As they continue their journey with Jesus,
the disciples continue to show how obtuse they are.Someone not of their group is driving out
demons, and they want to stop him.This leads
Jesus into a little sermon, first on doing the good, then on causing sin, and
then on what to do if one sins repeatedly.
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.'"
~Mk 9:38-43, 45,
47-48
Jeff Cavins
identifies just how important cutting sin is from your life.
As I look at Jesus’s
sermon, there doesn’t seem to be a logical transition from not stopping
outsiders from healing to radically cutting sin from one’s life.For some reason the lectionary stops on verse
48, but perhaps verses 49 and 50 actually pulls all three elements of his
sermon together: “Everyone will be salted with fire.Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid,
with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will
have peace with one another.” (Mk 9:49-50)By cutting out sin, one is purified as being salted, and those that are
salted are those that can go and drive out demons.The final outcome of cutting out sin is
peace!
Sunday Meditation: “If your hand
causes you to sin, cut it off.”
Our hymn today will be “Go in Peace,” by John
Michael Talbot
There is a lot packed into this Sunday.It is the Feast of the Holy Family and for
Year B the Gospel takes us to The Presentation of Jesus at the temple.
When
the days were completed for their purification
according
to the law of Moses,
They
took him up to Jerusalem
to
present him to the Lord,
just
as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb
shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and
to offer the sacrifice of
a
pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in
accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This
man was righteous and devout,
awaiting
the consolation of Israel,
and
the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It
had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that
he should not see death
before
he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He
came in the Spirit into the temple;
and
when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to
perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
He
took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Now,
Master, you may let your servant go
in
peace, according to your word,
for
my eyes have seen your salvation,
which
you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a
light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and
glory for your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were
amazed at what was said about him;
and
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold,
this child is destined
for
the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and
to be a sign that will be contradicted
—and
you yourself a sword will pierce—
so
that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There
was also a prophetess, Anna,
the
daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She
was advanced in years,
having
lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and
then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She
never left the temple,
but
worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And
coming forward at that very time,
she
gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to
all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When
they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of
the law of the Lord,
they
returned to Galilee,
to
their own town of Nazareth.
The
child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and
the favor of God was upon him.
~Lk 2:22-40
This is the second week in a row Fr. Geoffrey
Plant does an amazing job of explaining today’s readings.
Fr. Plant’s explanation of a mother’s purification
after childbirth as a return to the profane from the sacred is startling.I had never heard that before.I questioned it actually.Most explanations do not reproduce that.However, at Chabad.org, a religious Jewish
question and answer website, we do get this:
Why the difference in the laws of ritual purity between the birth of
males and females?
By Chana Weisberg
Question:
My question is on the subject of cleanness of a mother after the birth
of a male or female (Leviticus 12). The woman is unclean for seven days after a
male birth, and after the birth of a female the mother is unclean for fourteen
days. Why is there a difference between the birth of males and females?
Answer:
You write the word "cleanliness," when really it is
"ritual purity." A woman's "impurity," or "tumah" in Hebrew, during her
menstruation is a built-in component of her natural monthly cycle. Her status
of "impurity" demonstrates her descent from a peak level of holiness,
when she had the ability to conceive a precious new life through her union with
her husband.
The status of "tumah"
is not meant to imply sinfulness, degradation or inferiority. On the contrary,
it emphasizes, in particular, the great level of holiness inherent in woman's G‑dly
power to create and nurture a new life within her body, and the great holiness
of a husband and wife's union, in general. Since a woman possesses this lofty
potential, she, also bears the possibility of its void; hence her status as tameh, ritually impure. Since she
experienced "the touch of death," so to speak, with the loss of
potential life, as reflected by her menstruation, she enters this status of
"impure."
After having given birth to a baby boy, a woman must wait a minimum of
seven days before beginning her pure days; while after a baby girl is born, she
must wait a minimum of fourteen days. Since the female child inherently carries
a higher degree of holiness, due to her own biological, life creating
capability, a greater void, or tumah,
remains after her birth. Thus, the greater tumah
after a baby girl's birth reflects her greater capacity for holiness (due to
her creative powers) and necessitates the longer wait to remove this ritual
impurity.
Now the question is in reference to the
difference between a the ritual waiting between a boy and a girl child, but explaining,
Chana Weisberg substantiates Fr. Plant’s explanation.
Meditation: “Now, Master, you
may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen
your salvation,”
