Upon first reading of today’d Gospel we can easily look at the close disciples of Jesus and frankly consider them to be simply foolish. What part of “they will kill him” and “he will rise” is so difficult to understand? However, if we place this passage in context, we can cut the disciples a little slack. First of all this journey follows very shortly after the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. Peter, James, and John are still reeling from the events they witnessed there. Furthermore, the idea of a suffering Messiah could not have been any more counterintuitive to the Jewish mindset. At that time, not so different from our own, servanthood and suffering was a sign of weakness, not strength. Therefore, the Jewish people expected their great Messiah to come as a strong warrior king, not a man who would hand himself over to death.
However, now 2000 years later, we, at least intellectually understand Jesus’ words. The theme of “being handed over” is central to Jesus’ Passion and Death. It reveals to us Our Savior’s complete willingness to abandon himself to the will of the Father out of love for each and every human person on the earth, both then and now.
In response to this teaching Jesus’ disciples argue about who will be the greatest, probably the most inappropriate response possible to this revelation that Jesus had just shared with them. However, Jesus presents a child to them as the one to emulate. Children at Jesus’ time had no rights or status in society whatsoever. Yet Our Lord stresses to His followers the need to receive, to accept, to serve others as though they were children. To receive, accept, and serve those most vulnerable and lowly in society.
So we have some questions we must ask ourselves:
Do I hand myself over completely to the loving will of God, and offer myself as a servant not only to Him, but to my neighbor?
Do I receive, love, and serve not just those who I feel are deserving of my love and service, but especially those who are most needy and vulnerable in society?
Something that can help us to live out our life of faith to the fullest is to become as children in relation to God. Now, being childlike in one’s faith is not the same as being immature in one’s faith. If I have an immature faith life, I only turn to God when it’s convenient for me, when he is showering blessings upon me, when the way is easy, when I am getting what I want. In other times, as a person immature in my faith, I turn from God because I am not getting what I want. To be childlike in faith means to trust completely in the loving care of God. When a child has a problem, he/she turns to those adults whom he/she trusts and knows will care for him/her. So too must we turn to God, not just in the good times but in the difficult times as well.
If there was any childlike Saint who understood surrender to the will of God and the blessings gained by such a disposition it was St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. So I leave you with her words
“Oh, my Jesus! To all my foolishness, what are you going to reply?…Is there a soul that is smaller and more powerless than mine!…However, even because of my weakness, You were pleased, Lord, to fulfill my little childlike desires, and now want to fulfill other desires that are bigger than the universe…”
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