IF we have just seen the contrast between Jesus’ sense of mission in life and His disciples’ preoccupation with themselves, now, we have a study of two strongly contrasting attitudes
in Jesus Himself. On the one hand, He exhibits great tolerance toward anyone who comes to the assistance of others, and on the other, He has only intolerance toward those who cause harm to others (Mark 9:38-48).
For goodness by anyone
Particularly protective of the name of Jesus and of the authority of those chosen by Him to heal the sick and drive evil spirits away (Mark 6:7-11), John reports that they saw someone driving demons out in the name of Jesus, but the man was not a member of their group, so they told Him to cease and desist from any such activity. Whatever may be the good intention of his disciples, this narrow-mindedness did not get the approval of Jesus. Whoever may be the man, He was doing something good by liberating people from the domination of demons, and in the name of Jesus at that. Such activity should be supported, not stopped.
Goodness by anybody is goodness, and must be recognized and even augmented. Nobody has a monopoly in doing what is good, nor should we downgrade the good others do. If the true and the good please our heavenly Father, anyone who does what is good should be considered as a brother or a sister. Respecting their freedom and conscience, those who do good even if they be different from us in race, appellation or religious grouping deserve our appreciation. What ultimately counts is the good done, as Jesus points out, without asking first for some membership card: “For I was hungry and you gave me food…” (Matthew 25:35-40).
Rejecting evildoers
Jesus identifies so much with the needy anytime and anywhere that He is grateful for any good act to them by anyone. Instead of jealous partisanship, what Jesus wants from His disciples is real concern for the poor. In the context of His thankfulness to anybody who gives even just a glass of water to anyone belonging to Him, we can understand His intolerance toward those who scandalize (literally, “cause to fall”) others, especially his “little ones.” His uncompromising severity against such doers of evil is graphically illustrated by the hyperbole of the fittingness of a mill-stone around the neck of such a person and throwing him/her into the sea.
A true oriental, Jesus turns to His disciples and drives home His point against any compromise with evil by dramatically prescribing amputation. If your hand or foot or eye causes you to sin, cut it off! When already infected or gangrenous and threatening to the rest, a part must go for the good of the whole. Bottom line is: better to live an amputee than be a living-dead in Gehenna. This infamous place known to all the contemporaries of Jesus was the dumpsite of Jerusalem, where the worms do not die and the fire is never quenched, and where Jesus would consign an evildoer as dreg of the community.
Alálaong bagá, the appalling plight of the “little ones” in our society suggests a pre-Christian environment, not a nation to celebrate 500 years of the Gospel. The numbing poverty and deprivation, the pervasive violence, the rampant corruption, the mindless raping of our environment, the rancorous deception of the public by alleged leaders, the peddled drugs of destruction, etc., should be outright intolerable to any Christian conscience. Any tolerance in their regard would be a veritable enthronement of the very demons we need to be liberated from. In such life situation, the question and challenge from the Gospel is whether we have the right tolerance and support for all the good being done for others, and the appropriate intolerance against the multifarious evil being perpetrated upon and suffered by the people.
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