On the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, Jesus is both surprisingly open and startlingly severe. In The Mass Readings Explained, Dr. Brant Pitre walks through this Sunday's readings and shows how welcoming God's work beyond our circle stands alongside a sober warning about sin and Gehenna.
In the Gospel (Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48), Jesus tells the disciples not to stop an outsider casting out demons in his name—“whoever is not against us is for us”—then warns that it is better to enter life maimed than to be thrown into Gehenna, where the worm does not die. Moses wishes that all the Lord's people were prophets (Numbers 11), and James rebukes the rich who defraud their workers (James 5). Dr. Pitre examines what Gehenna meant and what the Catechism teaches about the reality of hell.
GOSPEL, FIRST READING & PSALM TRANSCRIPT (Subscribe or Login for Full Transcript):
So let me just press pause there for a minute before we move on, move any further. It has become popular in recent years — in fact I just saw the other day someone commenting on this — to say the Bible isn't that concerned with the fate of individuals, and it certainly isn’t that concerned with the whole issue of hell. That's something that's a medieval concern that the Catholic Church has made up, but if you look at the Bible itself, the Bible isn't really worried about the individual fate of believers or the eternal punishment of individuals. I have to respond to that claim, and just point out, that is completely false, right. Not only is the eternal fate of individuals a major priority of Scripture as a whole, it's a major priority of Jesus himself, right. Again, no one talks about Gehenna or hell in the New Testament more than Jesus himself. He speaks about hell more times than the rest of the entire New Testament combined, precisely because Christ loves every single human being, because he doesn't want any human being to spend eternity separated from him and separated from God and to experience the pain of that eternal separation, which he's describing here through the images of fire and eternal corruption and eternal, everlasting death. I mean these are serious, serious issues here. So Jesus is drawing on Jewish tradition, using Jewish images to describe this spiritual reality of eternal separation from God and he's essentially telling us in the gospel for today, do whatever it takes to avoid being separated from God forever. Do whatever it takes to avoid ending up in the fires of Gehenna rather than the kingdom of God.
You might have noticed that too, what is the antithesis of Gehenna? What is the opposite of Gehenna? Well Jesus said, it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye then with both eyes to be cast into the fires of Gehenna. So these are the two possible fates for every human being, we can either enter into the kingdom of God and be with him forever, or we can enter into the fires of Gehenna and be separated from him forever. Those are the two possibilities that every human being has to stand before, and Jesus is saying if anything impedes your entry into the kingdom of God, if there's any obstacle to you being united with God forever in an eternal union of communion and happiness and joy, then you have to root out that obstacle, you have to cut off that impediment to entering into the kingdom of God...
SECOND READING TRANSCRIPT (SubscribeorLoginfor Full Transcript):
The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time brings our journey through the Letter of James to an end, with a very powerful reprobation of the wealthy who are abusing the poor in the community to which James is writing. So if you look at James 5:1-6, let’s hear what James's warnings are to the wealthy in his audience...
GOSPEL, FIRST READING & PSALM TRANSCRIPT (Subscribe or Login for Full Transcript):
So let me just press pause there for a minute before we move on, move any further. It has become popular in recent years — in fact I just saw the other day someone commenting on this — to say the Bible isn't that concerned with the fate of individuals, and it certainly isn’t that concerned with the whole issue of hell. That's something that's a medieval concern that the Catholic Church has made up, but if you look at the Bible itself, the Bible isn't really worried about the individual fate of believers or the eternal punishment of individuals. I have to respond to that claim, and just point out, that is completely false, right. Not only is the eternal fate of individuals a major priority of Scripture as a whole, it's a major priority of Jesus himself, right. Again, no one talks about Gehenna or hell in the New Testament more than Jesus himself. He speaks about hell more times than the rest of the entire New Testament combined, precisely because Christ loves every single human being, because he doesn't want any human being to spend eternity separated from him and separated from God and to experience the pain of that eternal separation, which he's describing here through the images of fire and eternal corruption and eternal, everlasting death. I mean these are serious, serious issues here. So Jesus is drawing on Jewish tradition, using Jewish images to describe this spiritual reality of eternal separation from God and he's essentially telling us in the gospel for today, do whatever it takes to avoid being separated from God forever. Do whatever it takes to avoid ending up in the fires of Gehenna rather than the kingdom of God.
You might have noticed that too, what is the antithesis of Gehenna? What is the opposite of Gehenna? Well Jesus said, it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye then with both eyes to be cast into the fires of Gehenna. So these are the two possible fates for every human being, we can either enter into the kingdom of God and be with him forever, or we can enter into the fires of Gehenna and be separated from him forever. Those are the two possibilities that every human being has to stand before, and Jesus is saying if anything impedes your entry into the kingdom of God, if there's any obstacle to you being united with God forever in an eternal union of communion and happiness and joy, then you have to root out that obstacle, you have to cut off that impediment to entering into the kingdom of God...
SECOND READING TRANSCRIPT (SubscribeorLoginfor Full Transcript):
The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time brings our journey through the Letter of James to an end, with a very powerful reprobation of the wealthy who are abusing the poor in the community to which James is writing. So if you look at James 5:1-6, let’s hear what James's warnings are to the wealthy in his audience...
The Readings for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
First Reading: Numbers 11:25–29
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19:8, 10, 12–13, 14
Second Reading: James 5:1–6
Gospel: Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48
Key passages & sources examined: the Spirit resting on Eldad and Medad (Numbers 11:25–29); “whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40); the gravity of scandal and the millstone; Gehenna as the Valley of Hinnom (cf. Jeremiah 7:31; Isaiah 66:24); CCC 1034–35 on the reality of hell.
What are the Mass readings for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B? Numbers 11:25–29; Psalm 19; James 5:1–6; and the Gospel, Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48.
What does “whoever is not against us is for us” mean? God's work can extend beyond the disciples' own circle, so they should not be territorial about who does good in Jesus' name.
What is Gehenna? An Aramaic name for the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, used by Jesus as an image of hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
What does Jesus say about sin in Mark 9? To root out whatever leads us to sin, using the vivid images of cutting off a hand or foot rather than be lost.
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I subscribed and offered payment
but I have received nothing I requested???
Please advise
dgbaugh
Hi David, I see you do have a subscrition. Once logged in, you can access everything by going to 'Mass Readings Explained' in the main menu bar of our website, then 'Watch Videos' and then pick one of the options there. The calendar view works well for finding those Mass Readings that are in the near future and The Mass Explained will take you to videos in that series.
I have inherited leading a Bible Study based on the Mass Readings for each Sunday. The videos are very helpful in facts and insights to add to my research and prayerful preparations. Thank you for offering these teachings.
I subscribed and offered payment
but I have received nothing I requested???
Please advise
dgbaugh
Hi David, I see you do have a subscrition. Once logged in, you can access everything by going to 'Mass Readings Explained' in the main menu bar of our website, then 'Watch Videos' and then pick one of the options there. The calendar view works well for finding those Mass Readings that are in the near future and The Mass Explained will take you to videos in that series.
I have inherited leading a Bible Study based on the Mass Readings for each Sunday. The videos are very helpful in facts and insights to add to my research and prayerful preparations. Thank you for offering these teachings.
