As I was reading the scriptural readings for this Sunday’s Mass, two sentences really struck my mind.
The first sentence is from the first reading. When Moses realized that he alone could not perform all the tasks of his strongheaded people, he asked God for help. A part of the Spirit from Moses was poured on the seventy elders. Two of the elected elders who were still loitering in their camps were given the same Spirit and they started to prophesize in the camp. Moses was asked to stop them from prophesizing. So, Moses exclaims the greatest truth regarding how we need to be God-oriented, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29).
I am extremely amazed at Moses’ response. It was the response of a person who is filled with God’s Spirit. He genuinely desired to see that every human being is touched by God and filled by His Graces. Moses saw things as God would want us to see them.
The second sentence is from the Gospel. The disciples stopped the “someone” from working miracles in the name of Jesus, not because he was not His disciple, but because he was not one of ‘the twelve’. It means they assumed a copyright over Jesus’ authority. So, Jesus responds to them saying, “Whoever is not against us is for us” Mk 5:2).
Today, we have adopted different ways of expressing our religious fanaticism. We oppose whatever good the ‘others’ do, because they ‘do not belong to us’. We are convinced that the Spirit of God is deposited only with us and we try to control its actions.
“Anyone who is not against us is with us” – Jesus’ response to His disciples is a call for all of us, to look beyond the boundaries of our nations, religion and common philosophies. It is an invitation, to break the walls of religious fanaticism, national fundamentalism and every kind of sectarianism.
Please God, help us to see your presence in every good we find on earth.
–Fr. Ranjan D’Sa OCD