Contagious Kindness

The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Readings: Num 11: 25-29; Ps 19; Jas 5: 1-6; Mk 9: 38-43, 45, 47-48

Recently, they’ve been running a commercial on TV for the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company called “Good Deeds.” Maybe you’ve seen it. It starts by showing a man walking along who notices that a child dropped a doll out of her stroller. So he picks it up off the sidewalk and hands it back to the little girl. A woman on the street notices this. She walks into a bakery and sees that a customer has his coffee mug so close to the edge of the table that it could fall off, so she gently pushes it back to safety as she walks by. And that man, in turn, having experienced this good deed, goes out to do something nice for somebody else. And this chain reaction effect continues: someone witnesses or is the beneficiary of a good deed and is then moved and inspired to do a good turn for somebody else. The commercial is very uplifting. It just makes you feel good to see how kindness can be quietly contagious.

Unfortunately, there’s not as much of that in the world as we’d like to see. Instead of being generous in our kindnesses and good deeds toward others, we frequently become selfish and think only of ourselves: our needs and wants, our happiness and comfort. St. James writes about that in our second reading today. He sums up our bad way of living with three terrible words: You have condemned.

So while Jesus commands us to love, we have done the opposite. You have condemned.

James goes on to tell us that when we condemn, we separate ourselves from the love of God and his kingdom. In fact, when we condemn, our judgment can have such a terrible impact on our victim that in a way, we contribute to killing that person’s spirit. Listen again to James’ words: You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one.

The irony is that Jesus’ way—the way of love—is not awfully demanding. We don’t have to cut off a hand or a foot or gouge out an eye, to use the metaphors of the gospel. All we have to do is offer a thirsty person a cup of water. Who among us can’t do that?

It sounds so simple to follow Christ’s way. We get it. We understand the teaching… and we may even really try to live it out. But we fail and we fail and we fail.

I promise myself I won’t lose my temper and take out my frustrations on my family—but I keep doing it. I vow that I’ll hold my tongue and not say hurtful things to people or repeat gossip about them—but at the first temptation, I’m doing it again. I promise that I’ll be more helpful and cheerful when somebody asks for my assistance, but sure enough, I get surly or make excuses not to help. Why can’t I just turn over a new leaf and really change myself into the better, kinder, more loving person I wish I could be? Why do I keep condemning?

Don’t think for a minute that Our Lord doesn’t know how hard this is for us. Our evil ways are so deeply entrenched that they seem practically impossible to root out. They’re almost as much a part of us as a limb or an organ.

But Jesus says: If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better to enter into life maimed than with two hands or two feet or two good eyes.

In other words, even though our condemning way is part of who we have become, we’ve got to be willing to perform radical spiritual surgery on ourselves to eliminate the poison.

These days, we all know people who are hobbling around in a lot of pain because their knees are shot. The doctor has recommended knee replacement surgery, but nobody relishes the thought of going under the knife. Yet when the pain reaches a certain point, most people say OK and have the procedure done. Later on, most of them say, “I wish I wasn’t so scared. I should have had this done long ago.”

Same thing with “spiritual surgery.” We know we’ll feel better about ourselves when we can control ourselves… Our souls will be “refreshed,” as today’s psalm puts it. But we put off taking the first step out of fear.

But remember that the gospels are positively full of Jesus saying again and again: Don’t be afraid. Trust him. He’s not asking us to do anything that will harm us.

Begin with prayer. Tell the Lord that you want to do better—you want to be better—but you need his help. Ask him to stir up your desire. Ask him to give you more patience, more tolerance, more compassion, more love. It’s definitely doable! I remember a few years ago, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York wanted to clean up the city’s bad image, so he started a campaign gently prodding people to be nicer to one another. Guess what? They just published a poll that reports that New York City is now one of the ten friendliest cities in America! New York!

Our lesson today also reminds us that Jesus is completely inclusive. The apostles were annoyed because someone was driving out demons in Christ’s name and they wanted Jesus to stop him. Jesus wouldn’t. He said, Whoever is not against us is for us.

By the same token, we’ve got to remind ourselves constantly that Jesus loves all his children... and if he loves them and forgives them and lifts them up, what right do we have to put them down? So painful as it might be, cut off your prejudices, your grudges, your anger, your knee-jerk reactions against certain types of people. Let it go. Ask God for help to make it happen.

And finally, be proactive in doing good—in offering that proverbial cup of cold water. Make it a point to do at least one nice thing every day for somebody that you wouldn’t ordinarily think to do. Look carefully for opportunities. They’re all over! Just picture yourself in that wonderful TV commercial caught up in contagious kindness.

We pray today that the Lord will truly touch our hearts, inspire us to become spiritual surgeons, and help us to be kinder and more loving towards one another.