Sometimes I wonder if policing someone or regulating someone is inherited in our human nature. This human action of policing someone from something by some standards has to do with who has more power and authority, who gets to say someone is right or wrong, who can decide one is inside or outside. In the first lesson from the Book of Numbers and the gospel lesson, we hear this policing voice.
First, Joshua has some issues with two of the elders who are selected from the Israelites. These two are supposed to be in the tent but instead remain in the camp. Their names are Eldad and Medad. What happens is that Eldad and Medad are able to prophesy even though they are not together with the rest of the elders in the tent. We don’t know why they are not in the tent with the other 68 selected elders. But it doesn’t seem to matter. The Spirit of God rests on these two. Joshua doesn’t like this situation at all. He himself is also one of the chosen elders as well as the chief assistant, the right hand of Moses. Eldad and Medad are disrupting the power arrangement in his community. They seem to go against God’s order. So he runs to Moses and tells on them, “My lord Moses, stop them!” This sounds like Joshua is asking Moses to stop them, but it is Joshua who is ironically telling Moses what to do. It’s almost like “Moses, grant me the power to stop them!” Moses responds to him, “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!” It’s quite clear that Joshua is not jealous for Moses’s sake but for his own. Moses then reminds him that all God’s people are called to be prophets who are to act according to the will of God’s Spirit. The Spirit is always inviting, inclusive, and uniting people, never favoring one over the other, never exclusive, and never destructive. Let’s then look at the gospel reading where John is like Joshua. Joshua tells on someone to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” The core message or request of John is the same as that of Joshua: ‘Stop him. They are not authorized by us. We don’t approve them to do anything in your name. We don’t like the fact that we are the only ones with the power and authority you have granted us to do all the great work of yours. So, Jesus you better stop him!’ Jesus thinks otherwise. He answers John, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.” On these two accounts of Joshua and John, We hear their zeal and passion for the work of God in a positive sense. But what we really hear is this territorial, envious, power-hungry, and excluding attitude to those who exercise authority in their communities. The problem with policing that both Moses and Jesus point out is not just that how this negative and narrow-minded attitude is somewhat unchristian. It is how this toxic attitude becomes a stumbling block to others who believe in Jesus. Jesus is quite harsh on this issue. Let’s listen to him again: “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” It is troubling whether to take his teaching literally or not. But we know what he means. Don’t be a stumbling block to someone who is following the way of Jesus, the way of love in a way that is different from you. Don’t let your ego get in the way of someone who is entering into the life with Christ. We can actually look at this teaching in many different ways. This can be applied to situations like church authorities condemning one another for calling each other a heretic. We have seen this in our Anglican Communion over the issues of women’s ordination, sexuality, and etc. How often do we hear some fundamentalist preachers polemically judge those who have a different perspective? They become a stumbling block to those who are trying to follow Jesus and live like him. Let’s broaden our interpretation of Jesus’s saying in our current situation of how this policing attitude of some becomes a stumbling block to others. This week, I saw this letter size poster on the walls at the platform. It says, “#whyididnotreport.” Considering what’s going on with the judiciary confirmation process, this poster calls out those who have been sexually assaulted to speak out. One of the answers was handwritten which broke my heart. It said, “Because no one cared.” Society’s attitude of indifference or apathy or its victim-blaming and judgmental attitude to these people is a stumbling block. This phrase, “Why I did not report” reflects “What stops me from reporting?” What and who is a stumbling block? Alice Walker, a novelist, poet, and activist once said, “No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” I think we can easily go on talking about all these examples of others who are stumbling blocks to us. But this is too easy. Jesus’s teaching on the consequence of being a stumbling block develops into the practice of self-examination. He says, “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell…” This calls us to look into our hearts and ask ourselves. Have I ever been a stumbling block to myself on my way to Jesus, to have a personal, intimate, and loving relationship with God? What obstacles do you put before yourself to grow and mature in Christ? It can be anxiety of tomorrow, fear of death, resentment, unhealthy guilt, shame, self-hatred, and so on. It can be your hunger for power, your ego to be a god of your own or things that we might call ‘sin.’ A good traditional example that lists what can be a stumbling block to ourselves is the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. What gets in the way for us to become closer to God, to enter life, to live our lives to the fullest in Christ? And what helps us remove this stumbling block before you? Jesus in today’s gospel reading gives us a surprisingly simple answer. He says, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” All these stumbling blocks seem to be removed through this process of being salted with fire. But what does it mean? Purify yourselves. Examine your hearts. Be slow to judge. But there’s more. Jesus goes on, “Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” This salt in ourselves, this salt that purifies our hearts is none other than Jesus Christ himself. Have Jesus in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. Have Jesus reflect your will, desire, and intention. Ask the Holy Spirit to see and remove a stumbling block in our hearts so that we get closer to God and reach out to others not as a stumbling block but as salt. May Jesus’s love set your hearts on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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