The Gospel Reading of the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Mark 9:30-37, has two themes: Jesus foretelling his passion, death, and resurrection for the second time (vv.30-32) and teaching on humble servantship and compassion for the vulnerable in response to the disciples’ argument on who the greatest among them is (vv.33-37). The first part of the Gospel Reading (Mark 9:30-32) echoes the First Reading (Wisdom 2:12, 17-20), in which Christ, in his suffering, is reflected, and the second part of the Gospel Reading (Mark 9:33-37) corresponds to the Second Reading (James 3:16-4:3), in which James speaks against selfish passion for ambition.
In the Gospel Reading of the previous Sunday, the 24th
Sunday, Mark 8:27-35, Jesus foretold his passion, death, and resurrection,
directly to his disciples for the first time, upon Peter’s correct
identification of Jesus as the Christ. But then, Peter protested the prospect
of the Christ’s suffering and death and rebuked by Jesus for that. Following
this, Jesus spoke of self-denial and carrying a cross as necessary conditions
for the discipleship.
The Gospel Reading of this Sunday, the 25th
Sunday, Mark 9:30-37, begins with Jesus’ second foretelling of his passion,
death, and resurrection. Then, it describes how the disciples reacted to this.
Again, only to his disciples, Jesus prophesized his
own suffering, death, and resurrection, after doing so in Caesarea Philippi
(Mark 8:31). So Jesus said:
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him, and three days after his death he will rise
(Mark 9:31).
Hearing the prospect of Jesus’ suffering, death, and
resurrection, again, the disciples did not know what to make out of it and were
afraid to ask him a question about it (Mark 3:32).
Why were they unable to understand and ask Jesus to
explain what he meant by being handed over to be tortured and killed but would
rise after three days?
The disciples could not yet understand the salvific Paschal
Mystery of Jesus, perhaps, they were not able to see his suffering, death, and
resurrection, in the fourth servant song (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) in deutero-Isaiah
(40-55). Probably, it was because they were caught up with an impression that
the Christ would be the victorious king to rule all nations on earth from
Jerusalem (i.e. Zechariah 9:9-10). To a typical human mind, a triumphant
messianic king of Israel is not a one to be handed over to his enemies and
killed by them. Rather, it was him, who would conquer them for his reign of
peace. But even it was puzzling to them, why the disciples did not ask Jesus to
explain about being handed over and killed by men but rise after three days?
To put it simply, the disciples were abashed to ask
Jesus a question. Then, why would they feel embarrassed to ask a question on
such an important and serious matter about Jesus?
It is likely that what made them ashamed to ask a
question was their covert pride, as shame and price are basically two sides of
the same coin (Beall & Tracy, 2020)*. And we see how their hidden pride
manifested in their behaviors on their way to Capernaum, after being told of Jesus’
forthcoming suffering, death, and resurrection.
As they were moving to Capernaum, the disciples were
arguing among themselves who was the greatest, but they remailed silent when
Jesus confronted and asked them what they were arguing (Mark 9:33-34).
Rather than being concerned for Jesus on what he just
foretold about his passion, death, and resurrection, they were preoccupied with
their own self-consciousness, which was the first consequence of Original Sin (Genesis
3:1-13). And their covert pride was manifesting in their selfish ambition to be
the greatest.
Then, Jesus knocked the disciple’s pride off, saying:
If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be
the last of all and the servant of all (Mark 9:35).
Furthermore, pulling a child to his side (Mark 9:36),
and said:
Whoever receives one child such as this in
my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who
sent me (Mark 9:37).
These statements make it obvious that Jesus wanted his disciples to be first leaders of his Church. But he did not want them to keep their pride inside, because pride of leaders corrupt the Church, as it is comparable to the yeast of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6//Mark 8:15//Luke 12:1). So, Jesus demands the disciples to be the last ones among the people, being the least among them, and serve them, in order to be leaders of his Church. It is, indeed, the servant leadership, which he taught them through his own example by washing the disciples’ feet (John 13:1-20). And he also commanded them to care for those who were seem as the least, as represented by the child, whom he took to his side, because receiving the least among people with care means receiving not only him but also the Father who sent him. It is so because he and the Father as one consubstantially (John 10:30), for he is in Him, and Him in him (John 10:38). In fact, this is echoed by these words of Jesus to the disciples at the conclusion of his teaching of the servant leadership by washing their feet:
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives
the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent
me
(John 13:20).
