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“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will surely not lose his reward.’” (Mark 9:40-41)
“SOUL-SURFING” – September 27, 2009
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Fr. Robert deLeon, CSC
A recent article in our local newspaper gave voice to an annoying problem most of us New York State motorists presently face. Thinking at first that I was the only one with such a frustrating situation, I bore it more as a personal affront than as the systemic malfunction later revealed. I quote from that article:
“At a state-set price of $21, a New York state auto inspection is the deal of the day. But even a bargain like that should come with assurance that the sticker you need to prove your car passed the inspection will stay stuck. New York's 2010 safety emissions certificates are falling off windshields like leaves off a maple in October. A few years back, the inspection stickers were coming off. The state changed vendors and the problem was supposed to be solved. But over the last couple of years the problem has been getting progressively worse. For now, an Empire State motorist's best friend is a roll of Scotch tape. Don't wait for your sticker to come loose and fly out the window or slide into that crevice between the dashboard and the windshield. If you see your sticker peeling, tape that baby in place while you still can.” (Albany, NY, Times-Union, July 26, 2009)
Labels that won’t stick: that’s the problem. It’s the same problem we encounter in the gospel passage we hear today when the disciples complain to Jesus that groups of pseudo-followers are wandering about and even performing the same mighty deeds as those closest to Jesus. Indeed, it seems that those original disciples were jealous of anyone outside their tight clique, suspicious of anyone not an initiate of their tight inner circle. But Jesus will hear none of it, refusing to entertain their small-mindedness as he addresses his disciples, “Whoever is not against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will surely not lose his reward.” (Mark 9:40-41) Yes, labels that won’t stick: that’s the problem, at least for the disciples who stubbornly try to pigeonhole people, insisting that those not of their immediate company be labeled charlatans. But Jesus won’t for a minute entertain such thinking. All who practice compassion are members of my fold, Jesus insists.
And just as the first disciples had a problem with labeling, no less is it a problem for us today. But unlike New York State vehicle inspection stickers that refuse to adhere to windshields, our problem is that we can so easily slap gluey labels upon each other that resist removal. Labels that do stick can be an even bigger problem than those that don’t.
Called recently to our hospital’s Emergency Department to anoint a dying young man, I first checked with the nurse who’d paged me. “What’s going on?” I asked. A clipped response as she hurried back into A-1, the trauma room reserved for the very worst situations: “Another moped accident; it overturned and landed on his head; he’s going south, circling the drain.” I knew exactly what she meant: his injuries were not compatible with life.
While hospital lingo can seem insensitive, it is certainly descriptive as it serves to buffer staff members from the pain and suffering that daily surrounds them. While “going south” and “circling the drain” both indicate an imminent death in the hospital setting, such phrases also aptly describe what happens to so many relationships outside the hospital. We’ve all experienced the pain of a significant relationship “going south” or “circling the drain.” And here, too, it means that death is near. But there’s a difference. Within the hospital, the process of dying from major trauma is irreversible. Nothing more can be done to save a life. In human relationships, though, the process of dying can often be reversed. The life of the relationship can be saved. And so often it’s when we peel off the labels we’ve too easily stuck on each other that new life begins.
Weeks ago in mid-August my car radio insisted I join in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. NPR’s talk shows hosted celebrities who had participated in the event, and 4 of my car radio presets blasted music from that historic weekend. While I was a 21 year-old college student at the time, I have to confess that my only direct connection to Woodstock was through my sleeping bag, borrowed by a friend and left behind in the mud and grime of Max Yasgur’s farm at weekend’s end.
As I listened to memories of Woodstock on the car radio, what struck me most directly was that on an August weekend in 1969, half a million young people of all shades and stripes came together in search of a peace that seemed so illusive as the Vietnam war raged on. As deaths continued to mount in Southeast Asia, a rural farm in Sullivan County, New York, became the birthplace of a renewed peace movement.
The great lesson of Woodstock, I believe, is that heaven on earth comes closer to reality when labels are dropped and people focus on their commonalities rather than their divisions. It was the desire for peace and the love of music that brought half a million to Woodstock. I’m thinking it’ll probably be the very same thing that brings us all home to heaven.