Michel DeVerteuil
Textual Comments
Today’s passage is in two sections:
– a narrative which gives the context of the entire passage (verses 30-32);
– two teachings on humility, both woven into dramatic narratives (verses 33-35 and 36-37) which flow from the previous teaching.
As usual, we are free to take each section separately, or then we can see an inner logic between them.
The Narrative
St Mark gives a deeply moving account of Jesus at a new and decisive stage in his life’s journey.
His glory days are over; the opposition has become more pronounced, he has decided that it is time to leave the relative safety of Galilee and go to Jerusalem where he will confront the powers of the nation, “the elders, chief priests and scribes” of last Sunday’s passage. So he begins his fateful journey, “making his way through Galilee,” as the text notes.This is a moment of truth then, not a time for miracles but for facing up to harsh reality. Speaking to large crowds would be inappropriate; it is the time for being alone with his faithful disciples and “instructing them” with his deep teaching.
We think of similar moments in our experience (or the experience of great people who have touched our lives). The time for compromise passes, and the time for confrontation arrives. Being “delivered into the hands of men” means laying oneself open to one’s opponents. The confrontation is public, there is no hiding from it.
We can also identify with the disciples. They are truly blessed to have a leader like Jesus. They will always look back on this time of spiritual formation with deep gratitude that they went through it. They will naturally feel some regret at how slow they were to understand what he truly meant.
The Teachings
In the first teaching on humility (verses 33-35), the disciples are unable to face the issues raised by Jesus. They are too frightened and (as we all do in such situations) they take refuge in arguing about unimportant issues – greatness, status and power.
Jesus on the contrary is unambiguous. His body language conveys the seriousness of the teaching. The text says that this happened, “when he was in the house. It adds that the following happened, “when he sat down”; he then “called the Twelve to him”. He clearly wanted to speak seriously to them about a crucial point in his teaching.
A teaching on humility is very appropriate in the context of Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem. Only humble leaders who are not concerned about “who is the greatest” can face calmly the prospect of being “delivered into the hands of men”. They can then take what is offered to them and make the best of it.
The second teaching (verses 36-37) is also woven into a dramatic story and we must enter into the symbolism of the gestures. “Welcoming” by itself can be vague. We must fill it out with the details provided by St Mark. He “took a little child” and “set him in front of them” and “he put his arms around him.”
The expression “little child” can be taken literally. As often in the gospels however, we can give it a wider meaning. We can apply it to those who are “little” in any sense at all. These are society’s (or our community’s) drop-outs. They are what the bible calls “tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners”.The gospels have several teachings of Jesus on little children and each makes its own particular point, so we must focus on the angle being taken in the text before us. In this passage, the point Jesus is making is that leaders who “make themselves last of all and servants of all” have the capacity to “welcome” (in the sense noted above) “little ones”. They approach them not as objects of pity, as “the less fortunate”. They are, rather, precious gifts sent by God, “the one who sent Jesus”. He has much to offer and to teach us through them.
Those who are concerned about who is “the greatest” are not able to see the greatness of the humble people of the world. We must all find ourselves in this wonderful text. It is certainly addressed to us. If we can’t recognise ourselves in it, it means that we have not really accepted that it is directed to all. Yet this is clearly what it is meant to be.
Lord, we remember a time when we realized that being true to our values required
that we come out of our obscurity and take a public position:
– quit a job, break a relationship, speak up before someone in authority,
join a political party or a social movement.
Like Jesus, we knew that we would be delivered into the hands of men
and would be put to death in some way.
We had to protect ourselves against pressure from outside
so we did not want anyone to know where we were,
and we concentrated on explaining ourselves to those closest to us.
They did not understand, and were afraid to ask questions,
but we sat calmly with them, called them to us and explained
that, for us, being great in the eyes of others was not worth arguing about;
the only important thing in life was to carry out the service you entrusted to us.
We thank you, Lord, that you gave us the grace to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
“A great disaster reminds us of the big things in life that we forget
and the small things of which we have thought too much.” …Nehru
Lord, there was a time when we were afraid to think of failure.
Like Jesus’ disciples, we preferred not to ask questions
but focussed on being greater than anyone else.
Then one day we experienced death and resurrection:
– a cause we believed in collapsed and rose again;
– people in whom we had faith disappointed us,
but we got to appreciate them better for who they were;
– we admitted a secret addiction to ourselves and to others,
and felt free for the first time.
That was Jesus whom you had sent us,
teaching us that life is a cycle of death and rebirth.
Now we give ourselves to the present,
we welcome the little children you set in front of us
and put our arms tenderly around them.
Thank you, Lord
Lord, send us Church leaders who make us conscious of how much energy we waste
arguing with members of other Churches and religions as to which of us is the greatest;
who will sit down as our teachers, call us and tells us clearly
that we are your greatest disciples to the extent that
we make ourselves the last of all and the servants of all.
“The longer I live the more I see God at work in people who don’t have
the slightest interest in religion.” …Dorothy Day
Lord, we thank you for the many times that you touch us
through people we had looked down on.
You take them and set them in front of us and we see them in a new light;
we are so moved that we put our arms around them
and welcome them as your messengers to us.
They make us aware that being great is so important to us
that we spend our time on the road arguing about it.
They are the presence of Jesus, sitting down and calling us to him,reminding us that we are truly great when we are the servants of all.
Lord, we thank you for Alcoholics Anonymous
and other organizations which follow their healing method.
Like Jesus, they call addicts to their communities,
help them to present themselves not as the greatest but as the least of all,
set them in front of the others who then put their arms around them
and welcome them as your precious gift..
