The Master's class

This weekend’s gospel places us with the disciples at a time when we might say that they were still at teachers’ college.  There were no buildings and no classrooms at the time; instead, they were travelling through Galilee and Jesus was trying to teach them some very complicated concepts: The Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise (Mk 9:31).  Those poor disciples really had to bend their minds around this concept because Jesus was telling them that the secret to success lies not in any earthly measure, but rather in giving everything away, to the point of suffering and even dying, so that we can rise to new life.

Even today, this is a difficult concept for us to grasp.  No wonder the disciples argued with one another while they were travelling along (cf Mk 9:33).  In a sense, you might say that they had formed their own study group, but Jesus had to intervene again in order to help them to grasp the concept.  The extra time and effort he invested was well worth the effort though because even today, every disciple who follows after Jesus must understand that the secret to our success does not lie in any measure of earthly power, but rather in our ability to joyfully share our talents and gifts with those we meet, even to the point – if necessary – of giving our lives.  We should never be worried about giving to this point, because Jesus has promised us that we will rise again, just as he did.

This is the task that every one of us has been given.  Every disciple of Jesus must ultimately learn this truth: we have been entrusted with the great promise of eternal life, and every day of our earthly life, we can look forward to enjoying eternal life in the presence of our God.  As we become more and more convinced of this truth, we find ourselves looking at the world around us less and less from the perspective of competition, less and less concerned about taking revenge on those who make life difficult for us (cf Wis 2:12), and more and more able to look with compassion upon situations where envy and selfish ambition lead to disorder and wickedness of every kind (cf Jas 3:16).

Instead of this way of thinking, Jesus challenges us to seek a different kind of wisdom that is found in purity, peace, gentleness, willingness to yield and filled with mercy (cf Jas 3:17).  In order to understand this lesson, we have to learn to be servants.  When Jesus realized that the disciples were having difficulty with this lesson, he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms, said to them: ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me ...’ (Mk 9:36-37).

Every child possesses the gift of innocence.  If a child’s innocence is nurtured carefully, if it is not corrupted with the worldly attitudes of envy, ambition and revenge, it has the ability to show us the face of Jesus.  Have we seen his face lately?  Let us all look for him, ask him to help us to understand the lessons he wants to teach us this week.  Let us ask him to show us how to serve others, and let us ask him to teach us how to look forward to eternal life in heaven.