The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”
—Mark 9:35-37
The gospels tell us that even “the Twelve”—Jesus’ closest followers—struggled to understand who and what he was. Those who traveled with Jesus recognized his special relationship with God (this was easy enough to see in the miracles he performed), but we can also imagine how confusing and even overwhelming Jesus’ sermons, parables, and miracles might have been. We can certainly understand how they might have missed the point of Jesus’ message and mission.
And so, we have this Sunday’s Gospel, in which we find Jesus’ closest collaborators arguing about which of them was most important. But when Jesus learns what they been discussing, he responds with an act that perfectly summarizes what it means to be a true disciple: he places a child in the middle of the group, telling them, “Whoever receives this child in my name, receives me.”
The world in which Jesus lived shared our own culture’s obsession with power and status, and a child would have been seen as a total non-entity in first-century Palestine. Children had no social status or legal rights. And so, as a “non-person,” to paraphrase Scripture scholar Daniel Harrington, S.J., a child would have been completely dependent on others for survival. Beyond that, however, anyone who cared for or showed kindness to a child could expect nothing in return. “By embracing the child,” Harrington concludes, “Jesus displays his acceptance of the child as worthy of respect and care.”
There is no great theological discourse or political rhetoric here. In a single gesture, Jesus summarizes the beauty and the mystery of his message: even those whom the world sees as insignificant are important in God’s eyes. To be Jesus’ follower means that we have to be willing to embrace those dismissed by the world.
True greatness comes from serving others.
This kind of service and availability to the last and least requires great humility and openness. Our care for children, vulnerable adults, the homeless, shut-ins, the victims of abuse, refugees, and migrants doesn’t offer us prestige, power, or wealth in return. And yet, Jesus is making it clear that this serve and availability were fundamental aspects of the mission of the Twelve. It would have been as difficult for them to accept and live out as it is for us today.
To believe that Jesus is calling us to a life of discipleship means that we must be willing to place ourselves at the service of others. And this willingness to serve frees us from the division we hear about in this Sunday’s Second Reading: “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits… and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace” (James 3:16-18).
Jesus embodied this willingness to serve in his offering of himself in his Passion and Death and these themes form the framework for our celebration this Sunday (see Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 and Mark 9:30-32). The invitation for us, then, is to open our hearts and be willing to sacrifice our time, gifts, and resources to create space in our homes and communities for those whom our society dismisses as unimportant.
O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law
upon love of you and of our neighbor,
grant that, by keeping your precepts,
we may merit to attain eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