“The poor are the judges of the democratic life of a nation.“…The bishops of Brazil
Lord, our modern Western culture is interested only in the greatest
– good customers, those who draw crowds, winners.
We thank you that in many countries of the world
leaders of your Church are following in the footsteps of Jesus,
setting the little ones in the forefront, putting their arms around them
and reminding all that in welcoming them they welcome you.
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Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
Each week when we gather here we renew our commitment to being disciples: to following the way of the Lord on our pilgrimage through life. And as a pilgrim people we have been listening to Mark during this year as he reminds us of the demands of discipleship.Today we hear Mark reminding us as disciples that the core of the mystery we celebrate is that Jesus, the Son of Man was arrested, put to death, and rose again. This is the mystery of faith.
But we also hear him warning us about how we can be distracted in our discipleship: instead of seeing this community as the group which must model the way God’s people should live, it can all too easily degenerate into being a group where people argue and compete for honours and position. We as disciples have to both be focused on the Lord and recognise how often we fail as disciples.
Gospel
This is a unit of teaching in Mark — we can see this in that it supposes the same locality and the same activity of walking along the road to Capernaum while talking and teaching — but it is made up of two elements: (1) the so-called ‘second prediction of the passion’ (using this designation, the ‘first prediction’ occurred at 8:27-33); and (2) the dispute about greatness. But while splitting these verse into two like this makes great sense if one wants to study the gospels using the three synoptics together, it is less than useful if we want to hear the distinctive voice of Mark. For Mark these are not separate items of tradition just cut and pasted together, rather they are distinct lessons in what is the master-class on discipleship (today’s gospel opens a section of Mark’s gospel devoted to discipleship that runs to 10:31).
All the stories on discipleship are intended by Mark to correct false notions about discipleship: the first being that the Christ will be a triumphant figure in history — for Mark he is an historical failure who is arrested and put to death, but whose resurrection after three days is the hope of the church. Mark has now abandoned — he is presenting this as Jesus’s open teaching to the disciples — the notion of the Messianic Secret, and so the disciples have to come to grips with the reality of the historical destination of discipleship: the cross.
If the cross is the place to where discipleship leads, then the jockeying for position in an historical Jesus-run administration is all the more ridiculous — and so the second correction of false notions of discipleship. Mark’s staccato examples have an elegance lost in the prolixity of Matthew and Luke: discipleship is about the cross, great discipleship means service, not rank or position.For the ecclesial contexts within which Mark preached this material on discipleship, see the homily notes below.
Care should be taken in making any comment on the phrase ‘he took a little child’ as attitudes to children have so changed in recent centuries that it often produces a very false reading of this text and its parallels (Mt 18:2; Mk 10:15; Lk 9:47 and 18:17). Our culture sees children as valuable and who symbolise innocence, purity, and humility. In the world of Jesus and his followers, the words for ‘child’ and ‘slave’ were interchangeable. In the gospel, the child is a representative of the ‘no-body’, someone without dignity or worth. In fact, the same point could have been made by choosing a slave, or a domestic servant, or, indeed, a woman. Read in this light, the teaching on the disciple as ‘servant of all’ (pant6n diakonos) takes on an even sharper significance.
Homily Notes
1. Is there ever a case where straight forward exegesis should form the content of the homily?
The vast majority of modern preachers would argue that exegesis belongs in the classroom or is too boring for the average congregation: the homily should be lighter, inspirational, and more like a communications soundbite. On the other hand, it is the gospel reading that is the centre of the Liturgy of the Word and an important reason for the reform of the Liturgy of the Word and an important reason for the reform of the liturgy after the Second Vatican Council was to ensure a more prominent place for scripture in the liturgy. Hence the purpose of the homily is to explicate the readings as the Word of God – and this necessarily involves exegesis. Most of us find a middle way: a homily that tries to draw the gospel into our human situation but which is influenced by exegesis or, at least, does not fly in the face of what formal exegesis can tell us about the meaning of the text.However, there is much to be said for occasionally preaching a homily that is a piece of exegesis: where the text can be explained without complex biblical background, and without a well-stocked larder of general knowledge about the scriptures, and where that exegesis will say something useful to an average person about their life, and where that exegesis helps bring out something distinctive about how one of the evangelists preached the gospel, because it was the richness of that variety that inspired the three-year cycle.
2. Today’s gospel is one that lends itself to a little bit of formal exegesis.
3. What does that gospel mean?
•Let us begin with a basic observation:
•What Mark, and each of the other evangelists, selected for their preaching was to a large extent determined by the information their audiences needed to live as proper disciples of Jesus.
•We see this in two ways in today’s gospel.
•First, over the last few months we have been reading each Sunday extracts from Mark’s gospel. One of the distinctive things about his gospel is that very often after Jesus has performed a miracle or a healing in front of all the people, there is little command that’He wanted them to tell no one.’ What Mark was saying by this little device was that people should not think of Jesus just as a healer, or a teacher, or one who could perform miracles. These miracles were exceptional glimpse of how God loves us: to know Jesus is to know the one who was arrested, put to death, and who now is living in the church. To think only of the nice bits, was, for Mark, to get the whole picture wrong. Only when you looked at teaching and healing and dying and rising, could you say you knew the story of Jesus.
