The greatest in the kingdom of heaven

Our gospel reading for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time is entitled “The greatest in the kingdom” in Mark 9:30-37. Other Bible studies say the title of this piece is “Jesus predicts his death the second time.” When the Lord Jesus Christ first predicted his manner of death, St. Peter even rebuked him saying that this would never happen to the Messiah because the Messiah was the Son of the Living God.

The whole of Israel heard about the coming of the Messiah, but all of them believed that the Messiah would come as a conqueror that would fight the Roman occupiers of Palestine. So when the Lord Jesus showed his disciples his power many of his disciples believed him to be the Messiah. Unfortunately, their thinking of who would the Messiah really be and what would be his role in Israel comes only from human terms simply because their biggest problem as a nation of Jews was the reality that the Roman Empire came into their shores and occupied their lands.

So their thoughts about the Messiah are totally different from what they perceived the Messiah to be, that the Son of God would come and establish God’s kingdom in Israel only. So let’s read what Mark has to say about today’s gospel reading.

“30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

“33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

“36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

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In the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven was a child when the Lord took a child and said 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” Remember in ancient Palestine, women and children were of no consequence. If you remember the miracle of the loaves or the feeding of the five thousand, the people listed there did not include women and children because they were not counted. Naturally this issue was a surprise to the Jews because women and children had no status in their society.

Yet the Lord clearly stated that the greatest among them is a child of no consequence! The Jews and the disciples of Jesus were given an idea of how things are in the Kingdom of Heaven; that women and children have a status that is not recognized in human terms. This was something for the disciples of the Lord to have a clearer understanding, and 2,000 years later we already understood what the Lord meant!

Earlier, the Lord told his disciples when He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” Like what I said earlier, then the Lord made the first prophecy of his impending death on the cross… his disciples would not accept it. A Messiah isn’t supposed to die. But only later would everyone understand why our Lord Jesus had to come to earth in order to die for our sins and bring us back to the paradise that our forefathers have lost!

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