The 26th Sunday of the Year
NM 11:25-29; JAS 5:1-6; MK 9:38-43, 45 & 47-48 (YEAR B)
‘But who can detect all his errors? From hidden faults acquit me. From presumption restrain your servant and let it not rule me.” The psalmist acknowledges the ‘‘hidden faults’’ that so easily escape our consciousness. Hidden pride is perhaps the most insidious of the many failings that can distort our judgment and colour our presumptions.
Such was the hidden pride encountered by Moses in the desert. At the Tent of Meeting, Moses, accompanied by the 70 elders, had spoken with his Lord. On this occasion the God of Israel imbued the 70 elders with the spirit of Moses, and they began to prophesy immediately. In terms of the narrative, this was not remarkable. What followed was remarkable.
