2015/09/27 - Homily - ELDAD and MEDAD And US

Imprimer

Bk Nombers, 11,25-29
James 5,1-6
Mark 9,38-43,45,47-48

ELDAD and MEDAD
And US


1° Do you know the story of two men who possibly were friends?

They were named Eldad and Medad.

They didn`t do anything as it had been scheduled…

Yes, now you are beginning to see my point.


2° We have just heard their names in the first reading from the Book of Numbers.

Joshua complained to Moses that both of them who had not been particularly chosen to prophecy cy were doing so.

He wanted Moses to stop them. Moses replied:” are you jealous for my sake? “


3° But about what it is really going on?

At that time, the people of Israel was led by Moses through the desert.

They were not happy. Moses had complained to Good.

Good had agreed with him, indeed, it was too much for Moses to bear such heavy responsibilities alone.

The spirit of Moses should be given to many others. The pedagogy provided by God is in progress.


4° Through this story we can learn from such a divine`s pedagogy. Indeed two kinds of lessons can be learnt.

1. God want to share his spirit with all the people of Israel and throughout them with the whole of mankind. The power of the rules given to Moses is too much for himself. New people must be associated with it. For sure, in the religious field, it is the very beginning of the democratic way to rule and make decisions. It is only possible because of Gods` will. The power of the rules, meant the capacity to understand the things of God is given to all believers, not one separated from others, but altogether. It is a very important point. God’s people is such a composite one where so many responsibilities have to be taken in order to rule, teach and lead the communities. We can meditate about it and see how it is applied into the Catholic Church. In so many fields such good ruling can be found and in many others it seems difficult to find any. The spirit of God has been given to us the day of our baptism and renewed for having true mission abilities in the sacrament of confirmation. The partaking of his spirit means for us the great trust put by God into our capacity to receive it and upon which build our engagements in the Church and in the world.

2. The second lesson given by the book of Numbers, as well as by the Gospel, is about the possibility of receiving the Spirit of God without the knowledge of those who are responsible for the ruling of the community. Eldad and Medad, were also chosen to receive the spirit of Moses which had been sent to Moses by God himself. But they missed the gathering. Despite that they also received their part of the spirit of Moses. Their story is a way to learn how God led the People of Israel to a better understanding of his will. Christ’s own disciples had also to learn it. They had to abandon their purely human reflex asking Jesus to send the fire from heaven and clean the place from those who prophecy. This is not an appropriate behavior. Jesus is adamant on it. We can often observe that many persons are really able to “preach God” without being appointed by the Church authorities. They too are the disciples of Christ even if they don`t -or want to -attend church, go to the dominical assembly and so on. When we meet them, we can tell them –or only think –that they are the beloved of God just as Eldad and Medad were His beloved ones. El-God, Dad-beloved. And if we can’t pray with them, surely we can pray for them, and glorify God for His spirit, this beautiful gift given to us all. His divine pedagogy never stops and we can be sure that he is the one able to lead us and the whole Church through surprising ways. AMEN