Today we have a powerful gospel full of contrasts. We find Jesus taking advantage of being alone with the disciples as they travel through Galilee to share with them where things are heading. Jesus is aware that the powers that be are not accepting his message, and he sees clearly where things are leading. Yet the disciples do not grasp what he is revealing to them. So much so that they get lost in this argument about who was the most important.
They really missed what Jesus had been teaching about what was going to happen. But Jesus did not respond by choosing sides or ranking the disciples. Rather Jesus turns it upside down: “to rank first one must remain the last one of all and the servant of all.” It is not about being important, rather it is about serving. Then Jesus picks a little child to help teach the disciples. He picks the child not because the child is cute, or wonderful, or any of the reasons we might celebrate the child. Rather, Jesus alludes to the fact that that in the world of adults and power, the child’s voice does not carry much weight. It evokes the image of Matthew 25 where Jesus calls us to respond to the least of our brethren. It is with the little one that we find Christ and God the Father.
It is easy to be scandalized by the disciples arguing over who is most important as Jesus is talking about his death. They sensed Jesus to be the Mesiah who would bring Israel to independence and restore the glories of King David. But it is easy for all of us to also fall into the temptation of comparing ourselves to others and wanting the most prestige and all the other powers or privileges associated with it. I think psychologists might tell us that we need to celebrate who we are and love ourselves as we are. Our faith reminds us we are constantly invited to take part in God’s unconditional love for us. Society might tell us it is good to be “the most important,” but our faith points in a different direction: to celebrate God’s love for us and God’s call that we be sons and daughters of God.
Jesus points us to service. To love one another as he has loved us. To love and serve the small ones, the marginal ones, the ones on the periphery.
In the next days the Synod on Synodality will reconvene in Rome with the participation of young people, lay men and women, sisters, priests, bishops and cardinals. It will be an important moment for the Church. During this process of the Synod one of the issues that Pope Francis has surfaced is the question of clericalism. In the Church, we priests can also face the temptation of “who is the most important” and can be tempted by the power, prestige, and privileges that go with it. But Jesus again points us toward service. We can feel that after our years of study, we know where the Church should go. And we can forget that all in the Christian Community are blessed with gifts, experiences, and insights that are important to build up our Christian community.
Pope Francis has emphasized the dignity of all the People of God, of all who are baptized. He has called us all to be missionary disciples in a Synodal Missionary Church. He calls us to be a Church that goes out to the margins, a Field Hospital sort of Church. He is promoting a Church in which we all are called to voice our experience of the Spirit, all invited to listen to one another and to be a servant, missionary Church focused on those in need. Pope Francis and the Synod are inviting big changes in our Church.
Photo of Pope Francis praying at the Synod on the Family in 2015, Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk via Flickr.