"Would that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord's
spirit would be given to them all." Those words of Moses in today's
first reading from the Book of Numbers were his rather surprising
response to a situation that could have been downright threatening to
him. Remember who Moses was: he was the leader of God’s chosen people
and their liberator. They looked to him for everything. For the people
of Israel, the voice of Moses was the voice of God.
But Moses was human,
too, and when he became overburdened, God took some of the Spirit that
was within him and gave it to seventy elders of the people who then also
began to speak in God's name and with God's authority.
That was one thing. But,
then, two mavericks with the unlikely names of Eldad and Medad - total
outsiders who hadn't even been present along with the seventy elders -
began speaking in God’s name, too. A fearful, small-minded leader would
have gotten nervous at that point – jealous of his authority. Not Moses.
When he learned of it he expressed delight: "Would that all the Lord's
people were prophets and that the Lord's spirit would be given to them
all...!"
Moses was not one to
place limits on God or on the workings of God's Spirit. Nor was Jesus.
In today's Gospel passage from Mark we have something of a parallel.
Instead of those two prophets without portfolio, Eldad and Medad, we
have someone presuming to cast out demons in Jesus' name. And some
nervous disciples try to put a stop to it. Jesus' response sounds a
little like Moses: "Do not stop him. Whoever is not against us is for
us!"
Both these readings
score a point for religious tolerance and pluralism. They speak about
welcoming truth no matter where it comes from - even when it comes from
‘outsiders’ - maybe even from outside the ranks of believers. The truth,
after all, is one. It is never a private possession. The truth lives in
unexpected places as today’s scriptures make clear. “Whoever is not
against us is for us,” said Jesus. And “Would that all God’s people were
prophets and that the Lord’s Spirit were given to all!” said Moses.
I hear something further
in these readings, too: a call to avoid an ‘insider-outsider’ mentality.
In the Church we are all insiders. God’s Spirit has been poured out in
abundance on everyone of us. The inscription around our baptistery says
it all: we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”
Moses’ dream that all God’s people might be prophets has been realized –
in you and in me – in all the holy people of God, the Church – thanks to
our baptism.
The
implications of this are far-reaching. If the Church is a priestly,
prophetic and holy people - the entire Church - then holiness is not
something that trickles down from the top. And wisdom, knowledge and
understanding are not sparingly doled out by a favored few at the top to
the many and the motley at the bottom. No. That is bad theology. There
is only the Body of Christ in which gifts are poured out in abundance by
the Spirit who "breathes where it will," as Jesus said to Nicodemus.
This does not mean
that there are not within the church particular roles and
responsibilities: ordained ministries, lay ministries, ministries of
teaching, of authority, of service. There are. But the overriding
reality is that these ministries are carried out within a Church in
which all have been graced by the Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation and
all have received the Spirit's gifts of wisdom, understanding, and right
judgment.
This, of course,
is what the Synod which will again take up its work in Rome this coming
week is all about. I had a chance to speak briefly about that last
Sunday. The Synod embodies a whole new way of being Church that starts
from the grass roots rather than from the top, and honors all the
baptized by listening carefully to as many voices as possible because it
is in prayerful listening and in discernment born of respectful dialogue
that the Holy Spirit speaks. This synodal approach when it takes root in
the entire Church makes it possible for the Church to be in touch with
human experience – which is so important – makes it possible for the
Church to discover new ways to apply timeless truths to ever-changing
situations within the human family.
I return to where I
began. To Moses' great dream: "Would that all the Lord's people were
prophets and that the Lord's spirit would be given to them all." Those
words have been more than fulfilled in the Church and we must never
forget it for we are, together, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people set apart to proclaim the wonderful works of God
who has called us out of darkness into marvelous light...!"
Father Michael G. Ryan
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