Episode 97: Year B – 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode, we focus on three details in the Mass readings for this upcoming 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. The first is found in the first reading, taken from Numbers 11:25-29. The relevant apologetical topic is Baptism. The second and third details come from the Gospel reading, taken from Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48. The two apologetical topics are the possibility of salvation outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church and Jesus’ teaching on the reality of Hell.
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Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In this episode, we’re going to focus on three details in the Mass readings for this upcoming 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. The first is found in the first reading, taken from Numbers 11:25-29. The relevant apologetical topic is Baptism. The second and third details come from the Gospel reading, taken from Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48. The two apologetical topics are the possibility of salvation outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church and Jesus’ teaching on the reality of Hell.
Let’s start with the first reading, again, taken from Numbers 11:25-29. Here’s what we read:
The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses,
the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders;
and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.
Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad,
were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp.
They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent;
yet the spirit came to rest on them also,
and they prophesied in the camp.
So, when a young man quickly told Moses,
“Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, ”
Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said,
“Moses, my lord, stop them.”
But Moses answered him,
“Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!
Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!”
Now, this reading has a clear and obvious connection to the Gospel reading, which will become evident in a few moments when we read the Gospel. But it’s not that connection that I want to highlight here. Rather, I want to zero in on the giving of the Spirit, and in particular, the purpose for which it is given—namely, prophesy.
I said in the introduction that the relevant apologetical topic is Baptism. So, the question now is, “How?”
Some Protestants, who oppose the salvific efficacy of baptism, appeal to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his Gentile friends in Acts 10:44-48 because they receive the Spirit prior to receiving baptism. Since the Gentiles are saved before baptism, so it’s argued, baptism doesn’t save us.
Notice the objection assumes that Cornelius and his friends are saved because they received the Holy Spirit. But reception of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily mean the person(s) receiving the Spirit are being saved. And our first reading is evidence for this.
The Spirit fell on the elders, Eldad, and Medad to prophesy. Their reception of the Spirit didn’t mean they were “saved” in the Christian sense.
The Bible abounds with other examples. The Spirit is given for artistic skill. God fills Bezalel, son of Uri, with “the Spirit of God” (Exod. 31:3) “to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every craft” (vv.4-5).
To others, God gave his Spirit to empower them with special strength, as exemplified in the life of Samson (Judg. 14:6, 19; 15:14), and to empower for leadership (see Num. 27:18; Deut. 34:9; Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 1 Sam. 11:6–7; 16:13–14).
Just as in the Old Testament God gave his Spirit for purposes besides salvation, it’s possible that in the New Testament God gave his Spirit to Cornelius and his companions for some purpose besides salvation.
The context of the passage in question seems to suggest this. We’re told that when the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and the other Gentiles present the “believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (v.45). They knew this had happened because “they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God” (v.46).
It seems that God gave his Spirit in order to convince the circumcised what Peter had said at the outset of his speech in verse 34: that “God shows no partiality” and that “in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”
Okay, let’s turn to the Gospel reading, which, again, is taken from Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48. Mark records,
At that time, John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'”
The first part of the reading has obvious connections to the first reading: someone who is not within the visible boundaries of the community of the faithful can be moved by the Spirit to do mighty deeds.
Now, Jesus goes beyond the mere performance of mighty deeds by someone outside the visible boundaries of the community. He highlights, so it seems to me, the interior state of such a person.
Notice, he says of the person who was driving out demons in his name, “No one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.” This implies that the individual is, at least in his heart and mind, ordered toward the Lord. And Jesus confirms this in the next statement, “For whoever is not against us is for us.” To be for the Lord is to have an interior disposition that constitutes a state of justice, or being saved.
So, Jesus reveals someone can be invisibly united to Him and the community of the faithful even though he is not united visibly—that’s to say, he’s not formally a member of the community.
This is apologetically significant because it provides biblical justification of the Church’s teaching on the possibility of someone being saved outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church. As the Second Vatican Council taught, in its Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium,
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation (16).
Given our Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday, we see that this teaching from Lumen Gentium is not some concession to the modern idea of religious indifferentism. Rather, it comes from the Master himself.
Now, this doesn’t mean the Catholic Church is not important. It is. Jesus started the Catholic Church, and therefore it’s necessary to be members of it, out of love for Christ. And, when it comes to the question of salvation, anyone who is saved is saved in virtue of their union with the Catholic Church, even if such a union is only invisible. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches as much in paragraph 846:
How are we to understand this affirmation [There is No Salvation Outside the Church], often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body (emphasis added).
The next detail from the Gospel reading that has apologetical significance is Jesus’ teaching about it being better to go into eternal life maimed than going into Gehenna not maimed. The key issue is the reality of Hell.
How do we know that “Gehenna” refers to hell, rather than a temporary state of punishment? Jesus, two times, speaks of the fire in Gehenna as “unquenchable.” That means perpetual or unending. Since hell is an unending state of punishment, and Jesus speaks of an unending state of punishment, it follows that Jesus is affirming the reality of hell.
Furthermore, we know this is hell because Jesus juxtaposes this unending or perpetual “fire” with “life.” What life could this possibly be? Given the contrast, it must be unending or perpetual life, which is nothing other than heaven.
Moreover, we know this “life” is heaven because in verse 47 Jesus describes the same state as entering the “kingdom of God”: “Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna” (v.47).
So, Jesus reveals the reality of hell. And this is apologetically significant because some Christians deny the reality of hell, thinking that hell is incompatible with the love of Christ. At least for Christ, he doesn’t seem to think hell is incompatible with his love.
Now, someone might counter and say that this doesn’t prove there are souls actually in hell. It only warns us that someone could go to hell.
This is true. But Christians who deny the reality of hell often do so primarily because they think hell is incompatible with the love of Christ. Our Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday Mass proves otherwise. So, at least Jesus doesn’t think hell is incompatible with his love, and that the state of hell could be a proportionate punishment for those “who cause one of these little ones to sin,” or one whose “hand,” “foot,” or “eye” causes them to sin. Therefore, the reason for denying hell in the first place can be dismissed.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that brings us to the end of this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. The readings for this upcoming 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, give us good material for having apologetical discussions.
- The first reading provides us with information needed to address challenges to the salvific efficacy of baptism.
- We have evidence in the Gospel reading that someone can be invisibly united with Christ and His Church without being visibly a member of the community, and
- The Gospel reading provides us evidence that Jesus affirms the reality of Hell.
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I hope you have a blessed 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. Until next time, God Bless!