Eldad and Medad,
Prophets Among the People
Prophets Among the People
September 27, 2009, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Numbers 11:25-29 James 5:1-6 Mark 9:38-40
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 began to speak out like prophets.
Now two of the seventy elders, Eldad and Medad, stayed back in the camp. Though they had not gone to the Tent, the spirit came down on them anyway, and they began to speak out in the camp like prophets. Then Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “My lord, Moses, I beseech you to stop them." Moses answered him, "Are you trying to protect my position of authority in the community? Would that all God’s people were prophets, and would that He would give his Spirit to all of them!"
Now two of the seventy elders, Eldad and Medad, stayed back in the camp. Though they had not gone to the Tent, the spirit came down on them anyway, and they began to speak out in the camp like prophets. Then Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “My lord, Moses, I beseech you to stop them." Moses answered him, "Are you trying to protect my position of authority in the community? Would that all God’s people were prophets, and would that He would give his Spirit to all of them!"
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
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Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.
Thanks be to God
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Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.
At that time, John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, for he isn’t one of our group." Jesus replied, "Do not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
September
Here it is the Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time and the last Sunday of September. The last leaves of brown are tumbling down on a glorious autumn day.
The problem of “official” and “unofficial”
The writers of Scripture are usually addressing problems in their communities. Rarely do they sit down on a glorious autumn day with no problems running through their heads and write Scripture. There’s a problem reflected in the first and third reading today: a religious institution tends to restrict God's action to the institution's action. It tends to make a distinction between what’s “official” and what’s “unofficial,” and then keep the “unofficial” in its place.
That problem is alive and well in the first reading today. Joshua tells Moses to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying, for they had stayed back in the camp and had not gone to the Tent; so they were unofficial prophets. Moses, expressing the spirit of a good religious leader, tells Joshua that he will not stop them from prophesying. In fact, Moses wishes that God would give his Spirit to all His people and make prophets out of them all.
That problem is alive and well in the first reading today. Joshua tells Moses to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying, for they had stayed back in the camp and had not gone to the Tent; so they were unofficial prophets. Moses, expressing the spirit of a good religious leader, tells Joshua that he will not stop them from prophesying. In fact, Moses wishes that God would give his Spirit to all His people and make prophets out of them all.
The problem of the official and the unofficial is alive and well also in the gospel reading. John tells Jesus that he and the disciples saw a man not belonging to their group (and therefore unofficial) casting out demons in His name, and that they tried to stop him. (Mk 9:38) Like Moses Jesus expresses the same spirit of a good religious leader. He refuses to stop the man, for whoever is not against them, Jesus says, is for them. (Mk 9:40)
Stopping Gumbleton
When one day the people were trying to bring their little ones to Jesus, and the disciples were holding them off, the Lord said to the disciples, “Stop stopping the little children from coming to Me, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Mt 19:13-14) The Lord also says, “Stop stopping unofficial people from coming to Me, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Stop stopping Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, formerly Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, founding president of Pax Christi USA and president of Bread for the World. The bishop made himself a very unofficial prophet (not one of the group) when he wrote a letter to America magazine, November 20, 1963, saying, "I can vouch for the fact that very many bishops share the same conviction (that not every contraceptive act is intrinsically evil). However, sadly enough, fewer and fewer are willing to say this publicly.” He made himself even more of an unofficial prophet when he predicted that, “Priestesses will inevitably come. Already female parochial administrators are proving their competency and laying the groundwork for the ordination of women.”
The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee tried to stop Gumbleton from prophesying. He was scheduled to give a lecture in the atrium attached to the cathedral. The lecture was being sponsored by Call to Action-–a lay movement labeled by some as definitely unofficial and even as “dissident.” The rector of the cathedral notified Call to Action that the scheduled lecture could not be held on cathedral premises. As one door closed, another opened. All Saints Catholic Church in Milwaukee opened its doors and gave this unofficial prophet a hearty welcome with resounding gospel music at Mass.
Stopping Fr. Hans Küng
Fr. Hans Küng, a Swiss German Catholic theologian, also made himself a very unofficial prophet (not one of the group). The institution also stopped him from prophesying, when Pope John Paul II revoked his right to teach Catholic theology. Fr. Küng’s prophetic voice resounds in a little volume entitled Why I Remain a Christian (a remarkably small book considering his well-known German thoroughness). In it he writes,
I cannot believe that he, who warned the Pharisees against laying intolerable
burdens on people’s shoulders, would today declare all artificial contraception
to be mortal sin.
I cannot believe that he, who particularly invited
failures to his table, would forbid all remarried divorced people ever to
approach that table.
I cannot believe that he, who said `I have
compassion on the crowd,’ would have increasingly deprived congregations of
their pastors and allowed a system of pastoral care built up over a period of a
thousand years to collapse.
In his last “I cannot believe” Küng is referring to the present acute crisis of priest-shortage afflicting the church and our band-aid methods to solve it, like creating a consortium of parishes with a strange name like The Church of the Three Holy Women (i.e., St. Rita, St. Hedwig and Holy Rosary), or like importing foreign priests whose poor English the faithful can’t understand. Some prefer not to call it an acute crisis but rather a blessed opportunity challenging us to hear the voice of Jesus commanding us to stop stopping married men, and let them come to Him. Yes, even, to stop stopping women, and let them also come to Him.
