God is with us"

Today's Mass Readings

Who will be greatest in Jesus’ kingdom? It would be helpful to understand a little more about this kingdom. The Jews of Jesus’ time were awaiting the end of the exile. The Babylonian exile had clearly ended, since the Jews had returned to the Promised Land, and, as we saw in the numerous first readings last week, had rebuilt the Temple. But the Babylonian exile only affected the Jews, i.e., the Judeans, those belonging to the tribe of Judah, although the tribe of Benjamin and many Levites were also included. Of the 12 tribes of Israel, only 2 remained in the southern kingdom, in the South, in Judea, where Jerusalem was. The other 10 tribes moved north to what became known as the kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom was exiled by the Assyrians almost 200 years before the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. To this day, Jews speak of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, and many await the reunification of all 12 tribes. This indeed was the hope of the Jews during Jesus time: the end of the exile, of the Assyrian exile, where the 10 lost tribes of Israel would be reunited with the southern two tribes which had returned to Jerusalem. The 10 tribes were lost to history primarily because they assimilated with the Gentile nations. The word for Gentile in Hebrew, goy, is the same word for nation: they mean the same thing. In the Book of Exodus, Israel becomes a goy gadol, a great nation. With the Assyrian exile, Israel was scattered among the goyim, the nations. It is interesting to note that in many of the prophetic texts, including Zechariah, the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel also includes the ingathering of the Gentiles, the nations, uniting Israel and the nations in the worship of the one God, thus fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that through his seed all nations on earth would be blessed.

This is precisely what today’s first reading from the Book of Zechariah envisions: Gentiles worshiping God with Jews. This is fulfilled in Jesus, and this is why the disciples ask about who will be greatest in the kingdom, for they recognize by Jesus’ selection of 12 apostles, His reunification of the 12 tribes represented by the 12 apostles, who will then be united with Gentiles, in the Christian family.

Jesus’ response to His disciples question “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” (Luke 18:15) is instructive for us all. We must exercise the trust, the faith, the humility of a child, if we wish to enter into the kingdom of heaven. In fact, even though, in in one sense the 12 disciples of Jesus represent the 12 tribes of Israel, in quite another way, none of the tribes (disciples) have any precedence over the other. The people who will enter the Kingdom are those who love God with the faith and humility of a child. Jesus will exalt the humble and the lowly, not the proud and the haughty. Let us then be like children as we humbly and lovingly approach our God.