BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 43)
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Sept. 21, 2003
BIBLE READINGS
Wis 2:12, 17-20 // Jas 3:16-4:3 // Mk 9:30-37
I visited the California State Fair on August 29, 2003 at Sacramento. It was the most enriching and educational fair I have ever attended. I felt that the organizers, personnel, and the various contributors to the fair have done an extraordinary service, not only to the American nation, but also to the general progress of peoples and the enhancement of the quality of life of God’s beloved creation. The tremendous creativity and positive energy exhibited in every element and event of the fair were veritably at the service of human good. One of the most enjoyable features I experienced at the Fair was at the Fine Arts section of the Expo Center Buildings where I saw a very evocative and interesting piece of art entitled “Napping in the Garden”. The artist depicted the corpus of Christ, stretched in the form of a cross, lying serenely in a cosmic garden of incredible beauty and surrounded with ministering angels and created beings. The artist’s message for me was clear and incisive. The one “napping in the garden” is the Servant of Yahweh, who offered his ultimate service on the cross of sacrifice and is now at the center of adoration and ministry of the entire cosmos. Indeed, the artistic depiction of Christ “napping in the garden” has captured the lesson of this Sunday’s Gospel on primacy in service: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mk 9:35).
Today’s Gospel account begins with a description of the itinerary of Jesus: “Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it” (Mk 9:30). His public ministry in Galilee over, Jesus was moving towards Jerusalem, willfully avoiding popular acclaim based on an erroneous messianic concept. According to the biblical scholar, Daniel Harrington: “The reason for the secrecy about the journey through Galilee seems to be Jesus’ desire to instruct his disciples about his passion and resurrection.” Indeed, it was his intention to rectify the false adulation that honored him principally as a political leader, miracle worker and breadbasket king, and not as the Suffering Servant to redeem the world from sin. The three prophecies of his passion and resurrection were meant to distill his disciples’ messianic perception that was based on the primacy of temporal powers, and not on service to God’s saving will (cf. Mk 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:30-34).
Today’s account contains Jesus’ second prediction of his paschal destiny to his non-comprehending disciples: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise” (Mk 9:31). Although there may have been an allusion to Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, the more basic meaning of the verb paradidotai (“to be delivered”, “to be handed over”) refers to the divine saving plan in which Jesus’ death is pivotal. The prediction that the Son of Man would be delivered or handed over does not imply constraint on the part of Jesus but rather an attitude of filial obedience and the fulfillment of God’s plan. Indeed, the one who handed over the Son is the Father, in accordance with St. John’s assertion: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16) and with St. Paul’s conviction: “He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom 8:32).
The biblical expert Eugene Maly reflects on the principle that animated Christ’s paschal destiny: “The principle is: God makes us all that we are by his love. We must be as open to that love as a slave is to the Master’s bidding. Here the working concept, on the human side, is responsible openness, acceptance. This can be expressed in many different ways. The most striking way, the one illustrated above all by Jesus, is acceptance of the Father’s love that asks the obedience of death. That is total acceptance, total openness and total self-giving.”
The response of the disciples to the Divine Master’s patient endeavor to make them grasp the true meaning of the messianic mission was bewilderment. They did not understand the Master’s sayings and they were afraid to question him. They were afraid to be confronted with the aversive and painful element of Christ’s paschal destiny and incredulous to the promise of his resurrection and glory. Since their narrow vision was incapable of grasping the implications of Christ’s paschal mystery, their personal concerns degenerated to authority issues and power struggles. Upon arrival in Capernaum, they remained silent when asked by Jesus, “What were you arguing about on the way?” (Mk 9:34) for they were discussing among themselves who was the greatest.
The Divine Master, however, utilized the disheartening and embarrassing moment to teach them anew. According to Mark: “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” (Mk 9:35). The detail concerning the posture of Jesus is significant; sitting down is the position taken by teachers in Mark’s culture. As the supreme Teacher, Jesus sat down to impart a very important lesson to his not-so-receptive disciples: to rank first, one must be the last in worldly esteem and first in service. To reinforce his teaching on the meaning of true greatness, Jesus resorted to a symbolic action. “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’” (Mk 9:36-37). The child that Jesus put in their midst is a symbol of the anawim: “the poor ones of Yahweh” - the humble ones of the earth, those without legal status and therefore insignificant and helpless. To perform an act of service and love to “the poor ones of Yahweh” is a mark of true greatness. The primacy in service is a sterling quality of Christian discipleship.
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Lord Jesus, when we react with aversion to the sacrificial elements of our paschal destiny with you, please help us to catch a glimpse of its glorious end.
Assembly: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise” (Mk 9:31).
Leader: Divine Master, when we compete with each other in terms of power and when we dabble in power games, help us to remember that true greatness lies in the primacy in service.
Assembly: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mk 9:35).
Leader: Christ Jesus, when we are oblivious of the needs of the needy and the poor, when we fail to serve “the little ones of Yahweh”, touch our hearts and teach us how to treat them with love and compassion.
Assembly: “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” (Mk 9:37).
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mk 9: 35).
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
Prepared by: Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM