The Catholic Liturgy for the 25th
Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sept. 23, 2018. Gospel – Mark 9:30-37. Theme: True
Greatness, True Success.
Today’s Gospel begins where we left off last Sunday: with
Jesus and his disciples leaving Caesaria Phillipi where He confirmed that He
is, indeed the Christ, the Promised Messiah. And even though He was telling
them quite clearly – for the second time now - that as Messiah He was going to
be arrested, tortured and killed they still didn’t get it. They were so stuck
in their own ideas of what it meant to be the great successful Ruler of Israel.
Like all devout Jews of their time, the Apostles were
expecting a mighty warrior-king Messiah, who would lead a powerful army into
Roman-occupied Jerusalem, where he would conquer the oppressors, take up his
royal throne, and begin his glorious reign. That’s why Mark tells us that the Apostles
were arguing among themselves. They were
having a verbal competition about their dreams for success, about making it big
in life, about their potential greatness as companions of the Messiah.
To set them straight, Jesus he takes a little child and
explains that here, before their eyes, is the reminder of what will make them
great according to God’s definition of success. You see, in their day a child
was considered a nonperson with no rights, no claim to lawful protection, no social
status. Jesus is teaching the disciples that the Messiah’s way to greatness is
through self-forgetful love, expressed in service to the least among the
people. It is not found in the celebrity
and social status they were seeking.
This concept of greatness, of power and influence,
completely blew away the preconceived ideas of the disciples. But that seems to be the way Jesus operates,
doesn’t it? He challenges us to rethink our ideas and definitions in light of
His truth that sets us free. The Gospel
teachings of Jesus call us to rethink how we are living and ponder what it
really means for us to be successful, to be great in this life.
There are so many inspirational Catholics whose lives show
us what it means to really encounter Jesus personally in our lives, not as an
historical figure but as our Risen Living Lord, and to take up his call to
greatness through self-forgetful love.
One of those who illustrates today’s Gospel is someone who is still alive
and serving others at 90 years of age. He is a layman named Jean Vanier, whom many
call a living saint. (listen to audio homily to hear his story).
Jesus teaches us that a successful life on planet Earth
means that we have lived a life of self-forgetful love and have reached Heaven,
bringing others with us along the way. He teaches us that the things we
typically use as identifiers for making it big in this life- such as how much
money we have; what kind of car we drive; the size of our house or the high-end
style of our clothes – count as nothing to God when it comes to judging a
successful life. The great mystic St. John of the Cross put it well when he
wrote, “in the twilight of life God will not judge us on our earthly
possessions or human success, but rather on how much and how well we have
loved.”
And so, I think that we each would do well to ask
ourselves....What
is my definition of success, of greatness in this life? What
do I hold to be the goal of life on planet Earth, why am I here? And then each one of us can compare our answers to the
teaching of Jesus in today’s Gospel and see just how close or how far away we
are from living in the Kingdom of God.
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