•Look at the contrast with today’s gospel: we are clearly told that he is with his own people away from the crowds: ‘He did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples.’ And Mark sees what he is preaching to the churches as the same as what Jesus was telling the first disciples moving along the road. Now what was this inner teaching that Mark wanted his audience to know? To know who Jesus is, the very kernel of our faith, one has to come to grips, just as his first disciples had, with this:
•’The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’
•Mark wants there to be no confusion about the central mystery in the communities where he has been preaching: this is what no disciple can be left in any doubt about.
•The second way we see him presenting the teaching of Jesus in a way that it made sense to the first churches is in the rest of today’s gospel. It is a fact of human life that we are competitive and there are people who want to be the VIPs in any situation. We may talk about ‘fraternity’ and ‘equality’ but we all can identify the sentiments of the pigs in Animal Farm: ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal that others.’
•The radical message of Jesus was that each of us are children of the Father, hence we are brothers and sisters. As disciples, we are to love one another, share our gifts with one another, and our central common action is this gathering where we are each given a seat at the Lord’s table. Yet since the very beginning there have been people who do not like this aspect of discipleship, who want to preserve their worldly status within the church, and those within the church who want to compete for position as if this were just some other club. We know that such disputes were tearing apart the community in Cporinth about the time that Mark wrote. We know that it still happens, and we can suspect that it happened in several of the churches where Mark preached. His preaching is by example: you may be full of factions over who is the leader, and which people are the most significant. Well, it was so also in the first group; now listen to what Jesus said when he heard of these arguments. Now go and take that message to heart.•The test of discipleship is service to one another, and being willing to welcome those who are poor, needy, and from whom you can expect no return. This is typified in Jesus setting the child before them as an example.
•Here we have a little bit of the earliest preaching: we still need to hear it to help us note precisely what is the kernel of the mystery we celebrate, and to be reminded just how easily our arguments within the church can be at odds with the vision of the new humanity Jesus preached.
4.Having given an exegesis. people need to be able to absorb the text again in a more enriched form. So pause for a moment, and then announce:
•We shall now hear that gospel read again, but this time we should be listening out for what Mark wanted his first audience to hear — and which still today we need to hear.
Then read the text aloud at a slightly slower pace than usual — or, better still, get someone else to read it aloud while you sit down and listen.
5. Lastly, it is good to consider this description of the difference that exegesis makes: it is the difference between ‘hearing’ and ‘listening out’!
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Sean Goan
Gospel
Following from last Sunday and the first passion prediction we come now to the second time in Mark when Jesus speaks about what awaits him in Jerusalem. However, the reader of the gospel is invited to see in these not some knid of proof that Jesus can tell the future but rather an attempt by Jesus to persuade his disciples that they need to change their attitude towards him and his ministry. It is clear that the disciples are happy to be with Jesus as their long awaited and triumphant Messiah but they are failing completely in that Jesus is not interested in such discipleship. He wants them to learn the way of the kingdom which is the way of the cross. This is not the path to glory as human beings understand it but to humble service and love. In taking the child as an example, he is saying to his followers,’ Be concerned for those who can offer you nothing in return, the powerless and the vulnerable. When you welcome them you welcome the true Messiah and the God who sent him.’Reflection
Today’s readings are dealing with wisdom but from different perspectives. In the first, people who are caught up in themselves want to be rid of the wise person because his life points up the emptiness of their own. In the second, we see the consequences of choosing to live by the wisdom of God. The wise person is not necessarily rich, popular or successful and while these maybe the values which are esteemed in our modern culture they do not compare with being at peace with ourselves. This is the fruit of wisdom and is a gift to be prayed for with all our hearts. In the gospel, Jesus offers us the wisdom of the cross which focuses on our call to become like Jesus, the last of all and the servant of all.
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| From Father James Gilhooley |
Pain sometimes can be the making of us. Beethoven is the classic example. Deafness hit him as a young man. It did not sit well with the young Ludwig. As a consequence, this period of his life was not distinguished. But once he had come to accept it, his genius bloomed. Arguably his Ninth Symphony is the most beautiful work of music ever written. If Beethoven had written nothing else, the Ninth would have won him immortality. Yet, the night he conducted the symphony for the first time, he could not hear a bar of his music. Nor could he hear the wild applause that greeted its debut. Yet, he sensed his labor was a triumph. So will we rejoice if we learn to master our pain as Christ would have us. When it comes our turn to die, as somebody has noted, God will not be shouting to us to help someone else. Rather, He will Himself be rushing to comfort us and He will be telling us that "His love is greater than our pain." Jesus tells His people that He must suffer and die. In verse 32 of today's Gospel, Mark writes, "But they did not understand what He said..." Perhaps Sigmund Freud would tell us the apostles were blocking out understanding. They had no wish to know what He had spoken to them on this dour subject. They wanted to hear only pleasant lines that promised them happy days. However, there should be none among us ready to throw the first stone at the twelve. Who among us gets our pleasure out of suffering? It is a condition we wish would become history. It is said that our conscious life begins with a cry and will end with one. In the first case, it is a shout of bewilderment. And in the second, it is often a cry of pain. The Gospels assure us that God