True Greatness

Gospel Reflections for Tuesday, February 25th, 2025 - Mark 9:30-37

It goes against everything we have been taught in the world today.

We are told if you are humble, you don’t get noticed, you don’t get ahead. You don’t compete, and succeed and become the very best in your chosen field, or sport or studies.

We are told that to be last means someone is better than you and you know it, they know it, the whole world knows it, which means you are worthless.

We are told that to set our own desires aside to serve someone else is dangerous and strange.

Yet today’s Gospel gets in the way of what the world teaches about success, power, and greatness. Jesus rejects the definition of worldly greatness, which has always been self-centered, and flips it on its head, making it centered on others over self. He clearly states "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Doubling down on this message Jesus goes on to say "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."

You see there is an interior greatness that each of us are called to strive for in our earthly lives. The greatness of being last, of serving others, of receiving the innocent, the vulnerable. We are not called upon to focus solely on ourselves, improving only ourselves, relying only on ourselves to do it. We are called to be like Jesus, who modeled all of these teachings through His earthly life. In short, we are called to the true greatness of loving others as God loves us, of being humble enough to be able to receive the One who sent Jesus.

This is a hard teaching to take in and apply to our daily lives. Today’s gospel challenges us to throw off the worldly lies around greatness, and instead choose the true greatness found in the Kingdom of God, not with how high we can climb but with how deeply we can serve.

So invite you to ask yourself this question today: are you seeking after the greatness of Christ or the greatness of self?

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.
For 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."