The Canary's Collapse

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Readings: Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20; Psalm 53 (54): 3-6, 8; James 3: 16-4:3; Mark 9: 30-37

Picture: By Martin Hendrikx on Unsplash

My dear friends, what would it be like to imagine, just for a moment, an actual canary in a coal mine? A tiny, lively but fragile, bright yellow bird, trapped in a cage, and lowered into an eery pitch-black darkness. And what if that canary were to suddenly collapse? How will the miners feel? What will they do? Perhaps some will be too busy working to notice. And perhaps some others might pity the poor bird, and try to revive it. But what if, having failed to do so, they were to sadly shake their heads in resignation, and go back to work? How would this make us feel? On the one hand, the miners’ reaction seems understandable, since a coal mine contains toxic gases, like carbon monoxide. Gases that are deadly to a canary, which needs clean air to survive. So the bird’s collapse shouldn’t be a surprise. But isn’t carbon monoxide dangerous to miners too? Isn’t the canary’s collapse a sign of what will happen to them as well, if they were to remain in the mine? Shouldn’t they be trying to do something about it?…

In today’s gospel, like a canary lowered into a coal mine, Jesus descends from the Mountain of Transfiguration, and makes his way through Galilee. And for a second time, the Lord secretly tells his disciples what will happen to him in Jerusalem. How the toxic fumes engulfing and emanating from his enemies will eventually cause him to collapse. And it’s helpful for us to notice the disciples’ reaction, and to compare it with how they reacted the first time Jesus shared this shocking news with them. As we may recall from last week’s reading, the first time Jesus talks about his own Passion, Death and Resurrection, Peter starts to remonstrate with him. He tries to rouse Jesus from the troubling ideas that seem to be making the Lord dizzy. This time, after Peter’s failed attempt at reviving him, the disciples simply ignore Jesus. But instead of letting them off, Jesus questions them. For by arguing which of them was the greatest, the disciples show that they are breathing the same fumes as the Lord’s enemies. Fumes that are toxic to a full human life. Fumes that are incompatible with the life-giving breath of the Spirit, which sustains Jesus, and moves and empowers him to bravely and humbly accept the role of a helpless canary.

The stark contrast between the toxic fumes in a coal mine, and the life-giving breath that sustains a canary. Isn’t this what the other readings invite us to ponder more deeply? In the second reading, St James describes it as a contrast between two types of wisdom, two opposing kinds of logic, or orientations to life. The first we might name the logic of grasping. In an earlier verse, James calls it earthly, animal, and even devilish (3:15). It is characterised by jealousy and ambition or self-interest. It springs from the unruly passions of the human heart, and results in disorder in society, disharmony and hypocrisy, character assassination and murder, conflict and war. The second, we might name the logic of gift. James calls it the wisdom that comes from above, which is pure and makes for peace. It is full of compassion and shows itself by doing good.

The first reading tells us what happens when those who live according to one logic encounter those who live according to the other. What happens when the canary enters the coal mine, when the godly or virtuous person meets the ungodly or wicked ones. Annoyed by the witness of the godly person’s righteous life, the wicked are driven to persecute and even to kill her. Yet the psalm reminds us that, despite appearances to the contrary, God remains on the side of the virtuous. I have God for my help. The Lord upholds my life. Isn’t this also the experience of Jesus? And isn’t this what the Lord is trying to teach his disciples in the gospel? That even when, in the process of bearing witness to the wisdom of God, he collapses and dies, God will not only raise him up again, but will also draw others to follow his example. So that he might become the way to be free of the toxicity of the mine, and to find fullness of life. But to follow his example, the disciples need to be willing to make themselves last of all and servant of all. To welcome little children in his name. To pay close attention to other canaries in the mine, particularly those not there by choice, but by force of circumstance.

Which brings to mind that troubling piece of news from the front page of Friday’s print edition of the Straits Times. According to a recent nationwide survey on youth mental health, (n)early a third of young people aged 15 to 35 have experienced severe or very severe symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress. How do we feel when we read this? Could what is happening to our youth be a signal to the rest of us?

Sisters and brothers, through these and other canaries that may be collapsing around us, what might the Lord be teaching us today?