Mark 9:30-37
Jesus and his disciples went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
The elephant in the room
Jesus
tells his disciples he will soon be betrayed, killed and rise from
the dead after three days. The disciples ask Jesus no questions
because they were afraid to. Really. So, why were they afraid to
ask any questions. It might have been because they didn't want to
look dumb in front of Jesus and the others. I think that the major
reason was not so much because they were afraid to ask but that they
didn't want to hear the answer. That is very human.
Jesus
exposed the elephant in the room. He had mentioned all of this
before. He would be persecuted and die and rise again. It just made
them uncomfortable and they didn't want to talk about it. We have all
been there. We have all had our own elephants in our lives. It may
be a drinking problem, an unwanted pregnancy, an illness, or maybe a
disastrous relationship with a spouse or an employer. Because they
are uncomfortable subjects we push thoughts aside and talk about
something else, anything else. We want to put on blinders and keep
going forward.
We are
better at those kinds of discussions than we were fifty years ago.
It had been almost fifty years since I had seen a good friend from
high school. We talked over a glass of wine about those times and
the subject drifted into our family lives back then. He didn't know
that my life had been chaos and I didn't know that his life had been
troubling as well. We got into some detail about these things and I
think we were both surprised to find out what was really going on in
our lives. It was almost a rule back then that family problems were
not brought up.
The
disciples didn't want to talk about Jesus's betrayal and murder so
they picked another topic. They chose an argument over which one of
them was greatest. Now that was in their comfort zone.
Jesus
sits them down and proceeds to straighten them out. He says,
“whoever wants to be first will be last.” He is talking about
the importance of living a life of humility. That is something we
have heard many times. I don't think I need to say more.
Amen.
Peace,
Fr. Fred
Peace,
Fr. Fred
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