Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR B TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR Wis 2,12.17-20; James 3,16-4,3; Mk 9,30-37 We are one another’s keeper ‘Deacons’,
yesterday & today. Lately, we’ve herd a lot about Deacons & Ministers in the Church,
& today’s Gospel provides some good insights into these roles. We’ve
read how the apostles were arguing & fighting on who was greatest, &
Jesus kept insisting that they are meant to serve & not to be served.
Today’s Gospel is a key-text in spelling out the role of Deacon, Minister
& Public Servant. It clearly states that we are called to serve, if we are
to be what God wants us to be. Jesus makes sure that any dreams of ambition we
have, are forever excluded from the mind of his followers: ‘If you wish to be
‘first-of-all’(Greek: protos) you
shall be ‘of-all-last’ (Greek: panton
eskatos) & ‘of-all-servant’
(Greek: panton diakonos). The word Deacon
means Servant. In Latin it becomes Minister,
which in turn stands as the opposite of the word Magister (remember the word Magistrate?)
which means Master/Teacher. What Mark
is stressing is this: we are all ‘Deacons = Ministers = Servants’ of one
another: the higher we get in Church leadership, the deeper must be our feeling
of unworthy servant: thus even the Pope is called Servant of the Servants of God (Latin: Servus Servorum Dei). This
lesson will always be hard to take. Like it or not, we live in a society, which
is set on standards of ambition, glory & competition. We all want to reach
the stars, to stand & shine out. It’s not easy to adopt a ‘Diaconate’
logic, based as it is on the good of others, on compassion to the weak & on
justice to the oppressed. It’s never easy to work in a ministry of service,
where ideals of human solidarity, make us pour our life so others may have
abundant life; where we even adopt a reversal of values: let go of our will to
be in control, & trust God as a child does. Jesus
offers a Messiaship of caring. Today, let’s do a prayerful ‘lectio’ of Mark’s story: let’s
come in touch with the mind of Jesus as he invites us to follow him along the
hard road to self-giving & sacrificial love, to serving rather than being
served, to putting others first & making ourselves last. Let us admire
Mark’s lesson plan, as Jesus dominates the scene, uses the strongest language
& expresses his strongest feelings. He has already warned the apostles that
he must suffer & die, but they refuse to understand. Just before today’s
story, Mark has described the scene of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor after
which Jesus has again warned the apostles that he must suffer & die &
again they refuse to understand. They do not want to. They prefer a powerful
Messiah to free Israel from the power of Rome. They refuse even to question him
further. So Jesus impresses on them that Christian life will always be living in
conflict: indeed there is power in serving & the least is the greatest. Mark
sets out the opposing concepts, in a way that -in God’s eyes- smallest is
greatest - last is first - lowest is highest - bottom is top - least is most.
Mark presents a lesson on humble service to the argumentative & stubborn
apostles, who were convinced to be on a trip of glory, conquest & power,
& were already securing first roles on centre stage. Over the years,
Christianity has created many icons to express the hidden power of ministry,
diaconate & service. Among them two images stand out: Jesus washing the
disciples’ feet, & Jesus placing a helpless child in the midst, embracing
it affectionately & presenting it as a model of child-like (never childish!)
trust. This charming scene wants to enforce the conviction about being ‘the
least’. Jesus is the teacher & at his school, we are the little pupils,
helpless as that little child at the time of Jesus, & yet valued as a most
important member at His school: we cherish one another. ______________________________________ |
