Faith Education and RE News

Jesus teaches that to rank first, disciples must serve all

 Mark 9:30-37

‘If anyone wants to be first,’ Jesus says quite clearly, ‘he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ As Pope Francis paraphrases it: ‘Do you want to be first? Serve. This is the way.’

Jesus must have surprised the apostles, who were busy arguing about their status. Like children, they were trying to make sense of their social world and relationships. Who was the biggest, the oldest, the first?

But, the Pope says, ‘the Lord inaugurates a reversal: he overturns the criteria about what truly matters.’ What we do matters more than what we think we are entitled to. Queen or cardinal, banker or baggage handler, God looks at whether and how we serve others.

Service, the Pope explains, ‘means to act like Jesus’. We should be givers, not getters.

As the Pope also notes, this changes us: ‘as our care and availability toward others grows, we become freer inside, more like Jesus.’

Which is why Jesus draws the apostles’ attention to a child. As the Pope points out, children represented ‘littleness,’ or dependence. Jesus’ followers should focus on serving ‘those who need to receive and cannot give anything in return. In welcoming those on the margins, the neglected, we welcome Jesus because He is there.’

‘If anyone wants to be first,’ Jesus says quite clearly, ‘he must make himself last of all and servant of all.’ As Pope Francis paraphrases it: ‘Do you want to be first? Serve. This is the way.’

Jesus must have surprised the apostles, who were busy arguing about their status. Like children, they were trying to make sense of their social world and relationships. Who was the biggest, the oldest, the first?

But, the Pope says, ‘the Lord inaugurates a reversal: he overturns the criteria about what truly matters.’ What we do matters more than what we think we are entitled to. Queen or cardinal, banker or baggage handler, God looks at whether and how we serve others.

Service, the Pope explains, ‘means to act like Jesus’. We should be givers, not getters.

As the Pope also notes, this changes us: ‘as our care and availability toward others grows, we become freer inside, more like Jesus.’

Which is why Jesus draws the apostles’ attention to a child. As the Pope points out, children represented ‘littleness,’ or dependence. Jesus’ followers should focus on serving ‘those who need to receive and cannot give anything in return. In welcoming those on the margins, the neglected, we welcome Jesus because He is there.’

by Nick Brodie

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