Tuesday 25 February 2025 - ‘Whoever welcomes one such child

Tuesday 25 February 2025

Today is Tuesday the 25th of February in the 7th week of Ordinary Time.    The monks of the Abbey of Keur Moussa sing Psalm 114, “I love the Lord, he hears my cry, he bends down to listen to me when I call” – words which paint a beautiful picture of God bending down to me like a mother or father bending down to their child, full of tenderness and love.   As you listen, reflect for a moment on that ‘tender, loving care’ – that love that God has for you…and the love that you, in turn, have for God.  Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark.    Mark 9:30-37    They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.    Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’    One of Mark’s favourite images is of Jesus striding along a road, with his disciples hurrying to keep up with him. As they walk, Jesus offers them teaching that they often misunderstand. Here, he starts by pointing to his own suffering and death. How do you think they would have reacted to these words?    Shortly afterwards, it seems, the disciples start arguing about seniority. Why do you think that Jesus’s words about his passion prompt them to start a discission of this kind?    Children had little power or influence in the society of Jesus’s time. In Mark’s gospel, unlike some of the others, we’re not asked to become like children again. Rather, we should welcome the children. Why might this be important in this context?    As the passage is read again, notice what Jesus wants his disciples to be like.    Mark 9:30-37    They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.    Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’  As the prayer comes to a close, ask God for whatever you need to be the kind of follower that he is looking for today.  Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.