26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B
Jas 5:1-6
Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
You know, He’s a big god.
Let’s talk a bit about the difference between ideology
and theology.
Ideology is a set of principles or beliefs upon which
a political system, party or organization is based. And I guess your definition
of what makes an ideology good or bad depends on your point of view. We all
have our ideologies, we all have a set of principles or beliefs that we hold
together with other people, and I think in many ways they bind our society
together and keep us connected to one another. That’s a good thing, in general.
However, when an ideology becomes more than that and we let it define our
self-image and self-expression then that can be unhealthy. People who blindly
hold and profess strong beliefs in an ideology are called idealogues. Again,
whether or not you think that is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your
point of view, but generally we see idealogues as being rigid, dogmatic, and
stubborn.
Theology is faith seeking understanding. Theology
begins with the humble acknowledgment that we can never truly know the nature
of God because God is so other than us, so transcendent. Theology is faith
seeking understanding, not faith defining understanding. And theology also has
a strong basis in reason and the reality of the created world and persons. It
is not blind but actually very open. Theologians really just offer a different
way of seeing things, of journeying to God. They will never get to the final answer,
at least not in this lifetime. We are all theologians, even though few of us
have degrees. We are all taking the faith that we have been given and doing our
best to make sense of it and apply it to our lives.
While it is very easy for ideology to become
exclusionary and closed, theology should
be more open and broad minded. It is very easy for an ideologue to become
convinced that theirs is the correct and true and only way to think, believe
and act. Idealogues are so sure of themselves. Theologians are comfortable with
ambiguity. Theologians should be willing to be surprised.
Theology is a journey while ideology can come to a
sudden, immovable conclusion. We heard it in today’s readings. Stop them, Moses,
they’re not part of those of us special people God has chosen to prophesy. Stop
them Lord, because they are not part of our little band of apostles. Who do
they think they are? The end result may have been the same – the people
prophesized and the demons were expelled – but they didn’t do it like we would
have. They don’t know you like we do. We are the special ones. We have the
secret knowledge and they don’t. Both Moses and Jesus rebuked that way of
thinking.
“Whoever’s not with us is against us” seems to be a
theme in our society today. We are so polarized. Our political parties are
divided, we are split by ethnic group, religion, and class. And we think that
we have all the right answers and those who disagree with us, well, it’s either
us or them. It’s either/or, black and white, good vs. evil. We believe we have
the truth and are beset by people actively opposed to who we are and what we
stand for. There is antagonism between ourselves and the others. It’s personal.
This is the attitude of idealogues in today’s world. If you don’t think like we
do you must be against us. And if that is the case you must be stopped, even
destroyed, because you are a threat to us.
But Jesus didn’t say “whoever’s not with us is against
us.” He said, “If someone is not against us they’re for us. It may seem like a
subtle difference but it’s really not. His is a much bigger idea. It assumes no
malice on the part of those who aren’t technically part of our group. It
assumes good intent and hope. There are many more people who are not actively
against us than are. And while there surely are those who wish Christians ill,
most people I think are simply ambivalent or misinformed or ignorant of the
gospel. Jesus is saying that there is hope for all those who are not part of the
inner circle. They too can enter in.
You know, it’s a big church!
Even within the Church it’s easy sometimes to get caught
up in our own little pius thoughts and practices and think that our way of
devotion is the only way or the best way. The apostles were like that to a
certain extent. They had Jesus all to themselves, and they got jealous when
someone else modeled Jesus’ behavior in a way different than theirs. Remember
that these were the same guys we heard last week arguing about who among them
was the greatest. But even though those other disciples were not part of the
twelve, they were still part of the church. Even though those Jewish elders
were outside the camp they were still part of the tribe.
I guarantee you that as I have been speaking of
ideology and idealogues you have immediately thought that it applies to someone
or some group that you are not a part of. You probably thought of a politician
or bishop or priest or political party, or even that co-worker who has the
wrong bumper sticker on his car. It’s always the other guy, isn’t it, who’s
misguided or wrong? We’re doing it right. We are the right thinkers. It’s never
us who are the idealogues. But that kind of thinking is exactly what defines idealogues.
And so often that attitude causes us to close our hearts not only to what other
people are saying or doing, but to people themselves. We paint entire groups of
people with the same broad brush, most of the time negatively, and then wonder
why they do the same to us.
We should be theologians not idealogues. In the end
ideology is more about me than about you. If I’m right then you’re wrong, I’m
good and you’re not. It’s easy to hide behind such absolutes, because we feel
good about ourselves when we think we have a special knowledge or position. And
all too often throughout history we have seen those absolutes ultimately end in
violence and oppression. In the end theology is all about the other. Loving our
neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus commanded us. That is the definition of a
disciple when you strip everything else away. That’s what we need to hear in
order to understand our faith more fully.
The psalmist says, “If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.”
We are all called to have open minds and open hearts.
We’re all dealing with our own struggles and problems and issues, and yet we
are all part of the same tribe of disciples. We’re all in this together. And
those folks on the periphery, who are not actively against us but really don’t
yet know what they are for or against, are we to write them off as wrong
thinkers and outsiders, simply because they aren’t in the same place as us in
our faith journey? Of course not. That is what it means to be a prophet. To
bring those people into the camp.
We are all called to be prophets through our baptism.
The beginning of prophesy is openness to the voice of the Lord. You cannot pass
on the word of the Lord if you first do not listen to it and then accept your own
individual commission from God to pass it on to those around you. Don’t worry
about anybody else. Instead, rejoice that the Lord has bestowed his spirit on
so many. Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all! Would that
all the people of the Lord were prophets! Wouldn’t that be wonderful? What
would the world be like if everyone spoke out the truth of the gospel and then
helped one another to live it fully!
It’s a big world, and a big task, but God is bigger.
