Jesus’ unexpected announcement of his impending death shocked the disciples, grappling with why and what would happen to them afterward.
The disciples quietly contemplate candidates for the position.
Jesus demonstrates masterful handling of relationships by not rebuking, judging, or accusing but instead presenting a strategy for educating.
Jesus reveals his infallible method: ‘The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.’ This radical idea challenges their understanding of hierarchy and service.
He does it with an unprecedented gesture: a hug to a child. The Gospel is an embrace to the smallest, which opens a whole revelation: God is more than just all-powerful; He is beautifully revealed in an all-powerful embrace.
He then offers a method with three one-word definitions: you must be last, a servant, a child.
He invites us to embrace the helpless and disarmed, the most defenseless and disenfranchised in the weakest, the most beloved, a child.
Embrace those like children! … To surrender to childhood is to surrender one’s heart and smile, accept to leave one’s hand to support the other, and abandon oneself without reserve.
A child’s life is about trust, not philosophy or laws. Jesus suggests we become like children in our faith journey, as childlike hearts instinctively point to Heaven.
On Earth, laws and currency rule; being in control makes us feel safe, but Jesus opens the Godly horizon: a clean, forgiving, trusting, childlike heart is a priority for Heaven. Do you have one?