Gospel for Sunday, September 22: Mark 9:30-37
XXV Sunday Year B
30 They departed from there and went through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know. 31 For he instructed his disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; but once he is killed, after three days he will rise again.” 32 They, however, did not understand these words and were afraid to ask him for an explanation.
33 They came meanwhile to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 And they kept silent. For on the way they had been discussing among themselves who was the greatest. 35 So he sat down and called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And taking a child, he placed him in the middle and embracing him he said to them:
37 “Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me; whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but he who sent me.”Mk 9:30-37
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
CALLED TO BE “DELIVERED,” LIKE JESUS
1. Second proclamation:
(see Mt 17:22-23; Lk 9:43b-45)
We have arrived at ch 9 v. 30 and find a second triad: that is, we again find an announcement specifying who Jesus is as Messiah, we will have a block of teachings, and some manifestations of the Glory of God.
Today’s Gospel presents us with the second (Mk. 9:31-32) of the three Passion announcements in Mark: in the first (8:30-33) Jesus, immediately after Peter in Caesarea had recognized him as the Christ (Mk. 8:27-29), for the avoidance of doubt “openly began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things (”pollah”), and be reproved.” In the second proclamation, which the Liturgy offers us today, the key concept is “being delivered” (9:31), “paradìdonai”: this is a technical word, which recurs many times in Scripture, at the level of the passion narratives. “To be delivered” is to no longer be our own master, it is to accept that others dominate us, it is to become servants, slaves. Jesus “will be delivered,” like the Servant of IHWH (Is 53:10), the prophets (Jer 26), the righteous (Dan 7:24-28), the Baptist (Mk 1:14). In the third proclamation (10:32-34) the meaning of this “delivery” (10:33) of the Son will be even more explicit: “they will condemn him to death…, they will mock him, they will spit on him, they will scourge him and kill him.” Jesus’ whole life is a “handing over”: in fact, he will be “handed over” to the High Priests (Mk 14:10), to Pilate (15:1-10), to the soldiers (15:15), and he will “hand himself over” in the Eucharist (“This is my body handed over for you”: 14:22-24; 1 Cor 11:24).
Faced with this prospect, the disciples rebel: at the first announcement, Peter stands beside Jesus, “took him aside and rebuked him” (8:32). But Jesus puts Peter back in his role as disciple, who must walk behind the Master: “Opìso mou!”, “Go after me!”, and calls him Satan, adversary (8:33). And immediately in five sentences he announces the program for those who want to get behind him: the disciple will have to deny, i.e., disown, himself, and know nothing but God’s will (8:34); only in taking up the cross will he be able to follow the Master (8:34); he will have to measure his life not by what he will have but by how much he will be able to give (8:35-37); Jesus will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of his logic (8:38); those who instead “hand themselves over” as Jesus did, will already in this life experience the power of it (9:1).
After this second announcement, the disciples no longer dare to challenge him openly (9:32), but among themselves they continue to “argue about who was the greatest” (9:34). Jesus clearly reiterates, “If anyone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all” (9:35). Even after the third Passion announcement, James and John will go and ask him “to sit in glory one at his right hand and the other at his left” (10:37). And Jesus will reiterate the call to become “servants of all,” following his example (10:44-45).
We smile at such stubbornness of the disciples, such spiritual stupidity. But the evangelists insisted on presenting us with this apostolic foolishness because it is the great temptation of all time for the believer. It is the Church, it is all of us, it is me, who practically reject this logic of God every day. We all want to be first and not last; we all want to “fulfill” and our life and certainly not lose it; we all want to decide about ourselves, and certainly not for others to dispose of us; we all want honors and shun outrage and persecution; we all prefer a life of comfort rather than sacrifice; we all prefer to enjoy than to suffer, to command than to obey, to receive than to give, to be served rather than to serve. No one is in the mood to be “handed over,” to become “a man for others,” a possession of others, which everyone can use; no one is in the mood to “empty himself” for others, to lose himself for them, to be consumed, eaten by others, to become “the last and the servant of all” (9:35), like Jesus the Christ…
2. Teaching:
– On community life: 9:33-50:
(see Mt 18:1-5; Lk 9:46-48)
Who is most important
There is here a series of Jesus’ sayings linked together by “hook words,” key words: in verses 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, there is the phrase, “in my name.” In verses 42 and 43 that the theme of scandal. From verse 43 to verse 48 is the theme of fire. We are faced with a series of “loghia Christi,” “sayings of the Lord,” teachings of the Lord, which were grouped through key words to aid memorization.
The evangelist puts them here for a specific theological purpose. Jesus is giving some teachings and here he admonishes us about community life. In the beginning we have a dispute about who is the greatest. The closing of that whole text is the word “peace”: “Be at peace with one another” (v. 50). The central theme is that the Christian community is the place of peace to the extent that each disciple learns to make himself last, learns to serve, learns to give his life. This is the great teaching. Jesus said, “I am the Messiah who will be delivered. You will be in peace to the extent that you hand yourselves over to one another.” Community is the place where the believer does not come to advance rights, does not come to have powers of force. Community is the place where the believer hands himself over to his brothers and sisters, and learns to hand himself over to the world.
In turn, the Christian community will be a community in peace, in the peace of God, which also means then persecution from the rest of the world, but in “Shalom,” that is, in the fullness of its own fulfillment, its own identity, on the day when it knows how to deliver itself the world, knows how to give itself to the world.
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.