Gospel: Who is the Greatest?

Today marks the Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the Gospel passage will be lifted from St Mark's account (9:30-37).

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed down over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he 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."

In today's Gospel, we hear again Jesus predict his passion, death, and Resurrection to his disciples. The setting here is important. Jesus and his disciples are preparing a journey through Galilee, a Jewish territory in which Jesus has already encountered problems with the Pharisees. Perhaps this is why St Mark indicates that Jesus was trying to journey in secret. In predicting his passion, Jesus is acknowledging the danger they will face and is trying to prepare his disciples for it. Yet St Mark tells us that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was telling and were afraid to ask what he meant. Such hesitation on the part of the disciples is not characteristic behavior. St Peter had no fear rebuking Jesus in last week's Gospel. Perhaps this is an indication that the disciples were aware that a new situation was emerging.

St Marks paints a vivid picture in today's Gospel. Having arrived at Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples enter a house. In this private place, Jesus asks his disciples about the argument they had while they were journeying. Again, the disciples are uncharacteristically silent and afraid to answer. They have been found out. Jesus summons the Twelve, whom St Mark identified earlier in his Gospel as those chosen by Jesus to preach and to drive out demons. To this select group of disciples, Jesus teaches that those who would be first in God's kingdom must be servants of all.

Jesus then calls forward a child and teaches the Twelve that to receive a child in Jesus name is to receive both Jesus and the One who sent him. We might easily fail to understand the significance of this action. In first century Palestine, children were without status or power, possessing no legal rights. In this action, Jesus is teaching his disciples and us that when we serve the least among us, we serve Jesus himself. Who are the people without power or status in our society that Jesus is calling us to serve? Do we do so willingly? Jesus teaches that God's judgment of us will be based on this criterion alone.

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Picture from Pexels.