Gospel for Tuesday, February 20th

Gospel
Mk 9:30-37

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
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 the Son of Man will rise.”
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
“What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they remained silent.
For they had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.

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.”
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“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.”

Thoughts:
Jesus is taking his disciples on a journey with him through Galilee and He doesn't wish anyone to know about this. It seems that Jesus is taking time to personally teach His Apostles something about how to lead in the Church He is establishing. When they arrive at the house in Capernaum they are faced with the reality that they had their eyes on the wrong ideas. They were arguing about which one on them was the greatest. Jesus as always takes a moment of defeat in their lives and turns it into the greatest teaching opportunity. The truth that has continued since the beginning of the Church. He teaches the grown men that humility comes before glory. We must put ourselves in the back of the line. We must go to the despised and reach out to the unwanted. I tell my daughter when she starts to argue with her little brother about who going to go first that she should let him go first and then she'll be the winner.

I hope she always remembers this.

Amen.