Ad Jesum per Mariam

Jesus Tells His Disciples and Us: If You Want to Be Great . . .

Jesus Tells His Disciples and Us: If You Want to Be Great . . . Often in our discussions, we talk about the greatest. The greatest athlete in a specific sport, like soccer, basketball or football. There is even a greatest hot dog eater as per the July 4th competition! If we are honest with ourselves, we all want to be great! It is the reason we work hard. It is the reason we endure many sleepless nights to make ourselves better. There is nothing wrong with being great. However, if our obsession to be great is at the expense of others, then the obsession becomes a problem. If we do this and forget all about God, then this obsession is a problem! “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Both readings and the Gospel talk about greatness. The Homily first discusses the first two readings as it relates to greatness and the lesson for us! We must be thankful and content with whatever gifts we receive from God. There will always be someone greater than us in this lifetime. Hear more within the Homily! We must be content and realize the blessings that God has given to us! And be happy for others for the gifts they have also received from God! “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” In the Gospel, the theme of greatness continues. Jesus tells his disciples that He will be handed over and be killed. This is the second time He will tell the disciples. The disciples do not understand what Jesus is trying to tell them. Out of fear, the disciples do not ask! Instead, what do they do? They talk among themselves about who is the greatest! When Jesus asks them what they were discussing, the disciples were ashamed to tell Him! Jesus already knew! Listen to this Meditation Media. Listen to: Jesus Tells His Disciples and Us: If You Want to Be Great . . . ------------------------------- Image: Christ and the Children: Mexican Painter: Juan Urruchi: late 1800s ------------------------------- Gospel Reading: Mark: 9: 30-37 First Reading: WIS 2: 12, 17-20 Second Reading: James: 3:16 – 4:3

