25th Sunday Ordinary (B)/ The Apostle asked who will be the first Wisdom?
  2:12,17-20/ Ps 54/ James 3:16-4:3/ Mark 9:30-37
   
  Introduction
        When I was a seminarian in a religious community, my batch mates loved to eat. Maybe we were pressured too much by our academics. One day my director noticed that while we were still saying the grace, some of us were already looking at the viand, searching for a bigger cut of meat, with our hands holding firmly at our forks, as if ready to hit when the prayer stopped. Our director then said the following rule: “Leave the best to the last,” meaning, the last man should get the best cut of meat. That rule gave us the opportunity to close our eyes and pray sincerely with all the forks untouched on the table.

      In today’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples: “if anyone wishes to be the first, he shall be he last of all and the servant of all.”  And Christ took a simple child in front of them to demonstrate what humility really means.

  
   
  Background
  1. A child was also a symbol of someone who was small, powerless and nobody. In some cases minor children were placed on the same level as slaves. Only after reaching puberty was a child considered a free person, and can find place in the community. No one will ever dare to spend time to accept and entertain them, for they will not add any honor or prestige to them. It was in this context that Christ wanted to teach them how to work humbly and selflessly, by saying: “whoever receives one child such as this . . . receives me”  
  2.

Jesus was preaching humility, love and sacrifice but the mind of the apostles were engaged with a more lively discussions, about their own selfish ambitions, “I want to get my way; I want recognition. I want to get ahead of everyone else.” They failed to see that the Kingdom that they are trying to get; is not something that they can get by themselves, nor by their own effort alone. It is beyond their capacity to reach. Only Christ, who died on the Cross, has the rightful claim over it. We can only try to be good and hope that at the end of time, as humble servants, God will have mercy on us and give us that Kingdom, freely as a gift.

  
  3. Discussion about status or rank was not only normal but very important in the ancient Middle East. But disciples have no rank. Disciples were servants. Their social position was dependent on their master. Some followed Jesus in order to gain some status by being identified with a very popular figure. Some did believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but in their minds the Messiah was going to be a king and they wanted to be in the court of the new king. When Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all,” he turned their notions about him - upside down.  
     
  Reflections  
  1.

To be a true disciple means to become truly humble. For Jesus, humility
was to assume the lowest rank in society, and children were the lowest of the low in their culture.

      The church called the man in the highest position (the Pope) as Servus servurum Dei, meaning “servant of the servants of God.” If there is such thing as the lowest of all the servants, the Pope will the servant of that servant. Mother Theresa of Calcutta lived in the same way she preferred to be identified with the poorest of the poor. As Christians we are called to serve humbly in the same way.

  
     
  2.  Usually children live in the world of humility until they enter into the world of competition. Sometimes when they enter school they are expected to get good grades, and be considered in the honors. Perhaps it could be hurting for little girl to hear: “why can’t you be like your big sister who gets all A’s?” These little kids think their worth depends on success and if they failed, it can make them doubt themselves. Good parents love their children for who they are and not for what they can accomplish.  
       
  3. There is nothing wrong to have ambitions. There is nothing wrong with trying hard to be promoted. Excellence is a virtue. But it is a very dangerous virtue. We should learn to accept the fact, that the ambition to rule as a leader should be substituted by the ambition to serve. The ambition to have things done for us must be substituted by the ambition to do things by us for others. And we (especially politicians) should be happy if someone will come to take over our place if we honestly believe that he can do those things, far better, than we do.

The best politicians that this world ever had, think not, “How can I use the sate and society to further my own prestige and my own personal ambitions?” but, “How can I use my personal gifts and talents to serve the state?”

  
       
  4. When the apostles were talking only among themselves they openly expressed their own ambitions, but when Jesus enters into their group and asked them, there was a great silence. It was a silence of shame. How can they talk about their own greatness before Jesus, before a great Lord who was willing to serve and die for the world? No one can boast his own ego, in front of a very humble God. That’s the beauty of prayer. When we talk before God, we see nothing but the truth – the truth that we are nothing before God.  
     
  Conclusion  
         To serve the Lord selflessly, takes more than just hitting a big piece of meat by a fork and give to the needy. It needs a very humble disposition: “to give to the least in the society, our very best.”