TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2024)

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2024)

Readings:

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20

Psalms 54:3-8

James 3:16-4:3

Mark 9:30-37

Take note of who is speaking in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom – the wicked.  They are words that could come from the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, and all the Romans who will put Jesus to death.  Jesus, “the just one,” will soon become so “obnoxious” to them that they will put “him to a shameful death” on a cross.  The reading is not recommending that all people we find obnoxious should suffer a similar fate, for as the world turns we are all likely to encounter obnoxious people.  Maybe it’s the bully – on the playground, at work, on the national or international scene.  Maybe it’s the person who is filled with hubris, the person who can do no wrong, who always knows better, always outperforms everyone else.  Maybe it’s the excessively critical person, for whom nothing is ever right and who arrogantly boasts of their ability to do a job or a task in a better way.  We generally do not seek out the companionship of the obnoxious person, but if we are honest, we have all encountered such a being.

For our purposes, the first reading is a prophecy of what will happen to Jesus when He and the apostles reach their final destination of Jerusalem.  Last weekend our gospel proclaimed Jesus’ first prediction of the Passion which comes with His mission as Messiah.  This week, Jesus for the second time, previews what is to come: “The Son of Man (Messiah) is to be handed over to men and they will kill Him, and three days after His death the Son of Man will rise.”  In spite of Jesus already speaking to His apostles about this, “they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question Him.”  In spite of all the time they must have had on the road, they didn’t ask Jesus to shed any more light on the connection of Messiahship and suffering,  let alone the phrase ‘rising after death,’ which, understandably, is difficult to fully understand.  No, sadly, the apostles were too busy arguing about who was the “greatest” disciple among them, something they shamefully could not even admit to Jesus.

Jesus knew, of course, what His apostles were arguing about, something that had to be a source of frustration to Jesus.  The apostles had privileged access to Jesus and His teaching, yet like all humankind, they only heard what they wanted to hear, and hearing about a ‘suffering Messiah’ was not at the top of their list.  If their hero went down, they surely thought of the possibility that they might suffer the same fate.

But Jesus, the teacher, is not about to give up on leading them to a more authentic understanding of what being a Messiah is all about.  Even more, Jesus is going to try and teach them what will be expected of all those who follow in Jesus’ footsteps.  Jesus ignores the apostles’ argument and tells them: “If anyone wishes to be first [in His kingdom], he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”  The way to the top is not achieved by flaunting one’s supposed goodness, or bragging about one’s good deeds – it is achieved through service.  They are to be like servants!  The measurement of their greatness will not rely on the things of this world, as Jesus is about to show them.  James tells us in our second reading, genuine Christian life has no room for “jealousy and ambition,” for they are the source of much that is bad in our world.

Making another effort to get His apostles to develop a keener insight into what it means to follow Him, Jesus places a little child in their midst, sort of a show and tell.  After giving the child a warm and comforting embrace, Jesus says to the apostles: “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.”  There is nothing obnoxious about young children (I admit the possibility of an exception), but they are gentle, and kind, and unassuming.  They are without guile, and have an intense desire to be loved, and cared for.  While, as any grandparent might say, they can charm you into a candy, a cookie, or ice cream, but they could care less about worldly status, they know nothing of the corporate world.  To show kindness to a child, who can offer nothing in return, is to serve God.  The Christian life is all about unselfish service.

Those who receive the Lord in the Eucharist, receive not just Him, but also “the one who sent Him,” Jesus’ Heavenly Father.  In the Eucharist we enter into the Trinitarian life which marks us at our baptism, and which we invoke before each and every prayer.  Unlike the rather ‘dense’ apostles, whose sainthood we respectfully acknowledge, we fully understand that following in the footsteps of Jesus will lead us on a path to glory, but before we leave this earth, we will be called upon to join Jesus on a path of suffering and death.  There is no other way to be Christian.