“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.”
It may seem natural to respond to the unknown, to an apparent threat to oneself, with defensiveness. We are afraid to get to the heart of the matter and so attend rather to what we can do for ourselves, just as the disciples did when Jesus mentioned the cross.
“What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they remained silent.
They had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
The disciples themselves seemed to recognize that there was something deeply wrong with their response to hearing about the imminent death of their friend and Lord. They did not try to justify what they had been discussing but remained silent instead. This may have been a natural or normal response for fallen creatures, but they were aware that it was nevertheless something not befitting their call.
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice.
Their inner turmoil at the suggestion of the cross spilled over into a conflict among them. This was able to occur because their passions were wrongly ordered toward selfishness. Such conflicts as this one begin in the heart and, if unchecked, spill over to others, and become the basis even of violence and war.
Jesus demonstrated to the disciples that their desires were not directed as they should be. The prestige of leadership, the pride associated with being a leader: neither of these were to be reasons for accepting him. It was to be the same for those who would continue his mission in the world.
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Jesus gave them a new paradigm, diametrically opposed to the desire for prestige, fame, or greatness.
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.”
A child is not received on the basis of her accomplishments. This is the icon of leadership in the Church. Much of the work of leadership is precisely the work of the cross which does not often immediately appear as an achievement. Earthly glory must be eschewed if we are to faithfully follow Jesus. Children were extremely marginal at the time of Jesus, tolerated, but not celebrated in the way they would later be within Christendom. Jesus himself, as he told his disciples, was more like the child he put before them than a great Pharisee or Caesar. He himself was a meek, humble, and obedient child of his heavenly Father. He never insisted on being recognized for anything that was merely his own, but rather on the basis of what he had received from his Father.
As an icon, the child is an antidote to the potential pitfall of cults of personality forming around Church leaders, missionaries, evangelists, or anyone else. To be a model leader in this new paradigm of Jesus one must be so completely dependent on another, on the Triune God, so as to have nothing in which to boast oneself. This sort of leadership frees leaders to do the ongoing work of carrying the cross throughout history, following Jesus who was free to carry his own cross precisely because he entrusted his entire life to his Father.
We are asked to desire and pray for leaders who are more like children than the proud conquerors of antiquity. Further, we are called to become like little children ourselves. It is precisely in this: our confidence in and gratitude for the fact that everything in which our good consists, our very being and our salvation, is from another. Marvelously, wondrously, we are embraced by that love before we earn or accomplish anything. It is only from this perspective that we can be free from the worldly fear, fear such as the disciples demonstrated by their dispute. Free from worldly fear we can have instead the fear of God, which is the beginning of the wisdom from above, the only true wisdom.
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,
then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without inconstancy or insincerity.
Children do not in reality display this wisdom consistently. But at their best, grounded in the love of family, they do embody it. We can as well. The Father's love can become the source and ground of our own confidence, our own hope. This can so take hold of us that our very passions will come be reordered, little by little, so that we begin to ask for and desire that which matters most: precisely the Father's will.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who cultivate peace.
We are called to begin from a place of peace rather than the dark place of desperation in which we find ourselves when everything seems to depend on us. This is why peace, true peace, can not come in the way that the world promises it, but only as a gift, as a fruit of the Father's love poured out in his Holy Spirit. Any other starting place renders us unable to embrace the cross, and may well end in bickering, infighting, or even war. We will risk becoming like the wicked described in the reading from wisdom. The very idea that some other, non-egocentric perspective might exist will then represent for us a challenge to be violently opposed.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.
God will indeed take care of his children, but not in the way those with worldly passions desire. He has something better in store for us than such limited perspectives can even imagine. It is for this very reason that the cross is not optional. In our embrace of the cross our trust of the one from whom we receive all that we have and all that we are is perfected. This, especially is not accomplished by our own strength, but based on the grace that sustains us, rooted and grounded in God's love for us.
Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord sustains my life.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice;
I will praise your name, O LORD, for its goodness.
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