“FIRST IMPRESSIONS”

25^th  SUNDAY (B)
September 22, 2024

Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20; Psalm 54;
James 3: 16-4:3; Mark 9: 30-37

by Jude Siciliano, OP

Dear Preachers:

The letter of James, with its emphasis on works, has often been interpreted as a contrast to Paul’s emphasis on faith  (For example, see last week’s reading from James 2:14-18). But today what emerges from James is not about works, but  wisdom. In daily life we might name a person “wise” because they have been successful in their life choices: they have a good job; secure homes; and maintain their health. This wisdom focuses on the self.

But James poses another kind of wisdom, it is “from above.” It is a wisdom that sees through the false promises life puts before us. But the Christian longs for true wisdom that has its source in God and enables us to live our lives in light of God’s will with mastery over our actions. It is wisdom “from above,” James says, which produces visible fruit that marks the Christian’s daily life.

James, like Paul, confronted his congregation for its internal conflicts. Both asked their communities to turn to God for help to live together peaceably. As in their time, our church faces internal warring factions, each claiming wisdom to know God’s will. James asks, “where do… the conflicts among you come from?” He is not so much interested in the opinions and ideas of the members of his church as he is with their living good and peace-loving lives. He reminds his members that earthly wisdom (“wisdom from below”) produces division and strife; but “wisdom from above” recognizes and responds to the call to “cultivate peace.”

What do you see in the outside world and the internal world of your congregation that exhibits the vices James enumerates? The wisdom he speaks of does not reside in the head, but in our daily behavior. James calls us to live by the “wisdom from above” which is God’s gift to us, as individuals and as communities.

Turn your glance to your faith community. Does it exhibit “the wisdom from above” in its leadership; liturgical life; generosity towards the needs of others; prayers that voice concern for the world; social justice ministries and works to resolve conflicts?

Who is “in” and who is “out” in today’s gospel? It’s not clear why Jesus would not want anyone but his disciples to know about his future sufferings. Who else, but a disciple, would be able to understand this teaching? They are the “in” group of the story. But the irony is that even those closest to Jesus do not understand what he is saying. This non-understanding is a theme in Mark, it is “the scandal of the cross.”

The disciples have their “eye on the prize” and, judging from previous accounts, that means they are hoping for glory by following Jesus.  But they have no clue what he means about his coming suffering and death. Human knowledge cannot grasp this mystery, but God can enable us to hear and accept it. It would seem that Christ is quite clear about what is going to happen to him. But trying to see the mysterious ways of God by our own wisdom only leads to darkness, the absence of light. We need what James spelled out for us today, “wisdom from above.”

Jesus sounds like a benevolent uncle when he takes a child, puts his arms around it and says, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me….” Of course, Jesus loved children and was gentle towards them. But he was stressing the core of his teaching and is asking for total love and trust from his disciples. We are called to be servants of all, even to receiving the ones in society who have no authority, or established position.

We ask then, who are the authentic leaders in our Christian community? Jesus would point us to the humble servant leaders who may have no official office, but who are following his lessons about service to the least. His teaching is radical: while he is the long-awaited Messiah yet, by following him, we must desire not to be first, but to be last and the servant of all.

The disciples do not understand this teaching. Not because it is too technical,  theological, or the grammar not clear; but because it speaks of a way of living they cannot accept, at this moment of their discipleship –  the necessity of Jesus’ suffering and death. His passion and death must happen so that they, through faith, can share in his new, resurrected life. Then they will understand and believe in this difficult teaching.

The disciples were not exempt from being infected by the world in which they lived. Competition, prestige and power permeated the Roman-dominated world of the disciples. Those same worldly “virtues” also dominate our modern world as well. In their lives a servant was the one who waited on tables and served the wishes of their masters and mistresses.  On their own they had no honor. Jesus told his disciples they must be “the last of all and the servant of all.” He also asked that they receive a child in his name. The child had no material value, or social standing in the household, or community. They could not improve their status on their own. So what would the benefit be for a disciple to offer hospitality to a child, or pay them any respect at all?

There would be no material gain. But those who received a child in his name would be receiving Jesus and, he says, “not me but the One who sent me.”  As we celebrate the “true presence” of Jesus in today’s Eucharist, we might consider where in the world we also discover his true presence. We could begin looking in the direction he points today, to the least. “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.”

Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092224.cfm