The greatest in the kingdom

Today’s gospel reading is a teaching that all Catholics must know by heart because our Lord Jesus Christ is telling us that to gain eternal life, all one needs is to have a childlike faith. This gospel is about the Greatest in the Kingdom which you can read in your Bible in Mark 9:30-37.

“30 [Jesus and his disciples] began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. 31 He was teaching his disciples and telling them, “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.” 32 But they were afraid to question him. 33 They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they remain silent.

They have been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. 35 Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” 36 Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives em; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”

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In this gospel today, our Lord Jesus gives his Apostles the second prediction of his death. In last Sunday’s gospel reading, he gave them the very first prediction of how he was to die. But then, Simon (whose name was changed by the Lord into Peter or Rock to signify his new role and position with his disciples) rebuked the Lord’s prediction saying, “God forbid that this would happen to you Lord.” But our Lord in turn rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind me Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Clearly, his disciples did not understand what he was telling them about his being killed because when one gets killed… that’s the end of that person. Yet, Peter’s confession last week was a revelation that the Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. So an ordinary human might ask,” If Jesus was the Son of God, then why would he be killed?” Clearly, his disciples were lost in translation. They believed that he was the Son of God because of the supernatural powers that he possessed. They were witnesses to countless miracles… yet their Master was saying that he would be killed and rise again? It was totally a mystery to the disciples.

No doubt the Apostles were arguing amongst each other as to what manner of death the Lord Jesus would endure… and surely they were asking themselves… would he really rise up in three days or was all this a joke? But because our Lord Jesus rebuked Peter earlier for not believing in him when he revealed to them the first prediction of his death, they were afraid to ask him questions. At this point, many of his disciples still believed that the Messiah would come to fight against Roman oppression and tyranny.

It was then that they asked the Lord, “Who was the greatest in God’s kingdom?” and the Lord taught them with these words, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” To ordinary folks, a great person should be ahead of everyone. But the teaching of our Lord was one of humility, which was totally different from their human perspective. If you didn’t know, the official title of our Pope is, “Servus Servorum Dei” meaning, “Servant of the Servants of God.”

Now did you notice that when our Lord took a child and placed it in the midst of the Twelve Apostles, he used “it” to identify the child, so we have no way of knowing whether the child was a girl or a boy. The reason perhaps is due to the fact that in those days in Palestine, women and children had no rights. If you remember the Miracle of the Fish and Loaves, where five thousand where fed by our Lord, the women and children were not even counted amongst the five thousand. Women in ancient times were considered chattel, like when you get your chattel mortgage.

But our Lord elevated the status of the child saying “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives them; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” If they listened to the Master carefully, he meant that if anyone receives the child, it is not only Jesus who receives them but God the Father as well receives them.

This teaching holds true today about the importance of children in the kingdom of heaven. It is for this reason why the Catholic Church rejects the Reproductive Health (RH) bill because our Lord Jesus taught his apostles about the importance of a child, more so when the child is still in its mother’s womb. Just imagine how in ancient times women and children were not given any importance… not even any human rights. Today, women have equal rights as men; children have rights as well and are protected by the Constitution. So too must the unborn be protected and any Catholic who supports the RH bill should consider getting out of the Catholic Church.  

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