Furthermore, this teaching is echoed more sternly by
these words of Jesus against the self-righteous whose pride blinded them to the
presence of the least among people, namely, the presence of Christ in the poor,
vulnerable, marginalized:
And the king will say to them in reply, “Amen,
I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did
for me.” Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry
and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and
you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison,
and you did not care for me.” Then they will answer and say, “Lord, when did we
see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not
minister to your needs?” He will answer them, “Amen, I say to you, what you did
not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.” And these will go
off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Matthew
25:40-46).
It was the disciples’ furtive pride that blinded them
from the Christological truth in Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection,
when he foretold. It was their covert pride that kept them from asking Jesus a
question to understand this truth when they did not understand. And it was this
pride in themselves, manifesting in their selfish ambitions to be the greatest
among them, keeping their minds away from Jesus upon his second foretelling of
his passion, death, and resurrection. To snap this pride, Jesus taught the
importance of humble servantship and care for the least among people. Because
it also means to care not only Christ but also the Father who sent him.
There is a Japanese company that requires newly hired
college graduate workers to perform janitorial tasks, including cleaning
toilets, during their new employee orientation. Janitorial tasks are not in
their job description. They are not hired as the company’s cleaning staff.
Nevertheless, all new employees have to perform janitorial works, to perform
the tasks on their job descriptions.
Why does this company mandate its new employees to do
cleaning jobs during the orientation?
It is because managers must know and understand the
service behind the clean work environment. They should not take the cleanliness
at work for granted.
If you know what it was like to clean toilet, because
you have done it, you sure become a manager who treats cleaning staff with
appreciation and great care for their needs. But if you have no experience as a
cleaning staff, you are at risk of treating them as if they were invisible.
Pay attention in your own work environment to see how
many workers, especially managers, at least say hello to cleaning staff.
Perhaps, only a few say “Hello” and “Thank you”. To those who say nothing, the cleaning staff
were not seen as their work team members. In many cases, these cleaning crews
are not your company employees but contract workers set by an outsourcing
company.
In this company, CEO himself occasionally joins its
cleaning crews, mopping floors, taking trash out, and cleaning toilets. In
fact, he is very good at cleaning toilets, because he has been doing it since
he or she was hired.
And the company’s cleaning staff are not dispatched
from an outsourcing company on contract. They are the company’s official
employees because they are valued team members. In this company, there is no
need to have a union because the management treat all its team members,
including its cleaning staff, justly and well.
This company’s corporate culture reflects the
idealistic Church, as Jesus has envisioned in his words to the disciples to
serve humbly and to care for the least among people in order to be the leaders
of his Church (Mark 9:35, 37).
When Jesus foretold of his passion, death, and
resurrection for the first time, Peter protested and was rebuked for this (Mark
8:31-33). And he taught self-denial and carrying a cross as necessary
conditions of the discipleship (Mark 8:34-35). When he spoke of the prospect of
his suffering, death, and resurrection, for the second time, the disciples did
not understand what this meant but argued who would be the greatest among them
because they were afraid to ask a question, because of their pride (Mark
9:30-34). In response, Jesus commanded them to serve people with humility and
to care for the least among them, in order to be their leaders (Mark 9:35-37).
After all, Jesus exemplifies the humble servantship,
and this is why Paul calls us to be like him:
Have among yourselves the same attitude
that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did
not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied
himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human
in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a
cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that
is above every name, that at the name of Jesu every knee should bend, of those
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
(Philippians 2:6-11).
Indeed, Jesus suffered and died in humility, and now we
are called to be humble servant like him with our attention for the least among
us to care.
* Beall, A.T. & Tracy, J.L. (2020). The Evolution of Pride and Shame.
In: Workman L, Reader W, Barkow J.H,, eds. The Cambridge Handbook of
Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior. Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology.
Cambridge University Press;179-193.
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