25th Sunday Ordinary Time; Year B

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Wisdom 2, 12.17-20; James 3, 16-4,3; Mark 9, 30-37; 25th Sunday Ordinary Time; Year B)

Last Sunday, the apostles through Peter confessed the Messiah-ship of Jesus. But their conception of the messiah was wrong, that is, political and military. Jesus took time to correct this wrong notion indicating that his messiah-ship was the suffering type.  In the gospel of today, he goes on to announce his passion: The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after His death, he will rise again. It is clear from this passage that the disciples would not accept this announcement in good faith for prior to this announcement they were arguing among themselves who will be the greatest. Jesus was preoccupied with the thought of His impending humiliation, his condemnation to death and suffering while his disciples were thinking about who will occupy the first position. The disciples were following a master who does not care or seek for honour and respect but wishes only to serve, even to the point of giving his own life for the salvation of others, while they were aspiring for places of honour and prestige.

In the gospel of today, Jesus teaches His immediate apostles/disciples and we His present disciples, what it really means to be His disciple. When they reached where they were staying in Capernaum, he wanted to know the topic of their heated discussion on the way. They did not want to disclose the topic which was centered on who was the greatest among them. He then enunciated this classic principle: Whoever wishes to be first, should be the last and the servant of all. In putting this principle into practice, the disciple should follow the example of Christ, his master. Christ not only chose the least of posts (he was God, became man) but also washed the feet of his disciples, duty of a servant, thereby putting into practice what he taught. I did not come to be served but to serve and to give up my life (Mark 10,45). He did give up his life for the salvation of us all, in Calvary, where he shed the last drop of his blood. The Christian, therefore, should not be preoccupied with the idea of taking the first place, or having a domineering attitude over others or having others under his thumb. He should rather practice humility (taking the last place) and motivated by love, he should engage in serving everyone, especially those who are mostly in need, those in the lowest point of the social ladder, the weakest and the voiceless in our society. A child is an example of one who is fragile, dependent, needy, and weak. To illustrate his teaching, Jesus brought a child in their midst, embraced him warmly and tenderly said: Whoever welcomes this child in my name, welcomes me; whoever welcomes me, also welcomes the One who sent me. Jesus, in fact, said that whoever welcomes a child (symbol of one who is in need and weak) first of all in his heart and then by sharing in his suffering and difficulties, such a person welcomes him (Jesus) and ultimately God the Father. But to arrive in doing this requires humility, self-abasement, and interior attitude that go for the least position.

This is the Christian paradox, the paradox of the wisdom that comes from above. What is really great and important in God’s eyes is the person who regards himself small, takes the least position and disposes himself to serve others. Such Christian nowadays may be compared to be the just of the first reading who surely will be persecuted by those (the wicked) who do not have faith in God or even by fellow Christians whose practice of Christianity does not conform to the self-abasement and donation of self for the service of others, which Jesus Christ preaches in today’s gospel. Moreover, we should not allow ourselves to be contaminated by earthly/terrestrial wisdom (James, 3, 15). Such wisdom coming from nature that is corrupted by sin, gives rise to envy, jealousy, lording it over others, disorder and even war. It is only by attaching ourselves to Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God, that we would be able to truly fulfill our vocation as His true disciples who would be able to take up our cross and journey with him along the tortuous route to Calvary where we will give up our lives for his sake as he did for us. Therefore, celebrating the Eucharist this Sunday, let us ask God the Father for the grace to enter into full and deep communion with Christ, the Wisdom of God incarnate and who was crucified and died out of love for us and become our spiritual food and drink in Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. HappySunday!  

 +John I. Okoye