10th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Cycle B
Gn 3:9-15, 2 Cor 4:13—5:1, Mk 3:20-35
I saw a really adorable video
this week of a three-year-old girl whose father was questioning her about why
she painted her entire Barbie doll with blue nail polish. He would ask her,
“Why did you paint your Barbie with nail polish?” And she kept saying, “She
told me to do it, and I told her hundreds of times no.” She was crying and
anguished. Every time her father patiently questioned her about what she had
done she kept repeating, “I told her hundreds of times no, but she kept telling
me to do it.” I think we have all experienced this with little ones. This
father had a really hard time not busting up. She was so innocent and so
sincere. We expect that type of thing from kids. We know they don’t know any
better. We know they aren’t really responsible for their actions at that age.
They’re just trying to get out of it.
Passing the buck is our
first instinct. When asked why he ate the forbidden fruit, Adam said he was
just doing what Eve told him to do. No questioning it; she gave it to him so he
ate it. And he tells God, “It was the woman, who you put here, who did
it.” And it really wasn’t Eve’s fault either, the serpent tricked her. Nobody
takes any responsibility for what they did. The serpent was the only honest one.
He knew what he was doing. He was just doing his job.
Today we see the entire
spectrum of moral development, starting with the first Adam and ending with the
second Adam, Jesus Christ. The development of our own moral lives follows a
pattern. The first sin was pride. You will become like gods. Totally
self-centered. So, at this end of the continuum, we have pride. Everything’s
about me. At the other end we have mercy. Jesus considers everyone to be his
brothers and sisters.
In the middle of the
maturation process we move through stages of growth from self-centeredness to
awareness of others and our relationships with them, to the realization that we
are all interdependent with one another and are all responsible for one
another. And it has nothing to do with age. There is a big difference between a
20 year old TikTok influencer who posts suggestive selfies all day and the 20
year old army Ranger scaling the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day. There is an
overlap in our personal growth curves and our spiritual growth curves when we
understand our need for forgiveness. We cannot receive forgiveness just by
forgiving ourselves. We need to be forgiven, by God and by those we have sinned
against. We can move to forgiveness when we experience forgiveness. We can move
to mercy when we feel God’s mercy towards us. The morally mature person gives
and receives mercy willingly.
This story is the story
of us all. It takes so very long, oftentimes our entire lives, to fully mature.
Some people never move beyond a 3-year-old’s understanding. Where are you on
the continuum today? Are you still a child, thinking everything revolves around
you? Do you habitually pass the buck and make excuses? Is it all about your own
self-esteem? Do you think you need to
remove all the people from your life who don’t build you up or treat you as you
deserve to be treated? Or do you understand that we are all interconnected as
brothers and sisters, that we all need to forgive one another and show mercy to
those who hurt us the most? Is your pride your biggest stumbling block or have
you reached the heights of humility? Have you widened your perspective beyond
your own little world to extend to the entire world, as Jesus did? Do you see
everyone you meet as a brother or sister?
Jesus wasn’t
disrespecting his family that day. He wasn’t ignoring or avoiding them. He was
asking his disciples to expand their thinking. He wanted them to grow up! Being
his disciple means you have to see everyone as your family. We don’t ignore our
family, we expand it. Jesus was at the pinnacle of human moral and spiritual
maturity, where he truly saw the big picture.
Just as there are stages
to our moral maturity, there are stages to our spiritual maturity as well. And
again, it has nothing to do with age. St. Dominic Savio died at 14. Maria
Goretti was 12. Blessed Carlos Acutis was 15. We start off having no
responsibility for our faith. It is given to us by our parents and family. When
we begin to experience community, usually through the Church, we see that we share
faith with other people. We begin to see our responsibility not just for our
own salvation but for the salvation of others, in fact, the two are
inseparable. We understand that we are not saved alone but with and through our
relationships with others. We understand that to be spiritually mature we need
to act on our faith. Our faith is both personal and public. We are our
brother’s keeper.
Where are you on the
spirituality continuum? It’s possible to stop your spiritual growth at any
stage, or even go backwards. Many, many people who were raised in the faith
stop believing for a time or even forever. Faith is a gift that needs to be
nurtured to grow. Is your faith more cultural than committed? Are you motivated
by fear or by love? Do you fear the repercussions of your actions, or do you
truly make God the center of your life because you love Him with all your
heart, all your mind, and all your soul? Do you fully participate in the entire
sacramental life of the Church because that is where you enter into the
mystery? Do you attend Mass because of your obligation or because for you it is
the source and summit of your faith? Or is it optional based upon the
circumstances of the day? How big is your heart? Do you have your own personal Jesus,
or do you strive to bring the joy of your faith to everyone you meet? Do you
bring the grace of the Eucharist out into the world? As disciples of Christ, we
are called to do more, to love more, to give more.
As children we are all
about us. I’m hungry, feed me. I’m thirsty, give me something to drink. I’m
cold, give me something to wear. I’m sick, take care of me. Jesus loves me. I
am a sinner in need of forgiveness. A mature Christian life is about serving others. We feed the hungry. We
give drink to the thirsty. We clothe the naked. We visit the sick and those in
prison. We love one another as He has loved us. We love our neighbor as ourselves.
We love our enemies. We forgive seventy times seven. We go and make disciples
of the whole world.
It is only when we can
see ourselves as we truly are, brothers and sisters of the Lord, loved deeply
by Him yet flawed and in need of forgiveness, can we move out into the world
and bring God’s love to everyone. Who are my mother and my brothers and sisters?
It could be everyone I meet. They are definitely those who do the will of the
Father. I am one with them and they are one with me. And we are all one in the
Lord. Jesus says he is my brother. God is my brother! How radical, and cool, is
that?
