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.” Mark 9:38
Today’s homily begins with the story being read aloud in Children’s Liturgy of the Word classes this week-end here at Transfiguration. So everybody close your eyes and pretend you’re five year olds sitting cross-legged on a carpeted floor in the Parish Life Center. And no peeking!
One fall day, when the earth was very young, a group of trees in the forest had a quarrel about which of them was the most beautiful tree that God had made and which of them gave God the most glory. A proud oak tree with orange leaves spoke up and said, “You should be orange like me! Orange is the color of so many delicious fruits and vegetables: carrots, squash, pumpkins – and oranges, of course! God had done the best work in me!
A beautiful red maple tree then spoke up and said, “You trees should be red like me! I’m the color of juicy red apples, strawberries and raspberries and cherry Kool-aid! That’s why I give God the most glory. You should be red like me”
Lastly, a golden elm said, “You should give glory to God by being like me! I’m a bright golden yellow. When people see me, they think of the sun, full of light and warmth. What could be better than that? Besides, I’m the color of scrambled eggs and creamy butter. I really think God has done the best work in me.”
Finally God, who had made all three trees, spoke up, “Can’t I work my wonders through all of you trees as I choose? If I had worked the same way in all of you, none of you would be as beautiful as you are. Your real beauty lies in being different from each other.
“Who are you, Mrs. Oak, to tell Mr. Maple that he can’t give glory to me as a maple? And who are you, Mr. Maple, to tell Mr. Elm that he can’t give glory to me as an elm? And who do you think you are Mr. Elm, to say the wonders I have worked in you are greater than those I have worked in my other trees? The cold north winds will soon be here to teach you a lesson. He will teach you to be humble by snatching away your brightly colored leaves.”
And so it happened! But their leaves grew back and were even brighter the next year. And the three trees decided to be good friends. Why? Because they knew that each of them gave glory to God in a special way. God had made each of them different, yet each of them gave glory to God. They were good friends ever after!
OK, Story-time’s over. Everyone open your eyes and revert back to your age appropriate selves. So, what’s the moral of the story? Right, God wants us to be tolerant of people different than ourselves. Very good! You all get smiley faces on your papers.
Tolerance is the theme that resonates in two of today’s readings. In the gospel from Mark the disciples are upset because someone outside their group is healing in Jesus’ name. Imagine the chutzpah of this fellow, witnessing to God’s power without being one of them! The nerve! To their way of thinking, anyone who didn’t fit their idea of what a disciple should be posed a threat. In other words, they were jealous. By asking Jesus to stop the brash outsider they were protecting their turf. After all, they had the truth. They were right and, therefore, everyone else had to be wrong. Sound familiar?
Jesus, by contrast, wants no part of this exclusionary, us versus them, “our way is the only way” mentality. As he does numerous times when the disciples demonstrate that they just don’t get it, he sets them straight on the point. Not only is Jesus not upset, he’s pleased that this fellow is doing mighty deeds in his name. “Whoever is not against us is for us,” he replies. Jesus affirms what all spiritually enlightened people, irrespective of religious tradition, know – God speaks and acts in the world in unexpected ways and will not be straight-jacketed into performing according to human expectations.
God’s ways are not our ways, the bible tells us, which is one powerful argument against our judging others. Just as in the children’s story, Jesus teaches that we should be open to all people, even those who don’t look, act, or speak as we do, and to welcome their gifts. The Spirit, after all, works in unlikely persons and places. And if God, who created all of us, doesn’t limit the blessings of the Spirit, who are we to do otherwise?
Jesus not only preached a message of inclusive love, he lived it. Love everyone, he tells us, even your worst enemies. Forgive those who offend you not just 7 times, as required by Jewish law of his day, but 70 times 7 times.
A true practitioner of non-violence, Jesus died on the cross for all humanity, regardless of race, religion, nation, or background. How ironic and blasphemous, then, that down through the ages “so-called” Christians have killed in Jesus’ name. Islamic extremists today who murder innocent people in the name of Allah don’t have a corner on that particular practice. Sadly, history shows over and over again that people willing to die for their faith are often willing to kill for it too.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, for example, some Christian Crusaders slaughtered thousands of Muslims and Jews alike as they shouted “Deus Vult!” God wills it! One of their goals was to wrest Jerusalem from Muslim control. Unfortunately, a secondary goal was to rid the world of as many non-Christians as possible. Before dispatching them, these Crusaders would give their victims two choices: “Embrace the Cross or die!” Twelve thousand Jews in the Rhine Valley lost their lives as the first Crusade passed through. Some Jewish writers refer to these events as the “first holocaust.”
In those days the Church taught that going to war against the “infidels” was an act of Christian penance and if a Crusader was killed during a crusade, he would bypass purgatory and be taken directly to heaven. Sound familiar?
Pope Innocent III in the early 13th century decreed that for their guilt in killing Christ, Jews should be consigned to a state of “perpetual subservience” as wanderers and fugitives. His pronouncement reinforced widespread anti-Semitism of the time that led over the centuries to hundreds of thousands of Jews being burned at the stake and murdered throughout Europe.
And let’s not forget that during the Holocaust of the last century, 6 million Jews were systematically exterminated while Nazi Germany, an ostensibly Christian country in Christian Europe, was being led by Adolph Hitler, a baptized Catholic. “I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so,” Hitler told Gerhard Engel, one of his generals, in 1941. In Mein Kampf, his autobiography and political manifesto written in 1924, Hitler wrote: “I am convinced that I am acting as an agent of the Creator. By fighting off the Jews I am doing the Lord’s work.” Centuries of anti-Semitic reading of certain parts of the New Testament gave Hitler cultural permission, perhaps even encouragement to do as he did. The Vatican’s response during those dark days of the Third Reich remains to this day a matter of controversy.
British novelist Israel Zangwell was Jewish. Upon learning this, a Gentile told him that Jews were suspicious of Gentiles, clannish, and unfriendly. The author looked at the speaker, sighed, and replied. “Yes, two thousand years of Christian love have made us very nervous.”
Here in the United States every hour someone commits a hate crime. Every day at least eight African-Americans, three whites, three gays, three Jews and one Latino become hate crime victims. Every week a cross in burned. Unfortunately, lack of tolerance is part of the human condition, and American history is rife with prejudice against groups and individuals because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other differences.
Do you see why it’s important to read stories to our children like the one that began this homily? And more importantly why adults need to model behavior that teaches tolerance? Children by nature are accepting of differences in others. In other words, they have to be taught to hate.
Albert Einstein said that we cannot solve our problems with the same consciousness that created them. We all need to work at creating a consciousness within ourselves and in society that respects and celebrates differences in others; that acknowledges the equal dignity of every individual. A spiritually aware person is open to learning and growing from everything in life. Indeed, one sign of spiritual awakening is an increased respect for all people, all religions, and all forms of God.
What Jesus taught about tolerance is crystal clear. Those requiring remediation on the subject should recall the story of Mr. Maple, Mrs. Oak, and Mr. Elm.
Anthony J. Sciolino
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
September 28, 2003. (Cycle B)
Numbers 11:25-29/137
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-43, 47-48.