25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – B
September 22, 2024 11am
Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton
Being Number 1
We can imagine what Jesus’ disciples were saying at the beginning of this incident today.
Andrew tells Peter, “I met him before you did.” Peter retorts, “Yeah, but he gave me the keys to the kingdom.”
James chimes in, “Don’t forget – he took me up on that mountain to see Moses and Elijah.” And, of course, Judas brags, “Okay, but he put me in charge of the money.”
The gospel simply says: “They had been discussing among themselves who was the greatest.” In other words, each of them wants to be number one.
I think we can understand this. In our own way, don’t we sometimes do the same thing?
Sometimes don’t we want to be seen as specially favored by our boss or teacher, or as having a better job or a nicer home than the next guy? In our own way, don’t we sometimes want to be the greatest or number one?
Our Humanity
Humanly speaking, we all want to feel good about ourselves and we probably also want to be perceived well by others.
Maybe these are universal human needs. But Jesus cautions us.
He is saying that when we get preoccupied with ourselves in this way, we will probably never feel fully settled. Instead, we just keep looking for that elusive feeling of satisfaction.
So, Jesus points us in a different direction that doesn’t just satisfy us and our human needs. It also makes God and God’s kingdom present in the world.
Be the Servant of All
Jesus says: “Those who want to rank first, must remain the last of all and the servant of all.”
To illustrate his point, he takes a child and says, “Whoever welcomes a child such as this welcomes me.” Now, in Jesus’ day, children were much more vulnerable than they are in our society.
They were at the bottom of the social ladder. For example, if a family did not have enough food, the father ate first, then the mother, and only then would the children get whatever was left over.
That may sound crazy and backwards to us but that’s the way it was in the culture of Jesus’ day. That’s why he takes a child to make his point.
Jesus is calling us to care for the last and the least. When we do this, we are serving others and, in effect, we are making ourselves last, but in the eyes of God, we are first.
Influence and Concern
There is a way that I have heard of that helps me to try to live Jesus’ teaching here.
The idea is that we have areas of influence and areas of concern. Here is what this means.
Our area of influence consists of persons whom we can impact or assist directly. This includes our family, friends, local community, and even those who come to Our Daily Bread in downtown Baltimore or those who live in Preston County, West Virginia where some of you provide help.
Areas of influence are situations or persons that we can personally and directly affect. We can have real influence.
Our areas of concern are situations that we care about, but we are limited in what we can do. This would include people in some parts of Africa who are suffering from lack of food and potable water and health care and persons in parts of Central and South America who are suffering from oppression and violence and poverty.
We care, we pray, maybe we make some contribution to Catholic Relief Services to help out. But they are more within our area of concern than our area of influence.
Conclusion
So, I propose this – areas of influence and areas of concern – I propose this as a way to try to live Jesus’ teaching today.
We gain personal satisfaction and fulfillment not by seeking to be number one, but by doing what we can for the last and the least. “Those who want to rank first, must remain the last of all and the servant of all.”
