National Seafarer’s Sunday

First reading: Nm. 11:25–29

The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.

Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also, and they prophesied in the camp. So, when a young man quickly told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “Moses, my lord, stop them.” But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!”

Second reading: Jas. 5:1–6

Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance.

Gospel: Mk. 9:38–43,45,47–48

At that time, John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

“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. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”

In other words

by Fr. Dionisio Miranda, SVD (Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City)

Discipleship begins with imperfect persons empowered by the spirit to bring God’s Word to others.

Discipleship involves dialogue, and it leads to inclusiveness: Moses accepts the “non-official” prophets, ignoring their non-conventional credentials in order to focus on the substance of their ministry, and hopes in fact that such became the norm rather than the exception. Jesus affirms Moses’ position, welcoming those who act in his name and according to his Word, even if they were not even “declared” members of his community of followers. Paul rejects the factionalism that all too often distorts the gospel message, arguing that if one has to be partisan, then it must be for the message of salvation rather than over its preachers. Mission that comes from God is not about privilege but service; it is not about competition but collaboration; it is not about division but about unity, because diverse as the gifts may be, there is only one Spirit and only one Lord. Indeed, wisdom can come even from nonbelievers, from those outside the Church.

Discipleship involves prophetic dialogue. We must learn to look at those already in the Church, to test our common loyalty to the Church’s mission, to remind each other of our failings, and to encourage each other in our challenges of living Jesus’s message. When having been blessed with so much, we have thought too rarely of sharing our riches with the needy. When having been loved so unconditionally by God, we forget to do the same with our employees and associates. When having been endowed with so many talents, we have not maximized the same for the good of our common family. In his letter James rails against such behavior because it goes against God’s revelation of his nature and his plan for us all.

Discipleship involves solidarity. Too often we have limited solidarity to almsgiving or the distribution of relief at natural disasters like typhoons or earthquakes, salving our consciences with token contributions. Yet true discipleship summons us not so much to sentimental caring, as to robust and sustained solidarity, like standing for the truth or with the poor despite the costs of doing so because Jesus showed us the way as Master and Teacher. Discipleship means embracing God’s chosen—the least, the last, and the lost—even if by doing so we may have to “cut off our hands” (suffer the loss of our resources), be “crippled in our feet” (be forced to change our career paths), or “pluck out our eyes” (abandon certain visions).

None of these is easy, and rare is the person who can rise up to such challenges. All the same, we see God’s mission unfolding in the world, every day, in so many different ways. Except that they are accomplished all too often by what theologian Karl Rahner calls “anonymous Christians,” those disciples who may not even recognize that fact, because their justification for the good is simply “to work for a better world for all.” God’s mission unfolds wherever business shares science with farmers and fishermen, where industry shares technology with laborers and partners, and where academe rigorously researches and shares its findings with society. God’s mission unfolds often where we fail to see it, in secular organizations, as in the passion of advocates struggling to mitigate the effects of climate change, for example. And in a world where institutions often work against rather than for society’s interests, we can celebrate small triumphs as when conscientious judges side with the people against state caprice, as our country’s participation in the justice of God. The “good pagans” or unbelievers may count among the true disciples of the Lord they do not even know, more faithful than we who have officially and explicitly professed to discipleship, be this in the old or new evangelization.