will not turn His back on our pain. To underline that assurance He sent us His Son. We are, says Michael Himes, what God chose to become. The Jesus story of pain is familiar to us. But we are reminded that without a Good Friday there can be no Easter Sunday. The British writer CS Lewis wrote an incisive line in The Problem of Pain. "God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain." And why cannot we as Christians shout to another who is in pain? A woman with terminal cancer told me how much the prayers and visits of a fellow Christian mean to her. That visitor brings with him a special broth, mums from his own garden, and the day's newspaper. Then they spend some time in prayer together. That man may be doing but a small thing, but he is doing it with love. In Frannie and Zooey of JD Salinger, we learn of Mama Glass' answer to all difficulties: consecrated chicken soup. Very often a chicken, run quickly through some boiling water, is just the medicine the doctor ordered for many of us. In Genesis rings that ugly question of Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Christ gives a clear response, "YES!" The genuine Christian looks at the person in trouble and speaks, "I look at you and I see myself." Remember: "Great occasions for service come seldom. Little ones surround us daily." Furthermore, it is only through suffering whether it be our own or someone else's, that we for the first time begin to appreciate the gifts that God has given us. It has been observed that it took centuries for our ancestors to stand erect and put one foot in front of another. But, as our doctors testify, few of us take the effort to exercise. So, our bodies, these temples of the Holy Ghost, begin to come unglued before our eyes. Do we take care of this wonderful machine that is our body? Or take the question of sight. As one philosopher noted, so many of us look but do not see. Many of us confess to reading trash. But few of us take the time to read the magnificent prose poetry of the Book of Isaiah or the Psalms or Dag Hammarskjold's Markings. Why not refresh our spirits with the giants? Or the ability to pray. Reflect on Karl Barth's words. "To clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorders of the world." It is time to begin again. Why do we wait? But be gentle on yourself. Jesus attempted to reach everyone about Him, but He was not successful. Why should you get a hit every time at bat? |
From the Connections:
A somber Jesus speaks cryptically of the death and resurrection awaiting him in Jerusalem, while those closest to him argue about their own greatness and status in the Messiah's reign (that must have been quite a conversation to elicit the strong reaction it did from Jesus!). The disciples, long resigned to their people’s humiliation and subjugation, dream of a kingdom of power and influence in which ambition is exalted; Jesus explains to them (yet again) that the Messiah's reign will be a kingdom of spirit and conversion in which humble service to others is exalted.
Jesus outlines here the great paradox of discipleship: Do you wish to be first? Then become last. Do you seek to attain greatness? Then become small. Do you want to be masters? Then become the servants of those you wish to rule.
To emphasize the point, Jesus picks up a little child and places the child in the midst of these would-be rulers and influence peddlers. A child has no influence in the affairs of society nor offers anything to adults in terms of career advancement or prestige enhancement; just the opposite is true: a child needs everything. To be “great” in the reign of God, Jesus says, one must become the “servant” of the “child,” the poor, the needy, the lost.
HOMILY POINTS:
To put another’s hopes and dreams ahead of one’s own, to bring forth and affirm the gifts of others for no other reason than the common good, to seek reconciliation at all costs is to be the “servant” Christ speaks of in today's Gospel.
In their simple joy and wonder of the world they are constantly discovering, in their ready acceptance of our love, in their total dependence on us for their nurturing and growth, children are the ideal teachers of the Spirit of humble servanthood and constant thanksgiving that Jesus asks of those who would be his followers.
The poorest and neediest, the forgotten and the rejected, the “least” and the “lowliest” – represented by the child in today’s Gospel – are signs of God’s grace in our midst.
“Child-like faith” is never dissuaded or discouraged, never becomes cynical or jaded, never ceases to be amazed and grateful for the many ways God reveals his presence in our lives. The power of such “simple faith” is its ability to overcome every rationalization, fear, complication and agenda in order to mirror the selflessness of Christ Jesus.
Mom has prepared a small dish of pureed vegetables for the baby’s lunch. She loads a baby-size spoon with the greenish goop and pilots the spoon towards the child’s mouth.
What happens next? If you’ve ever fed a baby, you know.
First, Mom instinctively opens her own mouth wide. Only then will the baby follow suit. That’s because it’s impossible to spoon-feed a baby without opening your own mouth wide as you bring the food in for a landing.
Try it sometime.
Feeding a child is a great image for appreciating Jesus’ point in today’s Gospel. Catherine O’Connell-Cahill writes in At Home With Our Faith [September 2007] that, as parents hand on their faith to their children, “we find that our own spiritual hunger is being fed, too. The experience can bring us back to church or prompt us to update what we know and believe, as we grow from the faith of childhood to a more appropriate version.” Christ calls us to embrace the simple but profound faith that we seek to teach our children: to love God and one another with honesty and faithfulness, without condition or expectation, putting aside every “adult” rationalization and agenda. Only in “opening” our own hearts to Jesus’ Gospel of uncomplicated and straightforward kindness, compassion, generosity and forgiveness, we can help our sons and daughters become authentic followers of the Jesus of selflessness and compassion.
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Illustrations:
From Fr. Jude Botelho
Dear Friend,
Mohamed Ali, the one-time heavy weight champion would often boast, "I am the greatest!", and people believed he was. We may not openly claim to be the greatest in any particular field but deep down we like to feel that we are on the top, we belong to the elite, second to none. We all play the power game in one way or another and much of our behaviour is aimed at asserting: "I am No.1!" For that matter, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God? Is my life running on man-power or God's power? May His word challenge us to be powerless in His Kingdom.
