Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

I am sure that by now we have realized the fact that St. James was a straight talker. And may be he has begun getting on our nerves with his in-your-face wisdom that we have read over the last two weeks. His writing on humility in yesterday’s reading was difficult to digest, yet, we know it to be so true. Today’s reading unveils another bitter truth about human existence – that human beings think that they are in control of their lives. Instead, as James puts it, Christians have to get used to thinking, “If the Lord wills it… (Jas 4:14). And surprisingly, this is the meaning of humility that James was talking about in yesterday’s reading. Humility first and foremost applies to our relationship with God. Humility is about realizing that in fact it is God around whom human life revolves. Each of us would like to think the world revolves around us. Such thinking is often childish. I wonder if we remember our own growing up. For a few years as babies everyone one finds us cute, they play with us, pick us up, kiss us and pamper us. Then there comes along another sibling or we just grow up and a rude awakening hits us – the world does not revolve around us. In fact, we realize that we are just players in a world that has a life of its own. A similar enlightenment is important for a Christian. Our lives must be in conjunction with the will of God. That is what James means when he says, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that” (Jas 4:14).

The gospel reading affirms that theme. The disciples seem to have a sense of entitlement regarding their ministry with Jesus. They think the world revolves around them. They get upset with someone who they saw drive our demons in Jesus’ name. How dare! So they try to prevent them from doing so. When they came to Jesus there was an “enlightenment” waiting to happen. Jesus takes their focus away from themselves and refocuses them to the bigger picture: “For whoever is not against us is for us” (Mk 9:40). Jesus was giving them a lesson in humility. He was asking them to be more in conjunction with God’s will rather than be obsessed with their own world.

Today, all day, let us pray many times the prayer that James asks us to pray: “If the Lord wills it…”