Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

Readings:

First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29 – If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets!

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18(19):8, 10, 12-14 – The precepts of the Lord gladden the heart.

Second Reading: James 5:1-6 – The Lord hears the cries of those you have cheated.

Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 – Do not stop anyone from working a miracle in my name.

The word “privatization” can mean different things depending on the context. But mostly it is an economic term associated with the transference of something from the public sphere to the private sphere. In this sense, a government-owned business, institution, or property becomes owned by a private non-governmental body. There are pros and cons to the idea of privatization which economists are in a better position to enlighten us. In this reflection, I am going to employ the word “privatization”, but not in its technical economic term. We shall rather use the word in its simplest grammatical understanding of making a thing exclusively private. It is in this sense that we can assert that one of the dangers of privatization is the inability of people to realize and put a limit to what can be privatized and what cannot. One would not be surprised to wake up one day and hear that the basic elements in life – air, sun, rainfall, etc., – are all being “privatized”.

To privatize (in the sense in which we are using the term) means to have exclusive right over; to have a monopoly of something. And some people appear to have developed the tendency of not being happy until they gain an exclusive possession of something. People tend to value or distaste their possessions depending on how those possessions are available to few or many respectively. When something is available to many other people, some will either hate the one they have, or they hate other people having the same thing. Certain people are so obsessed with having exclusive possession of something that they keep on spending money unnecessarily changing what they have so as to appear at any moment that it is only they who have such property to the exclusion of others. In other words, they have chosen not to be happy until they “privatize” every brand of their possession.

This general tendency to privatize everything has led people into thinking that God could as well be privatized. Because they think that they have the monopoly of God’s gifts, some get uneasy when they see the gift of God manifest in others. Joshua (in the first reading) and John (in the gospel reading) are perfect examples of this tendency. Have you ever questioned why the so-called charismatically-gifted people find it extremely difficult to agree among themselves; or why they find it hard to agree to work together in unity? Simple! Each wants to privatize the Holy Spirit. This explains why, rather than working together, many of them prefer to break away and form their own “company” where they are exclusively the “managing director”. Even on few occasions they try to pretend to come together, they do so with the notion that they are “share-holders” in the “private company” called Jesus or Holy Spirit. Joshua thought that Eldad and Medad had no business prophesying since they were not among the “70 share-holders” in the “company” called Moses. John, as well, saw the man casting out devil in Jesus’ name as a thief. After all, only the twelve apostles (in his estimation) bought off the “shares” in the “private company” called Jesus.

Moses and Jesus, by rejecting the requests of Joshua and John respectively, have shown us that the Spirit of God is not a “private company” that can be owned by a few privileged individuals. The spirit of God blows wherever it wills. Neither the 70 elders nor the 12 apostles have exclusive franchise over it. It is futile on our part to make frantic effort to try to limit the outreach of God’s spirit. It is none of our business to determine who is qualified to prophesy or to cast out devil in Jesus’ name. Our business is to mind our business of following Jesus and realize that no one can set rules for God’s choice. We must allow the spirit of God blow wherever it wills.

As it is with spiritual gifts, so it is also with our various talents. It is strange that some people tend to hate their talents when they discover that others have them too. Some make frantic effort to have “exclusive franchise” over their God-given talents and endowment to the extent of being prepared to do away with anybody perceived to have been endowed with the same talent. It you are a good singer, it doesn’t mean that others cannot be better singers. Must you stop somebody from singing simply because he/she, for instance, doesn’t belong to the choir? The first reading and the gospel reading teach us never to be jealous of others even when they have the same talents as we have. Their talents do not diminish our own; they rather enrich ours when we join hands with them in cooperation to make both theirs and ours to blossom. On the other hand, one can never rise by pulling others down. To pull down, you have to be down. It is those who are down that pull others down; just as it is those who are little that belittle others. The real great people are not threatened by the talents or success of others. Moses and Jesus, respectively, are examples of such great people. They didn’t feel threatened by the prospect of others having the same gifts as they have. Moses even wished every single person in Israel had the gift of prophecy as he had; and Jesus insisted that one doesn’t have to be a member of the inner circle of the apostles in order to work miracles in his name. Jesus’ statement is even a bigger challenge to us Christians. For those of us who think that people who do not belong to our particular church organisation or to our particular spiritual society cannot therefore be endowed with spiritual gifts, well, Jesus has disappointed you today when he said: “Anyone who is not against us is for us”. If somebody does not belong to the same spiritual society as you, or does not pray the way you do, it doesn’t mean the person is against Jesus. Here then are the lessons from today’s readings: If you feel threatened by the success of others, then you are not as successful as you think. If you feel jealous of the talents of others, then you are not as talented as you think. If you feel that the gift of God is your private and exclusive property, then you don’t have the gift of God at all in you.

Brothers and sisters, it is not our duty to proclaim who is saved and who is not, who is spiritual and who is not, who should prophecy or perform miracles and who should not. Our duty is to continue to share our experience of God with others. This is what is known as evangelisation. Most of us have left our duty aside and pretend to perform God’s duty thereby playing God. Let us concentrate on our duty and allow God to be God.