Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, 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.
They came to Capernaum 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 Twelve, 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.”
Gospel Trivia:
There are two trivia in this verse that provides an important perspective: "Then he sat down, called the twelve..."
- sitting down is the posture of a teacher who is about to impart something
- calling the twelve is redundant; they are already there
This is the evangelist's way of saying that what Jesus is about to say is of great importance. Indeed it is, because the principle of "being last to be first" and "receiving a child" is found also in the gospels of Luke and Matthew. It became an important guiding principle in the early church, namely:
- "being last" reverses the importance of the first child in biblical culture
- a "child" does not connote "innocence" but a child is socially unimportant in Jewish society; in fact the word for "child" also connotes a "servant".
Jesus points to a radical new way of looking at leadership and authority. It is what we now call as "servant leadership."
Reference:
- Nil Guillemette, SJ, A Kingdom for All (Manila: St. Paul Publications, 1988).
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