Love Flows Through Humility (Mark 9:30-37)

Jesus Announces Again His Death and Resurrection (Mark 9:30-32)

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. (9:30-32)

The first time I mentioned my death, Peter opposed it strongly, and I needed to rebuke him. This time, my disciples did not dare to speak, aware that it was not a secondary matter, that it was a given they had to accept. 

My death and resurrection were so important, and it was important that step by step they would prepare for it. It is true, even at my death they were not ready, but these repetitions had prepared them for welcoming the Holy Spirit and for accepting the cross. I did not speak to convince people instantly, I spoke to prepare for the Father’s way to be manifested. It is very important that you learn from this that you have to focus on me and on the Father, not on what other people think. Ultimately, it is not your fellow humans who give life, but the Father through the Holy Spirit and through me. Love the Father with all your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Loving your neighbor sometimes means to do what he tells you, but not always. Sometimes you will have to look harsh or insensitive, in order to help the Father bring His grace to your neighbor. My disciples did not want to hear about my crucifixion, but by me repeating it they began to wrestle with it step by step, as their reactions clearly showed. 

Greatness Through Humility (Mark 9:33-37)

And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. (9:33-34)

Unable to understand why I would die, since I was the Messiah, and unable to understand what my ministry was ultimately about, they tried first to grasp what would happen after my death. Since they did not really hear that not only I would die but also resurrect, they began to think about what would happen if I was no more there. Their very down to earth thinking led them to the question: who will be the leader after Jesus is gone? And this first implicit question led to the second one, when they asked each other: who is the greatest? In their thinking, the greatest among them would then become the leader. 

It was strange to me that they would not meditate first about the ultimate goal of my ministry, this intimacy with God that they were to experience and communicate - this good news that transforms everything. They did not understand the coming of the kingdom through me, they did not focus yet on the Father in their thinking. They were still trying to analyze and grasp spiritual realities with earthly concepts. 

And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” (9:35)

I came not to master but to serve humans. I did not claim any title, but humbly came in a poor family of Nazareth. It is the Father who elevated me, it is the Father who did miracles through me, through my listening to His voice and through following His direction. I accepted the cross, and he resurrected me. I accepted to be last, and he made me first. The key question of my ministry was not who is the greatest, but who is willing to serve the Father. It is only through the acknowledgment that without God nothing important and eternal can be accomplished, that people can be elevated by the Father. It is foolish for humans to try to reach the heaven and eternity with their strength and brain. Once they recognize that they are not God, that they are created by God and need his help, only then can the Father pour fully his love in them and elevate them. As long as you think that you are better than you neighbor, you are dangerous because you will crush and destroy others around you. As long as you try to elevate yourself by your own strength, you have to lower others. Once you abandon this self-centered effort, if you come to me with your burdens I will give you rest and show you the way of life, and through fellowship with me the Father will elevate you. That is how the last will be first. 

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not only me but him who sent me.” (9:36-37)

My disciples were looking for a leader after me, I welcomed a child. They looked for power, I showed them humility. A child knows that he needs his father, that alone he will not be able to survive very long. In the same way, humans need dearly the heavenly Father, in order to not only live a short human life but to receive the eternal life, as they learn to know me and the Father through an intimate and vibrant relationship. 

I wanted my disciples to realize how vital it was to care for the little ones, to learn to see the love of the Father in a child. In my name, following my example, I wanted them to learn to love the humble and to show the love of the Father. In receiving a little child in my name, in imitating me, they showed that they received my love. In receiving my love they received me and the Father who sent me. I did not come for power, but to show the way of heavenly love, the way of a humble love that transforms communities and nations, a love that is not proud, a love that you receive and give joyfully.