A Little Child

Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Dn 3: 31, 29, 30, 43, 42 All that you have done to us, O Lord, you have done with true judgment, for we have sinned against you and not obeyed your commandments. But give glory to your name and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy.

Collect O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the treasures of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Job 1:6-22; Psalm 16; Luke 9:46-50

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and made him stand beside him. Then he said to them, Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all— he is the greatest. Master, said John, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us. Do not stop him, Jesus said, for whoever is not against you is for you. (Luke 9:46-50)

A Little Child Immediately before this incident of the argument among the disciples, our Lord had told them that “the Son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men” (Luke 9: 44). We read that they did not understand what he said — it was hidden from them. It was hidden from them probably for the same reason that led to the argument which Luke then narrates, in our Gospel today (Luke 9:46-50). The argument was over who among them was the greatest. Our Lord had chosen as his principal companions and co-labourers good and observant Jews, but who as yet were far from having attained heroic and enlightened sanctity. The Kingdom of God was being proclaimed, and it was clear that Jesus their Master was to be its King. They were privileged to called to be part of the great adventure. They were to be in the forefront, in the immediate company of the Master. They undoubtedly felt the glow of personal importance, while at the same time being genuinely in love with their Master, and desirous of serving God well. It was naturally incomprehensible to them to hear our Lord’s words stating that he was to be seized, maltreated and overcome. How was this compatible with a King and a Kingdom? Judas may have reasoned further: what sort of a kingdom was this to be, then? So it is that we see them in our scene today squabbling over their relative positions. Here there were twelve men living and working together, all of them novices in the following of Jesus Christ, all of them yet to receive the Spirit of God which would endow them with the mind of Jesus Christ. At this point, inevitably there were tensions and at times a certain jealousy among them. On one occasion the mother of James and John went to our Lord with her sons and asked of him the favour of granting them principal positions in his Kingdom. The others were incensed at this attempt to gain special advantage. In our passage today, John tells our Lord that “we” tried to stop someone who was “not one of us” from acting in Jesus’ name. It looks, at least partially, like a jealous attempt to preserve their own turf, and the glory associated with it.

Our Lord strove to instruct his disciples in the true way they were to live. “Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and made him stand beside him. Then he said to them, Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all— he is the greatest.” A child! Let us think of the love Jesus had for children. On one occasion his disciples tried to put a stop to the press of parents who were clamouring to have their children blessed by Jesus. Our Lord immediately rebuked his disciples for their misplaced concern for him. For it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs, he said. Our Lord, of course, was not holding up before them every aspect of the mind and heart of a child — the child’s petulance and wilfulness, for instance. He was holding up the child as one who looks eagerly to its parents for what it needs, as one who obeys readily its parents, as one who follows trustingly its parents and keeps close to them. The child , typically, accepts its littleness and its need for direction. That is to say, the child is an image of docility and obedience. In fact, the model Child is Jesus Christ himself, in that he is God’s only-begotten Son, absolutely obedient to the Father’s will. His gift to mankind would be the grace to share by adoption in his relationship with his heavenly Father. To all who receive him, St John tells us in the Prologue of his Gospel, he gives the power to become children of God. The fundamental calling of the Christian is to be a child of God, a member of his family in Jesus Christ, sharing his divine life. This means putting on the mind of Christ, who, being rich, made himself poor that we might be rich. The child is little before others, and typically the child accepts this. So too the Christian must be little, and not seek to be regarded as great. Such was Christ himself. Though he had the glory proper to God, he did not hesitate to put it all aside and become as we are, and humbler still, even to death on the Cross. Thus God raised him up. The mind of Christ is a mind of obedience, docility, humility, meekness, yet of great strength withal.

In holding up the child as a kind of icon for their imitation, Christ opened a way contrary to that of the world. At the Last Supper, our Lord rose and began to wash the feet of his disciples. It was the action of a servant, even of a slave. I have set you an example, he said. What I have done to you, so you should do to one another. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not the business of being the greatest. It is the business of being the least, and this is expressed especially in service. Humility is the foundation. Come to me, our Lord said, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. Let us each day do something concrete in putting on this mind of Jesus Christ.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Job 1:6-22)

Sufferings Permitted by God Consider the dialogue between God and Satan in the first chapter of the book of Job (1:6-22). God delights in Job, is proud of him, and praises him. This is what characterizes the God of love. Satan is presented as being hostile to Job and critical of him. He is the accuser — and that is how he is towards us. He delights in accusing us as he did Job. The book of Job goes on to describe the tremendous afflictions that fell upon Job, a just man who deserved nothing of it. The words of God himself assure us of his virtue: he tells Satan with pride that "there is no one like him on the earth: a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil." So how is it that he came to bear such awesome afflictions? Where did they come from? They came, according to our passage, from Satan. Satan is intent on taking Job away from the God-fearing path that has marked his life, and he intends to do it by means of sufferings. God permits Satan to do this, but always within certain limits: "Very well," the Lord said to Satan, "all he has is in your power. But keep your hands off his person." God permits Satan to bring down upon the head of Job these afflictions in order to prove and show forth his virtue. In the process, Job will glorify God and be even more pleasing to him. It is a loving test permitted by God, and God is confident that Job will prove himself.

When we suffer, it is an opportunity to give glory to God and be even more pleasing to him. If God permits it, let us look on it as an opportunity, remembering Job, a type of Christ.

(E.J.Tyler)

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