One of Jesus followers, John, is upset that a person not of their company is calling on Jesus’ name to drive out demons. A demon is a spirit of negativity, an adversary that harms and even destroys. Someone who cannot live a fully human life because they are possessed by a demonic or obstructive spirit is being healed. Yet John tries to prevent the healing because he is worried about the healer not being authorized as a select channel of Jesus. Similar concerns exist today about whether people are a select channel of Christianity and they are preventing healing.
Fox News fancies itself John’s successor and guardian of all things Christian. It is recently upset that a person not of their company is healing people in Jesus’ name. They are attempting to stop that healing. The current rogue healer is Pope Francis. Francis is expelling the demon of capitalism. It too is an adversary that harms and destroys. Fox News elitists charge Francis with being ignorant of his place. The Pope should confine himself to the spiritual realm. He should address matters of faith and morals only as they refer to the soul and impact getting into heaven. Their division of authority suits elites well. It does not however suit Jesus. Jesus was indeed a spiritual authority. He was also a democratic authority and an economic authority and a social authority. Jesus understood the healing that was needed across the elites’ systems. He challenged elitists claiming political, capitalist, and social authority all the time. He did so to heal people and society. He encouraged others to do the same. George Will, channeling John’s tribalism and that of Fox News, understands the challenge inherent to the Pope’ visit: “Americans cannot simultaneously honor (Pope Francis) and celebrate their nation’s premises.” Precisely – because the nation’s premises include elitists who, like John in the Gospel, want to determine who is and who is not of their company. Persons with elitist concerns, such as classist, sexist, and racist, present a problem. They actively oppose common people’s healing mission for this society. Pope Francis refers to such elites as devotees of the “deified market” who are “located in affluent urban areas, far removed from the poor, with little direct contact with their problems.” Pope Francis urges people to be in touch with those who are poor and marginalized. Keep company with those who are vulnerable and in pain so as to heal them.
To what degree can Pope Francis keep company with those who are vulnerable so as to bring healing? Can he do so with persons who are hurt and in pain because they were abused by priests? To what degree can he open himself to healing encounters with Native persons across the world. Their wounds are reopened every time a company man from history who helped wage war on them is held in esteem such as the man the Pope is canonizing a saint, Junipero Serra. This Sunday’s Gospel does not have Jesus celebrating celebrity, he is celebrating healing. To what degree will this Pope or any other Pope show himself a company man and to what degree will he channel Jesus’ healing way in the world?
Prayer: Spirit of Healing, we commit to being healers.
Question: To what degree am I concerned about who is or is not of my company and what is the impact of that on my ability to heal?
September 27, 2015 Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 Twenty-Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time
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