Divided We Fall
10th Ordinary Sunday
I remember growing up being taught by my father on how to use our washing machine. After using it, I need to make sure that there’s not even a single drop of water left on the machine. I made a conscious effort most of the time after using it. I will dry the top, front, back and sides , blow out the water on the dials and cover them with a cloth! At first, it doesn’t make any sense to me because it is a washing machine and it is meant to work with water and meant to be wet! But after thinking about it now, the machine has served us for a good number of 17 years! Everyone in the family has benefited in using the machine and all of us were united in taking good care of it.
In today’s reading from Genesis, Adam and Eve encounter God after failing to obey God’s instruction. Perhaps they couldn’t make sense of why this attractive fruit is forbidden. Before they sinned, they were united and one, enjoying the intimate knowledge and a familiar relationship with God. But after their fall, there is a breakdown and division between themselves. They realize they can no longer be naked– can no longer be open to each other and with God. They began to cover up not just some parts of themselves – but also to cover up their wrongdoings. Adam blaming Eve and Eve shifting the blame to the serpent. Where once unity and harmony existed, now there is division and counter-accusations.
The division continues in the Gospel of Mark. When Jesus performs miracles and healings, the crowds are divided into those of his relatives who think that he is out of his mind, and those Scribes who opposes his teaching. Thinking that Jesus is possessed by the devil, Jesus replied to the Scribes saying that how can Satan drives out Satan? A kingdom which is divided cannot stand. In today’s context, it is very relevant to us and it is the reality of today’s world. A nation divided results in disharmony and in the greatest possible, civil war. An economy divided produces extreme poverty and injustice to the people. A community divided promotes individualism, prejudice and violence. The same goes to the 7 powerful leaders at the recent G7 Summit in Canada , who are now more divided than before. They are making crucial decisions of which may give a possible negative impact to the world.
On a personal level, each of us is a divided kingdom. We are divided within ourselves; we are pulled in opposite directions. There is a war going on inside each of us, a war between light and darkness, between good and evil. Adam and Eve are not spared in this battle. The same goes to the Scribes in the Gospel. They are divided within themselves. They are disturbed and being challenged by Jesus’s work and increasing popularity. They cannot deal with this unusual, charismatic and powerful Jesus and so they blocked their heart and ignored his message.
And they begin to attack Jesus in public of which Jesus responds, ‘that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spiritwill never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” Does these words of Jesus mean that there are sin that will never be forgiven? If it is so, then how does this goes along with today’s responsorial psalm saying – 'With the Lord there is mercy and the fullness of redemption?' To understanding this, we must understand that the phrase “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” refers to a conscious rejection of the work of the Spirit. The Scribes are divided in themselves thus denying the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus and so resist the possibilities of forgiveness. If you don’t believe you can be forgiven and you don’t ask for forgiveness, how can you receive it? It’s like saying, if you don’t believe that soap can get rid of the germs on your body and you don’t ask for a soap, how can you be cleansed?
When we are divided among ourselves and when we are divided within ourselves, God is always there seeking to restore our relationship with him – wanting to unite with us. God will be the one looking for us and calling us out as how he calls Adam, “Where are you?” When God is calling us, we have to come to terms with it and engage in a process of growth- growth towards wholeness and unity. By the grace of God, the divided self can be made whole again.
In this mass, let us ask the Lord the faith we needed to go deeper in our spiritual growth so that we may be one with God and be intimate with Him again. We must go on striving for unity and wholeness even though we may never attain it here on earth. But because of Christ, we believe that in the end, unity will triumph over division, and good will triumph over evil.
