27. Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Mr. 9,38-43,45, 47-48

Among the terrible deaths is drowning. In the past, when they wanted to punish someone with this death, they attached a heavy stone to his shoulders so that he could not save himself at all. If he wanted to swim, the stone pushed him to the bottom. According to Jesus, there is something more terrible than such a death. It’s an outrage. If someone offends others, “it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and thrown into the sea”. Why do we hear such harsh words from the mouth of Jesus? Because the one who offends destroys the inner, spiritual life. And it is a tough act when it destroys the other’s focus on God. So it destroys his faith. If someone causes a person to resent God, Christ, and the Church by his offense, then it would be better for such a person if he died prematurely. Death would help him so that he would not have such a sin in his soul and before God. The grace of faith, or the grace of turning to God, is given by God himself.

He is the first reason someone starts thinking about him and accepting him into his life. God helps himself by various means to open man to himself. Most often, people and events open the hearts of others so that God can enter them. God will never break this relationship with him. Only a human can break it. He does so when he decides to do so himself or when others help him. Today, we are thinking about this second variant. There are people whose faith has not matured, whose faith has disappeared because others caused it. We could call them faith killers. Each of us has a great responsibility for the faith of our brothers and sisters. If we are to live responsibly, we must also live the gospel responsibly. Christ even speaks of a certain radicalism. After all, how else can we understand his words that we should cut off our hands and legs and pluck out an eye if they tempt us to sin?

This radicalism is directly aimed at achieving the kingdom of God. However, it is also indirectly aimed at others because the sins we do not remove from our lives will be a scandal for them. If they are an offense to others, then we cannot enter the kingdom of God. The most stupid opinion of a Christian is when he says that no one should care about his life. We certainly have a right to privacy. But we do not have the right to forbid people from being utterly interested in our lives. And if we wanted to appropriate such a right, we could only exercise it if we did not come to the light of God. We would have to “wall ourselves off” at home. We know from our own experience that those who completely isolate themselves from people are not normal. Ordinary people live their lives with other people. But those others are constantly watching us. They can watch us from a different point of view.

It is serious for us when we are observed from the point of view that we are believers. Then they compare our words and our deeds with our faith. If they see a discrepancy there, they may become disillusioned. Disillusionment would not be the worst thing yet. It becomes wrong when our behavior causes us to help them laugh at our faith, to see it as a sham. And if God forbid they say that I should be such a Christian, then I’d rather be a non-believer or be interested in another faith. In life, we will never have the security to say no one has offended us. Neither I nor you can tell. If someone were to take offense at the fact that we are good Christians, that is not our problem. Then, we are dealing with a person who is hostile to God. Or he is offended because our life makes him rightfully reproached.

Our problem is whether he wants to find a way to God and the Church through us or live his religious life more fully. Then we must tremble before offending him. Today, when we meet young people whose parents offended them so much that they resented religion, but now they receive the essential sacraments, they will usually tell you that good young Christians helped them to do so. They met such people who not only believed in Christ but also lived according to Christ. If they met us, they would be baptized and go to the First St. reception. If someone could do business with millstones today, he would become rich quickly. Not because mills are being built, but because, unfortunately, so many Christians deserve them. Although no one hangs them around our necks, let us think very seriously about Christ’s terrible comparison to those who offended us.