XXVI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
JESUS CHRIST IS ONE AND UNIVERSAL
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
The first reading from the book of Numbers reminds us of the complete freedom with which God acts. We can affirm according to what we heard that all of the chosen received the spirit of prophecy even if they weren’t in the assembly. “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. 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.” (Num. 11:25-26) The prophetic Spirit is made present in the 70 elders to make them collaborators with Moses in attending and directing the people in the desert. God acted with full freedom in giving his Spirit. This is a gift that is not subject to human conditions, even now in the present. God, Lord of history, always acts with sovereign freedom but always in favor of his people and of man, especially in favor of the needy and poor man.
In the gospel we hear: “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.’” (Mc 9:38) In the time of Jesus Christ, many symptoms of mysterious diseases were attributed to a diabolical possession. The devil is the enemy of man. At that time the connection was logical and coherent. Someone wanted to use the name of Jesus to do an exorcism because they had observed the effectiveness and the strength of Jesus to expel demons. When you use someone else’s name it’s like you are doing it for the person whose name you use. And in the name of Jesus the disciples had the same practice after the resurrection, when Jesus sent the disciples two by two. It was a practice that liberated men of evil. The invocation of the name of Jesus was and is effective. That is the case in the account in the gospel today. The problem that John brings up is that there is someone who is using the name of Jesus to carry out this practice that does not belong to the group.
Jesus opens barriers and embraces men of good will; he appreciates all gifts and lets himself be guided by a conciliatory attitude. He does not exclude anyone from his group, even when they are not congregants in his assembly. But this does not take away his awareness that he represents a singular teaching. Jesus is one and universal. That is why his person, his way of acting and his mission are so effective. All gifts can be useful and can be integrated into the project of the kingdom of God. But this does not nullify the fact that Jesus is the one and only: the only savior and the only revealer of the Father.
All of us in this world need to recognize two things about Jesus: his uniqueness and his universality. We can all live together because we can all share many good elements of men. Radicalism and exclusivity do not fit the project of Jesus. But he himself invites us to follow him radically to appreciate and respect the universality of gifts. May God grant us the knowledge that we are part of his kingdom, with our gifts, values and charisms. With our testimony may we invite many more to the kingdom of God, recognizing our only savior: Jesus. Amen.