Broadcast on:: 23 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

The Lord be with you, and with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark. Glory to you, O Lord. Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through God. But he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, the son of man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him. And three days after his death, the son of man will rise. But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. Then came to Capenum, and once inside the house, he began to ask them, what were you arguing about on the way? But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the 12, and said to them, if anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all. Taking a child, he placed it in their midst. And putting his arms around it, he said to them, whoever receives one child such as this, in my name, receives me. And whoever receives me, receives not me, but the one who sent me the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. [ Silence ] >> One among the first things that I lent, and that caught my attention when I had come here in the US, with this unique competition that takes place on 4th of July. I hope you know it. The competition of eating hot dogs. So when I came, and then I was told that there's that competition, I said, no, why not join? I wish I were here to register for that. And then I came to learn that the one who is holding the record, the one who is the greatest is the one who managed to eat 7 to 6 hot dogs in 10 minutes. I said, no, I can't afford that. I can't afford that. So we talk of being great, the greatest in this, the greatest in that. In Soka, we talk of who is the greatest in Soka. Is it Christian Ronaldo? Is it Messi? Is it Maradona? We talk of the greatest in basketball. Is it Michael Jordan? Or is it LeBron James? And then the greatest in music. And then we go on and on and on. And to be honest, we all want to be great. We all want to be great. That's why we work hard. That's why we spend sleepless nights to think of how to make ourselves better. And when we are sending our keys to school, we tell them, wherever you're going, please, work hard. And there is nothing wrong in being great. There is nothing wrong in being great. But if our obsession to greatness, if our quest to greatness, put us in a position that we want to be great at the expense of others, that's where the problem comes in. If our quest for greatness, put us in a position that we want to put others, use others in order for us to be great, that's where the problem is. And again, if we want to be great, and then we sideline God, that is where the problem is. Our readings today, all of them, the first reading, the second reading and the gospel talk about greatness. In the first reading from the Book of Wisdom, we hear that the wicked are saying to themselves, let us beset this just man. He is obnoxious to us. He troubles us with whatever he says. Let's prove to him that we are greater than he is. And let's go on. We prove to him that we are not just greater than him, but we are even greater than the one he is representing, God himself. Let's give him the quest for greatness, to prove that we are great. And this quest for greatness makes us blind to see what true greatness is. And we close our ears, because this just man is telling them the truth. But they just don't want to listen. They have closed their eyes not to see. And they have become death. They don't want to see. Quest for greatness. In the second reading from the letter of James, there is a crucial question that James puts to us. He says, where do all the conflicts, the fighting come from? Is it not from the passions that we have? Is it not from the envy, the jealousy that we have? And it is out of this that when we see someone doing better than the way than us, we become jealousy. Where do all these conflicts come from? The quest for greatness. I want to be better than the other. I must be better than the other. And we ask ourselves, what is the antidote of envy, jealousy, of this quest for greatness? There are two things. One is to be contented with what God has given us. And to be grateful for whatever we receive from God. Because in this life, whether we want it or not, there will always be someone who will be better than us. There will always be someone who will be better than us. At the same time, there will always be someone who will be and us. And when we consider ourselves highly, someone who is better than us, we become jealousy. And someone who is under us, we become proud of ourselves. This brings me back to my experience when I was in secondary school. The interesting times that we had, we are those that we have written the exams. And then the teacher is bringing the papers. So we all tend to stop. If the exam was so hard, how many of us called? How many marks? And then you get your paper. You find out that you have scored 80%. You become happy. I'm the guy. This is the best day of my life. I'm the man in this class. And you beat yourself, chest at this. No, I have done great. This is the best day of my life. And then you'd want to share the joy with others. You go, and then you compare your paper to the paper of your friend. You find your friend has gotten 60%. And then you say, I said, I am the man. I am the man. I've done great. So you are there on top of the world. And then you move on, say, let me see how others have scored. You go on, you take, you find your friend has gotten 99%. And then you look at yourself, oh, I'm not the man. [LAUGHTER] And then you move on to check the paper of the other person. You find he has gotten 100%. From there, you say, they are the man. This is their best day of-- this is their best day of life. So the 80% that you have scored, because you have compared it to the other people, becomes nothing. In our life, comparison kills us. We must be grateful to what God has given us. And improve on that. And we must be contented. And when we become contented, we realize that we are blessed, and others are blessed as well. We give thanks to God, whatever He has given us. And we say, others are also received. And this may go into different spheres. It may be titles. It may be even our own healthy and all that. God is there for us. And when we look at Him, we give thanks to Him. We realize that He has blessed us in our own way. But when we are too much into greatness, to be better than the other, we miss out the point. In the gospel, the theme of greatness continues. Our Lord Jesus Christ is on the journey with His disciples. And He tells them for the second time, the Son of Man will be handed over. He will be cured. But after three days, He is going to rise. And the disciples don't understand this. And out of fear, they don't ask. Instead, what do they do? They start discussing among themselves. And when they reach the house, Jesus comes and says, what were you discussing? For sure, they were ashamed. They never wanted to tell it. But Jesus knew that they were discussing that who is their greatest among themselves? So we can envision seeing Peter tearing his fellow disciples. I am the greatest. Don't joke with me. You know, Jesus gave me the key. I am the greatest. And then we see John coming in and said, no, Peter, be serious. You know that I am the beloved disciple. So I am the greatest. And then we see our friend Judas coming in. You, man, what are you talking about here? You can have the key. You can have the love of God. But I'm the one who keeps the money. As long as you don't have money, you have nobody. And then we see Peter becoming in, clearing his throat. You guys, what are you talking about? You know that when we lacked food, the 500 people, our Lord Jesus Christ came to me. You can have the key. You may be the beloved disciple. You don't have the money. But if you don't have food, you die. And then it goes on and on and on. And Jesus comes in and says, if you want to be first, as I said at the very beginning, it's not bad to be great. It's not bad to have the desire of being the first, but the way of achieving that. And what is this greatness? Jesus says, if you want to be the first, if you want to be great, you must be the last. You must be the last. And be the last, you must be the servant of all. Save others that will make you the first. Save others that will make you great. And then he brings a child. Puts his arm around it, embracing it, and says, if you want to be great, if you want to be first, receive this child. Now, the child is a symbol of vulnerability. A child is a symbol of dependence. If you want to be great, first and foremost, receive this vulnerability that our Lord Jesus Christ brings to us. Receive this dependence on God. Receive this and take care of those that are vulnerable. That is if you want to be great. And he continues, when you receive this child, you have received me. And when you have received me, you have received the one who sent me. So who is the greatest? The greatest is the one who receives Jesus. The greatest is the one who has Jesus. Let's not forget, to have Jesus is to have everything. To have Jesus is to have everything. To have everything, and not to have Jesus is to have nothing. Amen. [ Silence ]