Twenty-fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time
MARK 9:30-37 (Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; Psalm 54:3-4, 5, 6-8; James3:16-4:3)
In the context of Mark’s gospel, Jesus and three disciples had just returned from the mountain of his transfiguration. Down on the plain they came upon a scene of confusion. In the absence of Jesus on the mountain, the other disciples who had remained behind were approached by a man who brought his son to them with a plea that they cast out a demon from the boy. The description of the “demon” indicates that the boy had epilepsy. The father described the symptoms to Jesus and pointedly remarked about the failure of the disciples, “I asked your disciples to cast out the demon, but they were not able to do so.” With a compassionate “bedside manner” Jesus consults with the father about the details of the disease. The father explains and says, “If you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” Jesus answers the distraught father’s plea and cures the son. The disciples want to know why they failed to accomplish the exorcism. Jesus replies, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Such is the context to which Jesus responds by withdrawal from public activity to devote more time to instructing his disciples, “…he began a journey through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know about it,” because “he was teaching his disciples.” His instruction begins with the second Passion prediction plus his resurrection, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” We may recall that in last Sunday’s gospel reading Simon Peter rejected the first Passion prediction as unworthy of Jesus, took him aside and rebuked him. Bad move on the part of Peter! His impulsive nature had forced him out of line, which was behind Jesus rather than leading him. In front of all the disciples Jesus rebuked Peter by comparing him to Satan. This time the reaction was different.
Mark writes, “But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to question him.” No one apparently wanted to step out of line again and be humiliated before all. Mark next tells us just how the disciples misunderstood what Jesus was saying about his suffering, death and resurrect-ion. They arrived in Capernaum on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Here was the home of Simon, his brother Andrew, and their extended family. This home, next to the local syna-gogue, was the headquarters of Jesus for his Galilean ministry. Once they got inside the house, it was time for another lesson in the disciples’ education. Jesus begins, “What were you arguing about on the way?” No answer. Too embarrassed about their childish arguments and too afraid to admit it!
Mark supplies the answer to Jesus’ question, “They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest among them.” What brought on such a discussion? They were aware that with Jesus they were en route to Jerusalem. Like other observant pious Jews, Jesus and Co., intended to make the Passover pilgrimage. Their idea of what was about to happen in Jerusalem was very different from what Jesus was trying to teach them. They apparently thought that his entry into Jerusalem would be the signal to accomplish the plans which may have inspir-ed them to follow him in the first place. They with the people of Jerusalem would proclaim him king. He would drive out the Romans, then rule as king. His closest disciples would have the major positions in his kingdom. On the way, walking behind Jesus, where disciples generally walked, they were attempting to settle among themselves who would rank first among them when positions of power were allotted to the disciples.
How does Jesus deal with their thick-headed, but totally human reaction to his second Passion prediction? First he says, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” An amazing principle which is all but impossible humanly speaking as the history of the Church sadly proves. It is said of one medieval pope when elected to this office, “Since God has seen fit to raise us to this dignity, let us proceed to enjoy it.” He and his relatives did exactly that. There have always been some in authority in the Church who were able to overcome the ambit-ion for power and to put into effect the principle of service proclaimed by Jesus for “the first among you.” It is therefore not impossible to live this principle, but another biblical principle makes it possible, “With God all things are possible.” Eventually Jesus would make it possible even for his thick-headed disciples to understand the principle of which he himself was the primary example, as he says in Mark 10:45, “The Son of man also came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus teaches the disciples by example. “Picking up a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around the child, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.’” Jesus is speaking to those who would later “serve” his Church as leaders. Mark is speaking to the leaders of the Christian Community at the end of the first century. A child is a symbol of powerlessness like the “little ones” of Matthew 18:10 –the poor and other powerless members of the Church. The Letter of James fiercely denounces those who do not “receive” these, but discriminates against them. Jesus proclaims the powerless as the center of the Church’s activity, when he says, “Whoever receives them, receives me, and not just me, but the One who sent me.”
