Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 22, 2024
Last week Jesus left us with this paradox: Lose your life to save it. He continues this week saying that to be first, one must be last. All their bickering about the wrong things aside, it’s no wonder that the disciples in Mark’s Gospel never quite understand Jesus when he talks this way. He must show them. However, we don’t have the benefit of seeing what Jesus did. We need to imagine it.
So think of a little child in a room full of adults. If you were to put your arms around the child, the first thing you would have to do is bend down and get at their level. To receive them into your arms, you need to lower yourself and make yourself gentle so that they do not run away in fear.
We, too, must bend and gaze eye to eye with love upon the lowly ones whom Jesus loves, for they are sacraments of God’s presence among us.
But before we think this is just a sweet lesson about children and avoiding pride, Jesus subtly hints at his true identity, saying, “Whoever receives me receives not me but the One who sent me.” In Jesus, God the all-powerful One has stooped down to our level so that all humanity might be embraced in God’s loving arms.
If God has done this, then we, too, must bend and gaze eye to eye with love upon the lowly ones whom Jesus loves, for they are sacraments of God’s presence among us.
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