Reflection |
| The first reading from the book of Wisdom reminds us that often the just man has to endure suffering not because he has done evil, not because he has sinned but precisely because He is walking the path of justice, the path of truth, and the path of God. Because of his upright life others feel threatened, others feel uncomfortable, others feel guilty and challenged and so they retaliate, they hit out at the just person who stands for God and His values. When we are put to the test do we resort to proving how tough we are, or are we ready to accept our powerlessness so that God can reveal His power and presence in our lives? True Greatness King Oscar II, monarch of Sweden and Norway at the turn of the century, enjoyed visiting schools and talking informally to the pupils. Calling on a village school one day, the king asked the pupils to name the greatest kings of Sweden. The answers were unanimous: Gustavus Vasa, Gustavus Adolphus, Charles XII. The teacher was embarrassed with the response so she leaned over to one little boy and whispered something in his ear. "And King Oscar," proclaimed the child. "Really? And what has King Oscar done that is so remarkable?" asked the King. " I-I-I don't know." stammered the confused child. "That's all right, my boy," said the king. "Neither do I." Denis McBride In the Gospel, as they come down the mountain, Jesus tells his disciples that he will have to suffer, be handed over and put to death. But the disciples do not want to understand what Jesus is speaking about. While Jesus is talking of being powerless in the face of suffering and death, they are talking of who among them is the greatest of all! For the apostles and maybe for us what matters is power, to show, to exercise authority, to make known who is the boss. For Jesus what mattered was the power to submit to God's will, the power to submit to others, to trust in His Father's power rather than his own. To drive the point home, Jesus says, "If you want to be first in God's kingdom, first in God's eyes, you have to be ready to be last of all, to be servant of all." The disciples still do not understand the point that Jesus is trying to make; so Jesus takes a little child present, sets him in the centre and says to his disciples: "Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me." What is the point Jesus is making through this enigmatic statement? Why did Jesus use a little child? In the time of Jesus the child had no rights till it grew up to be an adult. Yet God came to us in the form of a child, totally dependent on others. Jesus in today's Gospel once again affirms his readiness to give up all power, to submit to suffering, to submit to death itself, the ultimate loss of the power of life. In embracing the child, Jesus is embracing weakness, is affirming his choice of being on the side of the powerless, who believe not in their own strength but rely totally in the power of God. Are we ready to embrace our weakness to experience His power in our lives? Measuring Greatness! Peter said: "Of course without doubt, I am the most important! Didn't he call me the rock on which that community of his is going to be built?" John said: "I am sorry for you. What you say might be true, but that is only a question of administrative bureaucracy. The fact that you might be a good administrator does not make you the most important one. You should look for something else. You should be attentive to something more important. You should look for his love, and if you do that, well, he loved me most." Then Judas spoke: He said: "The most important fellow is the man with the money. You don't need to be a Marxist or a capitalist to know that. The world is ruled by money, and to whom did he entrust his money? To me, and that is why…" Phillip spoke: "All that is very nice. Do you remember when he had that catering problem in the desert with all those thousands, when nobody knew what to do, him included? He turned to me for advice. I am sorry for you but he asked me!" Joseph G. Donders in 'Praying and Preaching the Sunday Gospel' Servant of All Dr. Charles Mayo with his father and brother founded the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. One time a group of European medical experts were guests of Dr. Mayo at his home. According to the custom of their homeland the guests placed their shoes outside their bedroom doors to be polished during the night. Dr. Charles was the last to retire. As he went to his room he noticed the shoes. It was too late to wake up any of the servants. With a sigh he gathered up all the footwear, hauled them into the kitchen, and spent half the night polishing them. Msgr. Arthur Tonne All God's Children There is a legend told about Abraham in the Mideast. According to the legend, he always held off eating his breakfast each morning until a hungry man came along to share it with him. One day an old man came along, and of course Abraham invited him to share his breakfast with him. However when Abraham heard the old man say a pagan blessing over the food, he jumped up and ordered the old man from his table and from his house. Almost immediately, God spoke to Abraham. "Abraham! Abraham! I have been supplying that unbeliever with food every day for the past eighty years. Could you not have tolerated him for just one meal?" We are all children of God. God has no grandchildren! Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel Truth' The kind of person one is When Nelson Mandela was a student lawyer in Johannesburg he had a friend whose name was Paul Mahabane. Mahabane was a member of the African National Congress (ANC), and had the reputation of being a radical. One day the two of them were standing outside a post office when the local magistrate, a white man in his sixties, approached Mahabane and asked him to go buy him some stamps. It was quite common in those days for a white person to call on a black person to perform a chore. Paul refused. The magistrate was offended. "Do you know who I am?" he said, his face turning red with anger. "It is not necessary to know who you are," Mahabane replied. "I know what you are." The magistrate boiled over and exclaimed, "You'll pay dearly for this," and then walked away. That white man was convinced that he was superior to Mahabane simply because he was a magistrate. And it had become second nature to him to expect others, especially if they were black, to serve him. Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy day Liturgies' Today one of the games most people play is one-upmanship. Everyone seems to want to reach the top to show others that they have made it and that they are better than others. To prove that they are better than others, people go to great lengths to prove their superiority. Greatness is equated with strength and power. But often, it is the weak and insecure who display their power to hide their weakness. Jesus reveals that the least is the greatest in God’s eyes! The first reading from the book of Wisdom reminds us that often the just man has to endure suffering not because he has done evil, not because he has sinned but precisely because He is walking the path of justice, the path of truth, the path of God. Because of his upright life others feel threatened, others feel uncomfortable, others feel guilty and challenged and so they retaliate, they hit out at the just person who stands for God and His values. When I am in the presence of lawless persons, of people who live according to worldly standards, does my life confront them? If I am truly a person committed to God, I