Sunday 23 September 2018: Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of humanity ... All who wish to be first must make themselves the servants of all.

...Evil is a problem for all of us: we have to contend with disruptive forces – within ourselves, in our dealings with others, in the wide world in which we live. Like the disciples Jesus is instructing , we are still learning how to cope. Those whom Jesus wants to be the bearers of the Good News of God’s ways are still lost in their self-centred ambitions. It is a situation that is so typical of our human experience. It leads Jesus to give the disciples a lesson that is at once radical and simple: ‘Anyone who wants to be first must become last of all and servant of all’. Perhaps we have here another echo of the Servant Songs that have been mentioned – Jesus himself will be our example in the living out of this truth. Great teacher that he is, Jesus goes on to give the disciples an object lesson - receive those who have nothing to give you in return, like this child I am embracing, he tells them, and you will be true disciples of mine and dear to my Father.

Extract by John Thornhill sm - read more at The Emmaus Series | Image courtesy of pexels.com