A woman who couldn’t be stopped
Many years ago we buried Mamie Schlaefer in St. Matthew’s Church in Campbellsport, Wisconsin. She was the mother of a Capuchin priest (Fr. Austin) and the mother also of a Capuchin bishop (Bp. Salvator) and the mother even of an Agnesian nun (Sr. Cecilia). Present at the funeral Mass were about 60 Capuchins, 40 Agnesian nuns and a church full of relatives and friends. At the Liturgy of the Word the superior of the Agnesian Order, the Father Provincial of the Capuchin Order, the Bishop of Bluefields, Nicaragua and the pastor of the parish all gave speeches, some rather lengthy, in praise of Mamie Schlaefer.
At the very end of a lengthy Mass celebrated by the bishop, a woman from the pews cried out, "Bishop, Bishop, I want to say something." No answer or recognition. Again she cried out, "Bishop, Bishop, I know I'm not on the official list of speakers, but I do want to say something. I'll just come right up there and say it." Down the aisle she goes, and up the sanctuary she comes. In that little conservative country parish where everything was programmed, you could feel a tension in the air crying out, "Is there no one to stop this Eldad and Medad who’s not on the official list of speakers? Will someone please stop her, for she could go on and on, and we’ve already been at it too long?" No one stopped her. Up she goes to the mike and delivers her piece in praise of Mamie Schlaefer. She related how she had come to Campbellsport many years before, how she had a nervous breakdown, and how Mamie had frequently expressed concern and care for her, and how all that had helped to heal her. Well, she didn't go on and on, as we all thought she would. She neatly exercised her baptismal prophetic office and then stepped down.
At that funeral liturgy the head of the Agnesian Order, the head of the Capuchin Order, the Bishop of Bluefields and the pastor of the parish gave rather lengthy speeches in praise of Mamie Schlaefer, and there was silence. Up came this woman who, though she wasn’t on the official list, spoke her piece, and at that the whole congregation burst into a resounding applause!
At the very end of a lengthy Mass celebrated by the bishop, a woman from the pews cried out, "Bishop, Bishop, I want to say something." No answer or recognition. Again she cried out, "Bishop, Bishop, I know I'm not on the official list of speakers, but I do want to say something. I'll just come right up there and say it." Down the aisle she goes, and up the sanctuary she comes. In that little conservative country parish where everything was programmed, you could feel a tension in the air crying out, "Is there no one to stop this Eldad and Medad who’s not on the official list of speakers? Will someone please stop her, for she could go on and on, and we’ve already been at it too long?" No one stopped her. Up she goes to the mike and delivers her piece in praise of Mamie Schlaefer. She related how she had come to Campbellsport many years before, how she had a nervous breakdown, and how Mamie had frequently expressed concern and care for her, and how all that had helped to heal her. Well, she didn't go on and on, as we all thought she would. She neatly exercised her baptismal prophetic office and then stepped down.
At that funeral liturgy the head of the Agnesian Order, the head of the Capuchin Order, the Bishop of Bluefields and the pastor of the parish gave rather lengthy speeches in praise of Mamie Schlaefer, and there was silence. Up came this woman who, though she wasn’t on the official list, spoke her piece, and at that the whole congregation burst into a resounding applause!
Eldad and Medad Sunday October 1, 2006
The scripture readings for Mass are arranged according to a three-year-cycle of A, B and C. So on Sunday, October 1, 2006 (cycle B), the first reading was about Eldad and Medad, and my homily that day had much the same tone as this one has. The reader and Eucharistic minister for that Mass was someone I had never seen before. He was finely attired, read well, and was obviously a professional. At the end of Mass at the front of the church, he asked who I was. I gave him my name which he ominously wrote down on a scrap of paper. The gesture gave me momentary pause, but then I dismissed it.
On that same day of October 1, the gentleman sent a letter to the pastor of the church with carbon copies to the Archbishop and me. The letter to the pastor begins:
On that same day of October 1, the gentleman sent a letter to the pastor of the church with carbon copies to the Archbishop and me. The letter to the pastor begins:
Dear Father,
You may be assured that any sort of letter(s) from me will be
few and far between. With your multi-parish management commitment, time must be
of the essence! May I begin by saying that the new 3-part team of yourself, your
assistant and the bishop [resident auxiliary bishop] has been very effective,
and has put the Catholic faithful who attend Old St. Mary’s Parish into an
enviable position; we are continually enlightened and inspired by all three of
you.
After that magnanimous captatio benevolentiae,[3] the gentleman expressed to the pastor his great dismay at the tone and tenor of my homily. The letter concludes:
I would suggest that if this priest were permitted to continue to serve at your
church on a regular basis, and if his message would continue to be so far
from the official teachings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, that
I for one would be tempted to simply depart from any Mass that is
overshadowed by his presence.
Sincerely
cc: to the Archbishop and the priest in question
Conclusion
A new lap in my journey
As I look back now, I see that that Sunday of October 1, 2006 proved to be the last of a number of nails pounded into my coffin: soon after that, I was dismissed! But it also proved to be a blessing: it eventually moved me to retreat to a safer temple not built by human hands[4], and it moved me to turn pulpit-homilies into e-mail-homilies which fly unencumbered into cyberspace. So the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time with its prophets Eldad and Medad holds a firm grip on aging memory, but it also holds a cherished spot in my heart, as it opens a new(and last) lap in my journey.
[1] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church institution has left!