do not have to sit in judgment over people, I don’t have to necessarily point out their wrongdoing, my life itself, the way I live, the way I act, should speak loudly of the values I believe in. The silent witness of the prophet’s life spoke more loudly than his words! In the Gospel we have a juxtaposition of two different situations, two value systems. As they come down the mountain, Jesus tells his disciples that he will have to suffer, he will be handed over to the mob and put to death. The disciples heard what Jesus related, but they do not understand, and do not want to understand what Jesus is speaking about. In fact while Jesus is talking of being powerless in the face of suffering and death, they are talking of who is the greatest of all! Here we have a confrontation of values and life styles. For Jesus what mattered was real power: the power to submit to God’s will, the power to submit to others, not to exercise power but to be helpless and trust in His Father’s power rather than his own. To drive the point home, Jesus says, “If you want to be first in God’s kingdom, you have to be ready to be servant of all.” In other words, if you want to be the greatest, then you have to be the least, the servant, the one who does not give orders but does what he is ordered. God’s ways are not our ways; God’s values are so different from ours: to be powerful, you have to be weak! The disciples still do not understand the point that Jesus is trying to make. Jesus dramatizes His message. He takes a little child present, sets him in the centre of the group puts his arms around the child embracing the child and says to his disciples: “Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me, welcome not me but the one who sent me.” What is the point Jesus is making through this enigmatic statement? Jesus in today’s Gospel once again affirms his readiness to give up all power, to submit to death itself, the ultimate loss of the power of life. In embracing the child, Jesus is embracing weakness, is affirming his choice of being on the side of the powerless, who believe not in their own strength but rely totally in the power of God. Are we ready to embrace weakness to experience His power in our lives? Dr Charles Mayo, with his father and brother founded the world famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester. One time a group of European medical experts were guests of Dr Mayo at his home. According to the custom, the guests placed their shoes outside their bedrooms to be polished during the night. Dr Charles was the last to retire. As he went to his room he noticed the shoes. It was too late to wake up any of the servants. With a sigh he gathered up all the footwear, hauled them into the kitchen, and spent half the night polishing them. ***** |
1. “The most powerful woman in the world!” At
the screening of the film Mother Teresa during the fortieth
anniversary of the United Nations in 1983, the Secretary General Javier Perez
de Cuellar rose from his seat to introduce St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother
Teresa) to an elite gathering of the representatives of all member countries of
the U.N. He needed only one sentence for his introduction: “I present
to you the most powerful woman in the world!” (Hers was the power of
humble and sacrificial Christian service!) On March 3, 1976, conferring on
Mother Teresa the highest honor of India’s Vishwa Bharati University, Mrs.
Indira Gandhi, who was at that time Prime Minister of India, said: “I feel
myself dwarfed when I stand before this holy and mighty woman who heroically
showed the world how to practice Christian love in sacrificial and humble
service.” For many years, the world watched, admired, and loved this
small, elderly nun, always dressed in a blue-bordered white sari, as the
incarnation of humble and sacrificing Christian service. She was the
living proof of Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel that real greatness lies in
serving others. She did this with love and compassion. Beginning in
1962, she was given several awards, national and international, in
recognition of her greatness, attained through the humble service given to
the “poorest of the poor.” On Sept. 5, 1997, the day of the
death of this saint who lived with us, practicing what Jesus commanded His
disciples to do, Pope St. John Paul II said: “Mother Teresa marked the
history of our century with courage. She served all human beings by
promoting their dignity and respect, making them feel the tenderness of God.” Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2: Dr. Charles Mayo polishing the shoes of his guests: There’s
a story told about Dr. Charles Mayo who, with his father and brother, founded
the world-famous Mayo Clinic. Some European medical experts were visiting the
clinic and were staying as guests at Dr. Mayo’s home. In their own countries it
was the custom of these gentlemen to place their shoes outside the bedroom
doors for a servant to polish. As Dr. Mayo was headed to bed, he noticed shoes
lined up outside the rooms of his guests, but it was too late to wake up any of
the servants. With a sigh he picked up all of the shoes, hauled them to the
kitchen, and spent half of the night polishing them. Here is an example of what
Jesus tells you and me in today’s Gospel “If anyone would be first, he
must be last of all and servant of all.” (Msgr. Arthur Tonne).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3: The first shall be the last: The Greeks
had a story of a Spartan called Paedaretos. Three hundred men were to be chosen
to govern Sparta and Paedaretos was one of the candidates. When the list
of the successful was announced his name was not on it. “I am sorry,” said one
of his friends, “that you were not elected. The people ought to have known what
a wise officer of state you would have made.” “I am glad,” said Paedaretos,
“that in Sparta there are three hundred men better than I am.” Here was a man
who became a legend because he was prepared to give to others the first place
and to bear no ill will, as Jesus demands in today’s Gospel.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4: Remember potato salad and jokes: Tony
Campolo, used to say, “If you ever start to feel proud, thinking that you are
somebody great, just remember that soon after your body has been lowered into
the grave, your family and friends will be eating potato salad and telling
jokes, and you’ll be history.”
5: More My Size! George Washington Carver, the
scientist who developed hundreds of useful products from the peanut: “When I
was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God
answered, ‘That knowledge is reserved for Me alone.’ So, I said, ‘God, tell me
the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said, ‘Well, George, that’s more nearly
your size.’ And He told me.”
6: A horrible mistake: Father, I have a
besetting sin, and I want your help. I come to Church on Sunday and can’t help
thinking I’m the prettiest girl in the congregation. I know I ought not think
that, but I can’t help it. I want you to help me with it.” The pastor replied,
“Mary, don’t worry about it. In your case it’s not a sin. It’s just a horrible
mistake.”
7: Prime minister’s humility: Winston
Churchill was once asked, “Doesn’t it thrill you to know that every time you
make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?” “It’s quite flattering,”
replied Sir Winston. “But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if
instead of making a political speech I was being hanged, the crowd would be
twice as big.”
