A Homily – Mark 9:30-37 ©

The Gospel According to Mark – 2018.09.23

                        

Walk with Humility

In the gospel reading for today we get an unabridged view of the Way, Jesus preached it, as he lived it and taught it.

He knew that his disciples struggled, as all people do, with social order and pride of place. They were obsessed with hierarchies, and privilege.

Jesus had to constantly remind them that leadership meant service, that we are closes to God in the loving service we provide to one another.

There is no place for pride, or arrogance in office when you are walking in the Way.

There is no mystery here.

This is the simple truth.

The injunction that Jesus gives them goes beyond the acceptance of children, the command to treat them as if they were in the presence of God. Place this in the context of everything that Jesus teaches on humility and service.

He tell us over and over again, that the first must be last and the last must be first.

Women cannot be relegated to the back of the Church.

There are no outcasts in the God’s garden; the leper will be kissed and healed.

The image of God is present in the child, and the image of God is God’s fullness.

The image of God is also present in prisoner, the guilty and the innocent alike.

In the Way that Jesus lived his life, he showed us that everyone had to be treated with the same loving regard; from the lowest born child to the highest ranking officer, friend and enemy alike.

Anyone Who Welcomes One of these Little Children in My Name Welcomes Me

Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.

They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ They said nothing because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ He then took a little child, set him in front of them, put his arms round him, and said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time