by Br Julian McDonald cfc
So, Jesus 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 around 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.” Mark 9: 30-37
Today’s first reading from Wisdom presents us with a kind of logic that matches the manner in which Jesus argued in the gospel-reading when he insisted that his disciples would understand how he saw his mission as the Messiah only when they came to appreciate just how important to God powerless children were.
The prelude to today’s first reading is a statement by the writer of Wisdom that the godless and those who have no belief in life after death give all their energy to chasing after sensual pleasure. They argue that, if death is the end of everything, they may as well indulge in whatever pleasure they can get. In today’s reading, we learn how one of those distorted pleasures was to plan and do violence to those who believed in God and refused to join them in their orgies. The godless also argued that believers in God should be brutalised so that the God in whom they put their trust would be persuaded to come to their rescue. What the godless did not appreciate was that people who trust in God know that God does not deprive people bent on brutality and evil of the freedom they have to pursue their evil designs.
In the gospel-readings of today and last week, we see how Jesus tried to explain to his disciples that his mission to usher in the kingdom of God would so upset people in power that they would resort to have him exterminated. However, Jesus insisted on repeating that God would vindicate him by raising him from the tomb three days after his death.
While his disciples loved and cared for him and remained loyal to him, despite wavering when fear and risk of harm gripped them, they simply were unable to comprehend that the one they claimed to be their Messiah might be vulnerable. When his words failed to hit their mark, Jesus, on the edge of frustration, reached out and picked up a small child whom he held out to his disciples as an example of who would have first place in the kingdom of God. But let’s not be too hard on the disciples. Like most of the people around them, they had experienced the harshness of life under Roman occupation. They were, therefore, convinced that whatever it was that the Messiah, to whom they had given their allegiance, was ushering in, would hold out to them some kind of status. Jesus had sensed that they had been arguing about who among them would be given the best positions of power and prestige. When he asked them what it was they had been discussing, their silence was a dead give-away. They were too embarrassed or too frightened to tell him. What’s more, it seemed as though their focus was so fixed on his admission of vulnerability and suffering that they missed his prediction of resurrection. Our knowing how things turned out eventually allows us to appreciate that Jesus’ suffering was a consequence of his being true to the mission that God had given him. His disciples were also afraid of the cost they would have to pay if they were to be true to the allegiance they had placed in him.
And fear is a recurring motif in Mark’s Gospel. We have already seen how some of the people who had witnessed the miracles of Jesus were frightened by the power that emanated from him. When he drove out the demons from the man who had been living in the graveyard located in the territory of the Gerasenes, the people were so afraid that they pleaded with him to leave (Mark 5: 15). When he walked on the waters of the stormy lake, his disciples thought they had seen a ghost. He came to their rescue, saying: “Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid” (Mark 6: 50-51). When Jesus called the woman with the haemorrhage to identify herself after she had reached out to touch his cloak, hoping not to be noticed, we are told that she came forward “frightened and trembling” (Mark 5: 33). After the disciples had roused Jesus from his sleep during the storm on the lake, they witnessed how he calmed the wind and the waves. In response, Jesus turned to them and said: “Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4: 40-41).
Sometimes Mark interpreted fear as a result of bewilderment, as in the reluctance of the disciples in today’s gospel-reading to ask Jesus to explain himself. Perhaps their fear was also caused by his telling them that their Messiah was also very vulnerable. Finally, at the end of Mark’s Gospel, we hear how the women, the very first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection “said nothing to anyone because they were afraid” (Mark 16: 8).
We all know that fear is sometimes the very opposite of faith and trust. However, we also know that fear can cause paralysis. However we interpret it, it is invariably a hindrance to constructive and selfless action. Fear can stop us from living the Gospel.
While we might, at times, struggle with a vulnerable Jesus, it is vital that we see Jesus’ predictions of the suffering that awaited him inseparable from his statement that resurrection will follow three days after his violent death. Jesus’ resurrection is a guarantee of resurrection for us too. So, we need not be afraid of walking in his footsteps.