8: I am proud of my humility: Do you have
humility like the man who wrote the best-selling books, Humility and
Humility and How I Attained It and The Ten Most Humble Men in
the World and How I Chose the Other Nine?
6: Remember this old Sunday school song containing the basic
servant-living theology: J.O.Y., J.O. Y. Tell you what it means: Jesus
first, yourself last, and others in between.
9: The humble pastor: Did you hear about the pastor who prepared a great message on humility. But he was waiting for a bigger congregation to preach the sermon to! Another pastor was given an award for humility. A week later, the congregation took the award back because the pastor displayed it in his office!
16 Additional anecdotes:
1) “There are no professionals in dying.” In George Seaton’s film The Proud and the Profane, the steps of a young nurse are traced to a place called Iwo Jima where her husband had been killed in World War II. She goes to the cemetery where her husband lies buried and turns to the caretaker, a shell-shocked soldier, who had seen her husband die. “How did he die?” she asks. “Like an amateur,” he replies. “They teach you how to hurl a grenade and how to fire a mortar, but nobody teaches you how to die. There are no professionals in dying.” Most of us avoid the subject of death. It’s a taboo subject. We pretend that we are going to live forever. But the only way we can keep up that pretence is through massive denial. Woody Allen said, “When I die, all I want is just a few of my good friends to gather around the casket and do everything in their power to bring me back to life.” Everyone dies – that we can accept. But somehow, we think we will be the exception. Jesus knew of the innate fear in the heart of the disciple’s concerning death, — His death and theirs. Jesus also knew that they would all pay a terrible price for their future ministry. So, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the apostles that He is going to become the Messiah by His death and Resurrection. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) Beethoven’s Piano: On a visit to the Beethoven Museum in Bonn, a young American student became fascinated by the piano on which Beethoven had composed some of his greatest works. She asked the museum guard if she could play a few bars on it; she accompanied the request with a lavish tip, and the guard agreed. The girl went to the piano and tinkled out the opening of the “Moonlight Sonata.” As she was leaving she said to the guard, “I suppose all the great pianists who come here want to play on that piano.” The guard shook his head. “Paderewski [the famed Polish pianist] was here a few years ago, and he said he wasn’t worthy to touch it.” Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) “Baby, tell me what God feels like.” Soon after the birth of her brother, four-year-old Sachi began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. Worried that she might feel jealous and want to hit and shake the newborn, her parents said no. But the little girl’s pleas to be left alone with her brother became more urgent, and since she treated the baby lovingly and gently, her parents decided to allow it. Delighted, Sachi went into the baby’s room and closed the door, but it opened slightly, allowing her curious parents to peek in and listen. They watched as their daughter put her face close to her baby brother’s and whisper, “Baby, tell me what God feels like. I’m starting to forget.” (Dan Millman, Chicken Soup For the Soul, Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, FL: 1993). The innocence of this little four-year-old-girl is disarming, particularly to adults grown crusty and cynical with age. When Jesus recommended that the apostles emulate the little child set in their midst, Jesus reminded them of the innocence that they had long since outgrown. Indeed, their innocence had been replaced by ambition as to who was most important among them. By offering the example of the child and by calling them to be the servants of all, Jesus challenged them to rethink their attitude toward Him, toward God and toward one another. Those who would rank first among them as leader must become the least among them. (Sanchez files). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) “Franz Josef, a poor sinner in need of the mercy of God”—This is a story that I have often heard told in various forms over the years, and that I recently had the opportunity to verify in person during a visit to the Franciscan Church in Vienna: For 900 years, members of the mighty Hapsburg dynasty ruled over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe—an area that would sometimes be known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The majority of the Hapsburg rulers (including the last reigning Hapsburg, the Empress Zita, who died in 1989) are buried in the subterranean crypt of a Church (the Kapuzinergruft) run by the Capuchin order of Franciscan monks (the crowned skull at left is part of one of the Hapsburg coffins). Hapsburg funerals were distinguished by a particularly solemn and evocative ritual. As the funeral procession approached the (closed) Church doors, an imperial dignitary would knock and seek admittance. “Who is it who seeks entrance?” a monk would call out from within the Church. “It is His Royal Highness, Franz Josef, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria and Hungary,” the dignitary would answer; the monk would reply, “I do not know him”. A second time, the dignitary would knock, and a second time the monk inside would ask who sought entry to the Church. “His Serene Majesty, the King of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia and Galicia, the Protector of Jerusalem and the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Krakow…” (the list included more than 30 titles)—to which the monk again replied, “I do not know him”. A third and final time, the official knocked on the doors, and the monk once more asked the identity of the person seeking admission to the church. This time, however, the official answered humbly, “Franz Josef, a poor sinner in need of the mercy of God”—at which point the doors of the Church were swung open, the funeral procession was allowed to enter, and the Requiem Mass could begin. Father Gerry Pierse, CSsR; http://www.bible.claret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleB/B_25thSunOT.htm) –The model of greatness in the kingdom of God, presented by Jesus in today’s Gospel, is the powerless child. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) Persecution of the just: Elie Wiesel, Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner tells a disturbing story in one of his books about Auschwitz. As soon as children arrived by train at Auschwitz, together with the elderly and the sick, they were immediately selected for the gas chamber. On one occasion a group of children were left to wait by themselves for the next day. A man asked the guards if he could stay with the children during their last night on earth. Surprisingly, his request was granted. How did they spend that last night? He started off by telling them stories in an effort to cheer them up. However, instead of cheering them up, he only succeeded in making them cry. So, what did they do? They cried together till daybreak. Then he accompanied the little ones to the gas chamber. Afterwards he returned to the prison yard to report to work. When the guards saw him, they burst out laughing. –The story has most of the ingredients of our reading. In it we see the brazenness of the evil-doers, the persecution of the innocent, and the apparent triumph of evil, which is the subject of the first reading. The man’s heroic act of service towards the little ones shines out in the darkness of Auschwitz. He risked his life to befriend the little ones. He had no answers to give them, no salvation to offer them. All he could do was suffer with them and accompany them on their last journey. Though he was an ordinary person with no rank or status of any kind, he was undoubtedly the greatest person in that sad place on that sad occasion. What made him great was his goodness. (Flor McCarthy in Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) “If you had not gone to feed the people, I would have
left!”(Story for children): 1: A story is told about a Monk who longed to
see Jesus in person, and who prayed every day that Jesus would appear to him.
