St. Mark9: 30 – 37

February 18, 2023

30 And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.

31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?

34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.

35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,

37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

Verse 35 ends, “… and servant of all.” I was having some difficulty trying to frame what I wanted to say about this so I thought I’d better check and make sure I understood what I was reading. This from the St. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: “Greatness in God’s eyes is measured by humility and service to others (Lk 22:24-27), a principle put into practice by Jesus (10:45). As future leaders of the Church, the apostles must shun aspirations for worldly honor and attention in order to serve Christ more faithfully and effectively.”

Sometimes we can see this played out in our churches. Think of the people who are always there when anything needs to be done. Every church has them; the people who make time in their lives to serve something and someone greater than themselves by showing up, not just on Sundays (” … do not even the publicans the same? Matt 5:46), but for anything that needs to be done on any given day. Those same folks are often the ones at work or in the neighborhood that find ways to help others, hold benefits for causes, serve where there’s a need.

Jesus modeled humility and service to others. Our churches – and neighborhoods – are blessed by the folks who follow that Model. We should follow the Model and find ways to be a blessing to others in the many small ways that present themselves in the course of a day, week, or month. Oh … and by the way, no ‘high five’ for yourself!

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