Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
With his question to the disciples, Jesus catches them red-handed. He wants to know what they were arguing about. They respond with silence because they know that what they were arguing about is just about the last thing they should even have been talking about—who among them is the greatest. If ever there was a debate that a disciple of Jesus should not have, it’s that one.
Knowing full well what they were arguing about, Jesus sits them down for some serious and, obviously, much-needed instruction. They are all about who is the greatest. By that they might mean who in Jesus’ eyes is the best, the most important, the most influential, the dearest. Whatever they had in mind, Jesus turns it all upside down and says that whoever wants to be “first” better head to the back of the line. Take up the last spot, he says. And serve.
The argument that the disciples were having on the road to Capernaum is certainly a familiar one. We hear such arguments all the time in this culture of ours that is so competitive. Who is the best athlete? The best entrepreneur? The best student in the class? The best employee at the office? Jesus seems to be saying that when we do that—when we occupy ourselves with the question of who is the best—we forget our own calling: to serve.
And there’s more. Next in the story, Jesus picks up a little child and says to the disciples that whoever welcomes such a child welcomes not only Jesus but the one who sent him. To understand the gesture that Jesus is making here, it is important to know that in Jesus’ time, children were not valued like they are today. When Jesus puts a little child in front of the disciples, he is challenging them to welcome those who are most easily ignored.
With this teaching, Jesus turns our world upside down. We are not to strive to be the greatest or the best. We are not to focus on those above us in whatever ranking we find ourselves.
We are to head first to the back of the line, look for the person who is most easily ignored in our culture, and serve them. Jesus poses a huge, and perhaps even terrifying, challenge to us. Often those who are most easily ignored are those we are afraid to see. May we see Jesus’ “little child” in the stranger we would rather ignore. And serve.
Amen.
- Sue Trollinger