Each day he prepared a meal for the many hungry people who came to the gate of
his monastery. Then one day, as he was
about to serve a meal to the hungry people, Jesus appeared to him in the
kitchen. At that moment, the bell at
the gate rang, telling the monk that the hungry people had arrived. The monk
was in a real dilemma: should he stay
and speak with Jesus or go and serve the hungry people. The bell rang again, and the monk quickly
made up his mind. He hurried to the gate
and served the meal he had prepared.
When he had finished, he was saddened by the thought that he had turned
his back on Jesus. When he returned to
the kitchen, however, he found Jesus there waiting for him. “Lord,” he said, “I thought that you would
have left when I went to feed the people.”
“No,” Jesus replied, “If you had not gone to feed the people, I would
have left!” Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) Episcopal careerism vs child-like innocence: Father John R. Donahue, (www.americamagazine.org): The Gospel reminds the Church today of the dangers of ambition and posturing for positions of power. In recent years the genie of ecclesiastical ambition has been again let out of the bottle, so much so that Cardinal Gantin, dean of the College of Cardinals and former prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, deplored episcopal careerism and said he was shocked by bishops seeking promotion from smaller to larger dioceses (America 6/19/99), a view echoed two months later by Cardinal Ratzinger … Yet the pilgrim Church of God’s people continues the work of justice, and the unprotected and vulnerable are welcomed and protected. Jesus has many unnamed companions today as He follows the path of self-giving for others that leads through death to resurrection. Only humility exalts. (Geneva Notes). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) True Greatness: King Oscar II, monarch of Sweden
and Norway at the turn of the century, enjoyed visiting schools and talking
informally to the pupils. Calling on a village school one day, the king asked
the pupils to name the greatest kings of Sweden. The answers were unanimous:
Gustavus Vasa, Gustavus Adolphus, Charles XII. The teacher was embarrassed with
the response, so she leaned over to one little boy and whispered something in
his ear. “And King Oscar,” proclaimed the child. “Really? And what has King
Oscar done that is so remarkable?” asked the King. ” I-I-I don’t know.”
stammered the confused child. “That’s all right, my boy,” said the king.
“Neither do I.” (Denis McBride; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony
(http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) “Do you know who I am?”: When Nelson Mandela was a
student lawyer in Johannesburg, he had a friend whose name was Paul Mahabane.
Mahabane was a member of the African National Congress (ANC), and had the
reputation of being a radical. One day the two of them were standing outside a
post office when the local magistrate, a white man in his sixties, approached
Mahabane and asked him to go buy him some stamps. It was quite common in those
days for a white person to call on a black person to perform a chore. Paul
refused. The magistrate was offended. “Do you know who I am?” he said, his face
turning red with anger. “It is not necessary to know who you are,” Mahabane
replied. “I know what you are.” The magistrate boiled over and exclaimed,
“You’ll pay dearly for this,” and then walked away. — That white man was
convinced that he was superior to Mahabane simply because he was a magistrate.
And it had become second nature to him to expect others, especially if they
were black, to serve him, ignoring the fact that both were God’s children.
(Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies; quoted by Fr. Botelho).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) Why would Jesus choose a young child as a role model (in
effect) for what it means to be “servant”? Jesus is really challenging his
followers to reconsider the cultural “wisdom” of first century Palestine! This
was an “honor and shame” society, and “humility” was not the “in” word! But
this is what Jesus urges the apostles to embrace: a willingness to serve
others, rather than to compete for more “honor.” My brother deacons and I have
a special fondness for the word “servant” used in this Gospel (Mk 9:35),
because this is where our word diakonos or “deacon” comes from. A “servant” is
one who obeys and humbly accepts a servant relationship with all humankind. But
this is not limited just to Deacons! ALL Christians are called to be “servant,”
just like Christ. This is what real and true Discipleship is all about. To
“obey” means to “listen” (Lat., obedire), to be open to anything that God might
ask you to do to build up the Body of Christ. It means submitting and
consecrating your will to Jesus Christ. To be “humble” means to live with a
spirit of deference, putting your gifts and talents at the disposal of others,
rather than vying for privileges and recognition. So when Jesus chose to
identify Himself with a young child as an example of what He meant by “servant,”
it was a radical break with cultural expectations. Children had no legal
status, no honor, and no rights whatsoever. The message was clear: if you want
to be a Disciple of Jesus, and agree to Jesus’ life of obedience and humility,
then you will be risking – even anticipating – being ignored, reviled, and
maybe even attacked (1st Rdg: Wis 2:12,17-20). But with Jesus as a role model,
what else could you expect? No one is greater than his Master. (Deacon). Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
