June 9, 2024 Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
- Mark 3:33-35
When I was picking out music for this Sunday, I felt a bit unsure as to what exactly was the overarching theme of this Sunday’s Scripture readings – there seemed to be so many ideas. What exactly do I want my music selections to communicate, and does it match the Scriptural theme? Eventually, my discernment led me to conclude that the unifying theme is inclusion and unity between ALL people of good will. Lest I be indicted for taking a very “liberal” interpretation of Scripture, allow me to present my case (if you’re up for a bit of a read!).
Consider these two well-known quotations:
A. “You are either with us, or against us.”
B. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Now, suppose two kings are at war. Both kings seek out allies to strengthen their army and secure victory over the other. But King A (adhering to quote A above) requires an explicit profession of allegiance and agreement with every single tenet of his rule to be considered an ally, whereas King B (adhering to quote B) treats as allies anyone who is opposed to King A. We can intuitively conclude that King B is more likely to win the war, since King B will have a greater chance of securing allies.
I argue that Jesus, in this Sunday’s Gospel, is more like King B in our hypothetical scenario. Now, one may contend, “But doesn’t Jesus say something exactly like King A in the same account presented in the Gospel of Matthew (‘Whoever is not with me is against me…’)?” Well, yes, but then one must ask, “What counts as being ‘with’ him?” There is good reason to say that a mutual opposition to evil (ala King B) satisfies that criteria. This much can be gathered from Jesus’ response to the scribes who accuse him of driving out demons by the prince of demons. “How can Satan drive out Satan?” In other words, how can one be opposed to evil while being evil at the same time? And in fact, we see Jesus confirming this in a later passage in the Gospel of Mark, incidentally also about driving out demons:
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”
- Mark 9:38-40 (emphasis mine)
So, we see Jesus cautioning his disciples against a kind of moral/theological gatekeeping. Now, when one forges implicit alliances like these with parties who may not conform to every tenet of one’s faith (as in the “non-disciple” exorcist in Mark 9:38), one must inevitably tolerate such differences in the interest of the greater goal of securing victory. This tolerance is in fact shown in the passages that follow: “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.” But what about the “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,” the ever so misinterpreted “unforgivable” sin? The Catechism teaches that “blasphemy against the Spirit” is nothing else but the deliberate rejection of God’s mercy by refusing to repent (CCC 1864). But don’t atheists reject God? One may argue that people cannot truly reject something that they do not know exists. If we say that an atheist “rejects” God, we must concede that it is certainly not the same kind of deliberate rejection as that of the fallen angels, who, knowing God to be real and the Highest Good, still willfully rejected Him. This is consistent with the Church’s teaching on unintentional ignorance (CCC 1860), and with the interpretations of these early Church Fathers:
Theophylact: We must however understand, that they will not obtain pardon unless they repent. But since it was at the flesh of Christ that they were offended, even though they did not repent, some excuse was allowed them, and they obtained some remission…
Bede: Neither however are those, who do not believe the Holy Spirit to be God, guilty of an unpardonable blasphemy, because they were persuaded to do this by human ignorance, not by devilish malice.
- Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea, Commentary on Mark 3
The Church Fathers interpret the “strong man” in the Gospel to represent Satan, and his “property” to represent his hold on those souls under his influence. Thus, to “plunder the strong man’s house” is to liberate people from the influence of evil, thereby securing them as allies according to our “King B analogy.” This inclusivist interpretation is further consistent with a principle termed Anonymous Christianity, proposed by Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner, and with the Church’s declaration in Gaudium et Spes of the universal participation of all people in the paschal mystery:
Anonymous Christianity means that a person lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity… Let us say, a Buddhist monk… who, because he follows his conscience, attains salvation and lives in the grace of God; of him I must say that he is an anonymous Christian; if not, I would have to presuppose that there is a genuine path to salvation that really attains that goal, but that simply has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. But I cannot do that. And so, if I hold if everyone depends upon Jesus Christ for salvation, and if at the same time I hold that many live in the world who have not expressly recognized Jesus Christ, then there remains in my opinion nothing else but to take up this postulate of an anonymous Christianity.
- Karl Rahner in Dialogue
Pressing upon the Christian to be sure, are the need and the duty to battle against evil through manifold tribulations and even to suffer death. But, linked with the paschal mystery and patterned on the dying Christ, he will hasten forward to resurrection in the strength which comes from hope. All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all men and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.
- Gaudium et Spes, Art. 22
Thus, we see that our inclusive “King B analogy” is Scripturally coherent, consistent with the interpretations of the Church Fathers, and consistent with official Church teaching. The practical implication for the Church is that, rather than polarizing Herself against the secular world, She ought to ask how She may work together with the secular world as an ally in the fight against evil. Finally, Jesus’ words at the end of this Sunday’s Gospel solidify the case for an inclusivist interpretation: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Going back to the question of what I’d like to communicate through my music selections, keep an ear out for the following lyrics in our hymns for this Sunday:
“Here the love of Christ shall end divisions: All are welcome.”
- #422 All Are Welcome, Opening hymn for the 9:30 AM Mass
“With God as our Father, brothers all are we; let me walk with my brother in perfect harmony.”
- #531 Let There Be Peace On Earth, Offertory hymn for the 9:30 AM & 11:00 AM Masses
“No race nor creed can love exclude, if honored be God’s name; our family embraces all whose Father is the same.”
- #493 Where Charity and Love Prevail, Communion hymn for the 11:00 AM Mass
“When hatred is used to divide us, hold on to love.”
- #496 Hold On to Love, Offertory Hymn for the 5:00 PM Mass
“Here is refuge for all people from every tribe and tongue. In the house that Love is building, there is room for everyone.”
- #311 The House that Love is Building, Recessional Hymn for the 5:00 PM Mass
With my peace,
Carlo Serrano, Music Director
No comments:
Post a Comment