Word to the Wise
Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - Tuesday in the 7th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jas 4:1-10 and Mark 9:30-37]TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2016. TUESDAY IN THE SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [James 4:1-10 and Mark 9:30-37] "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." 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." [Mark] The liturgical calendar returns to "Ordinary Time" now and we turn almost suddenly from weeks of the Gospel of John to the Gospel of Mark. But we return, as it were, not to the beginning of the Marcan portrait of Jesus, but to the middle of things where the calendar left off before Lent! Today's passage speaks to something that is at the base of all Christian community, and is at the same time, the plague of Christian community: POWER. Jesus catches the disciples in a discussion about who was the greatest in the group! Jesus and his disciples lived in a very status-conscious society, where things like where one sat at table were very important. One's social status determined one's power. One might say things haven't changed much since then! In any case, Jesus goes directly to the point about status and power. He chooses the most powerless individual he could find in the crowd - a child. It is difficult for us to understand that children had no rights of any kind in Jesus' day. They were the property of their family, particularly of the head of the family. Only if one becomes like a child in terms of power, Jesus says, can one be truly a disciple of his. And if one receives a child in Jesus' name, one receives God! In short, power-seeking has no place in Jesus' kingdom. As old as this message is, and as clear as it is in this text, we know that power-seeking infects all human community and the Christian community is no exception. Pope Francis spoke very bluntly to the Vatican bureaucracy about this problem, and in doing so, spoke to us as well. Whether one is "elected" or appointed to a role of service in our Church, the point is to serve and not to rule. If one forgets that point, the gospel is endangered and all love goes out the window. AMEN
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