25th Sunday of the year
The disciples in today’s Gospel reading are really displaying some of the worst features of humanity!
They have been following Jesus for some time, they have listened to His words, witnessed his ministry and healing, been fed with bread and fish and even been given the grace to be able to recognise Jesus for who he really is and acknowledge him to be the Christ (as in last Sunday’s gospel reading).
But they still do not seem to understand. Or maybe they have pulled back from Him after he revealed to them that they must suffer, be rejected by the authorities and be put to death.
These disciples want authority and respect for themselves. Surely, some of them are more important than others! They cannot hide their thoughts and ambitions from Jesus. And when he notices what they are doing he turns their plans upside-down; “If you want to be first, you must make yourself last of all and servant of all.”
Saint James in the 2nd Reading today (James 3:16-4;3) spells out what happens when worldly ambitions take hold of us; “wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony, and wicked things of every kind being done.”
Had they heard Jesus and observed him they would already have understood how he is the model of humility in that he did not hold on to his divinity but took on the form of a servant and was born in the likeness of human beings (Phil 2:6-8) Being humble means living out the truth, recognising who and what we are and loving in such a way that we become vulnerable to rejection as Jesus did.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus took the little child to put before them – a child who is simple, innocent and pure in heart, unaffected by the world’s ways and ambitions and values.
How can we possibly achieve such virtue? Again Saint James, in today’s 2nd Reading, gives us the answer; “Why you don’t have what you want is because you don’t pray for it; when you do pray and don’t get it , it is because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed for something to indulge your own desires”.
Lord, help us to pray with purity of heart and mind. May we desire only what is in your plan and what is for the glory and praise of your Name.