Children of God

 Sunday GospelMark 9:30-37 
After leaving the mountain Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him.
  They came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ They said nothing because they had been arguing which of them was the greatest. So he sat down, called the Twelve to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ He then took a little child, set him in front of them, put his arms round him, and said to them, ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

 The mountain is the mountain where the Transfiguration took place. Only a short time ago Jesus was in the company of the fathers,  blessed by his Divine Father and filled with the light of heaven. Surely the disciples had been suitably awe-struck by Peter, James and John's account as they walked the road. Now as the mountain fades into a distant purple haze, a different type of confusion has come over them.. How could this divine Son be talking about failure and death? Why are they heading towards the place where it will happen? What is he expecting them to do about it?

 How do they deal with difficult questions that they don't want answers to? They simply don't ask them. Too afraid to hear an unwelcome truth, they distract themselves entirely with this talk of victory and status.

When we see God threatening to move us out of our comfort zone we may hang back from allowing him into our lives. We may sit in the 'back seats' of our faith life without engaging with what we are called to do.

Even as disciples we have our limits - this far and no further - and then look to reward ourselves for living within those limits.  We imagine ourselves as adults - surely we already have authority and status? We readily argue rights and wrongs amongst ourselves without even involving God. We fail to give God the opportunity to be the God we need rather than the one we want.

 The 'manly' thing to do perhaps would be to challenge them face to face; to shout them down; to demand an answer, an apology even. Jesus is cannier than this; he calls them to remember who he is. He is the 'great one' - the rabbi - and in the rabbinic tradition - the teacher sits whllst his followers stand to hear the words spoken in authority. The men stand in their position of humility - reminded of the servants that he calls them to be. Jesus then draws an image of the Kingdom to him; this little child - powerless and without authority yet with all the love that the Father can bestow on them.

  It is the powerless and the fragile that make up the Kingdom and whatever authority we believe we have, it is given to us to welcome such as these into our lives. To serve them as we serve God; with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind.  

 And, also, to ask Jesus to guide us to the child that dwells in our own hearts.

 In Jesus' name

 wordinthehand2012

Comments

Lynda said…
This is a very insightful statement: "We fail to give God the opportunity to be the God we need rather than the one we want." Often we ask God to remove a difficult situation rather than being grateful that God is there to walk through it with us.

20 September 2012 at 16:28
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Fourth Shepherd

Image
There are many characters in the story of the Nativity but one that we rarely hear of is the Fourth Shepherd. When the angels came that night to bring the Good News, they began with the most unlikely. Shepherds were a tough lot, weathered and self-reliant,  who had to survive out on the hills protecting their flock from the weather, the wolves and their own stupidity.  Once the shepherds had gotten over the shock and wonder of the glory of heaven shining all around them, they immediately wanted to go and find the baby; the lights of Bethlehem beckoned as brightly as the stars – ‘Come and see’. The could barely stop to wrap their cloaks around them. They took hold of  their staffs and each caught a light from the fire.  All except one. One young shepherd remained seated, looking into the fire. When the others asked him why he wasn’t ready, he replied that he was; he was ready to stay behind and take care of the flock. The other shepherds shook their heads w
Read more

Listen

Image
Jesus said: ‘I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.’ Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them. So Jesus spoke to them again: ‘I tell you most solemnly, I am the gate of the sheepfold. All others who have come are thieves and brigands; but the sheep took no notice of them. I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: he will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so
Read more

On and on and on and...

Image
Gospel Luke 18:1-8 Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. ‘There was a judge in a certain town’ he said ‘who had neither fear of God nor respect for man. In the same town there was a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, “I want justice from you against my enemy!” For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, “Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for man, but since she keeps pestering me I must give this widow her just rights, or she will persist in coming and worry me to death.”’ And the Lord said ‘You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now will not God see justice done to his chosen who cry to him day and night even when he delays to help them? I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?’ A strange Gospel this; mostly because of the insinuation that we can get whatever we want from God just by nagging.
Read more