some of it. And we know that when we do give our all, we also receive abundantly. It is because God has shared his Spirit with us that we want what God wants and that God answers our prayers.
In fact, there are two ways of reading the above quotation from James, depending on whether ‘spirit’ refers to our own ‘spirit’ or the ‘Spirit’ of God. Regarding the two alternative translations, the meaning of the first is that God jealously longs for our faithfulness and our love. In this case, the Scripture referred to may be to a passage in Exodus where we read:
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exod 20:5-6)
‘Jealousy’ here is not a form of envy, but rather God demanding total allegiance, such as a wife or husband must have for each other.
The alternate interpretation of the quotation from James would capitalise “Spirit”, and makes Him the subject. It is the Holy Spirit who longs jealously for our full devotion. If this is the correct translation, it is the only clear reference to the Holy Spirit in the entire letter.
Finally in this context, James concludes with 9 short commandments of his own, each of which is so stated in Greek that it calls for immediate action in rooting out the sinful attitude of pride which has been the subject of his warnings:
If we are to avoid divisions and the violence that can ensue, we need to follow these commandments from James, and we need to develop the kind of wisdom that he that speaks about in the previous chapter of his letter (see James 3:13-18).
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Tuesday of Week 7 of Ordinary Time – Gospel
Commentary on Mark 9:30-37
Jesus was now spending more time with his disciples and teaching them. He was teaching them things that the crowds were not yet ready to hear. As we will see, his disciples were not too ready either.
Today we have the second of three predictions of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection which he communicates to his disciples. On each occasion, the pattern is exactly the same:
- A prediction of what is going to happen to Jesus;
- Total lack of comprehension of the meaning of what Jesus is saying on the part of the disciples;
- A teaching of Jesus arising out of their lack of understanding.
The prediction is stated simply. First, Jesus will “be betrayed into human hands”. Other translations say “handed over” and still others use “given up”. These terms are used many times in the Gospels. John the Baptist is handed over; Jesus is handed over; the disciples later on will be handed over; and, in the Eucharist, the Body of Jesus is handed over for our sakes (“This is my body, which is given [tradetur] for you”). Second, he will be put to death; and third, three days later he will rise again.
They arrive in Capernaum and, in the house, Jesus asks them a question. Once again we have a reference to the “house’ with overtones of the Church, the place where God’s people gather, as they do here to listen to the Word of God. Jesus asks his disciples what seems an innocuous question:
What were you arguing about on the way?
Here we have another important word of Mark’s: “way” or “road” (Greek, hodos). In the context of the Gospel it has theological overtones. Jesus is the Way or the Road, and Christians are those who walk on this Way or Road. So the disciples “arguing” has implications about Christians arguing among themselves as they follow Christ ‘on the way’.
Jesus’ question is met with an embarrassed silence, because they had been arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest. The minute the question was asked, they knew they were in the wrong.
Why were they arguing about this? It was once suggested that, as Jesus had now for the second time announced his coming death, they were beginning to accept the possibility of it really happening. They began to wonder what would happen to them as a group without Jesus. Who would be in charge? Which of them had the best qualifications? Hence, their argument. If that was the case, then Jesus’ question was even more embarrassing. They could hardly say, “Well, we were wondering which one of us would take over when you are no longer with us.”
Jesus, of course, knew exactly what was going on in their minds, so he gave them some guidelines if they wanted to be truly his followers:
Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.
This is quite a hard saying, and most of us find it difficult to put fully into practice. It is, of course, totally in opposition to what goes on in the secular world, where ‘success’ means being on top, being in charge, being in control, calling the shots.
Yet, who are really the greatest people in our society? Is it not those, who are especially talented intellectually or in other ways, who use their talents totally for the well-being of others, to the point of even sacrificing their lives?
Apart from the obvious example of Jesus himself, we have a long list of saints who all have one thing in common—they put themselves totally at the service of their brothers and sisters. Success, promotion, status, material wealth or executive power meant nothing to these saints. They served, and their service was their power, a power which inspires in a way that no mere politician, business tycoon or dictator could ever do.
To serve is not to be submissive or weak; it is not putting oneself on a lower level than those being served. It is simply to be totally committed to the good of others, and to find one’s own well-being in being so committed.
Jesus then takes a little child, as a symbol of all those who are vulnerable, weak and exploitable. Children are used by Jesus as symbols of the anawim, the lowly and weak in our society. They are the ones who are most of all to be served and protected and nurtured. In so doing, one is recognising the presence of Jesus and the presence of God in them.
As Christians, we have much to be proud of in our record of service to our brothers and sisters, especially those who are weak and vulnerable. But we also have to confess that within our Church and in our dealings with the ‘world’, we have had our fair share of hungering for power, status and position. And, we have so often argued bitterly with each other “on the Way”, about just such things.
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