Deacon Tom writes
“To Be First Is To Be Last”
On three separate occasion over
this past month, St. Mark recounts Jesus in similar ways revealing his plan to
his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem where he would “suffer many things, and be rejected by the
elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three
days rise again”.
The first time Jesus tells his
disciples this, you may recall from St. Marks account, Peter protests vehemently
only to be rebuked by Jesus harshly, “Get
behind me Satan”, Jesus tells Peter. Then in the following Sunday’s gospel,
Jesus informs his disciples of his immanent death a second time, only to find
his disciples arguing as to who was the greatest among them.
And finally, in the text leading
up to today’s gospel, in Mark 10:32-34, Jesus again predicts his passion and
death for a third time only to have James and John trying to secure the best seats
in the house, those at the right and left hand of Jesus for themselves.
The disciples reaction to Jesus’
fate speaks volumes to us…They are in denial…They can’t “handle” this foundational
“truth” of Jesus’ ministry to paraphrase a quote line from a Hollywood movie. After
all, they had seen first hand Jesus as a “wonder worker”, healing the sick,
cleansing leapers, raising the dead, revealing the deep, inner operations of
the Kingdom of God.
And they, too, shared in this wonder working power for they had received
“power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” as we
heard in our weekday gospel a while back.
I imagine the disciples enjoyed the attention and fame that came their
way just by being associated with Jesus. From this vantage point, life is
pretty good, isn’t it? But things began to change once Peter has this epiphany
and recognizes Jesus as, “You are the Christ”. From that point forward Jesus
unfolds a different direction for the road ahead:
- for him - that he would suffer, be rejected by the elder and put to death, but will rise on the
third day…
- and for any would-be disciple who… “wished to follow him”, that they
too must likewise, “.. deny himself…[and]
take up his cross…”. They, the Apostles, must embrace this new revelation
of Jesus that, “Those who wish to be the
first shall be the last of all and the servant of all”.
There is a change in mindset once his disciples hear what Jesus expects
of them. And, it takes them awhile to “get it”. And that just may be the case
for us as well. For, if we truly hear what Jesus is saying in these passages…we
too can’t help realize that our calling as Christians isn’t to a life of fame,
privilege, power, or success but rather,
…we are called to a lifetime
of service and sacrifice;
…we are invited into a
ministry of mercy and forgiveness;
…we are summoned into a
life of spiritual growth and interior
transformation…So that, with St. Paul,
we too can say,
“Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me”. GAL 2:20
I believe Pope Francis is reaffirming this same message Christ gave his disciples
two thousand years ago and that we have heard repeated on his recent visits to
Cuba, Washington, D.C., New York, and Philadelphia. The teachings of Jesus that
Pope Francis reaffirmed for us is that we are to be instruments of God’s love,
mercy, and compassion, by seeking to put others and their needs before our own,
and by seeking ways of peace and forgiveness.
And this is not a new message that Cardinal Bergoglio acquired once he
became Pontiff. Back in 2007, as Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario
Bergoglio wrote the closing document for the Fifth General Conference of the
Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida, Brazil.
In that lengthy document which summarized the main themes of that
conference, he wrote:
“A Catholic faith reduced to mere baggage,
to a collection of rules
and prohibitions,
to fragmented devotional
practices,
to selective and partial
adherence to the truths of the faith,
to occasional
participation in some sacraments,
to the repetition of
doctrinal principles,
to bland or nervous
moralizing,
that does not convert the life of the baptized
would not
withstand the trials of time.
Our greatest danger is the
gray pragmatism of the daily life of the church in which everything apparently
continues normally, but in reality the faith is being consumed and falling into
meanness”.
Pope Francis is attempting to refocus our attention on one of the
central truths of our faith: God has loved us and we are to love others without
preference, without limit, without conditions.
We whose allegiance is to Christ today are to be witnesses of the love
that God has shown to us in everything we say and by every action we do so that
everyone around us can say, as they did in those early days of our church…
“See how they love one another……”
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
Image: flyingfeetinfaith.com