Daily Reflection Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time

I love watching Food Network and my favorite programs are the cooking competitions. I am amazed at what they can whip up in thirty minutes. One of the newest programs takes place in Italy. There is a group of twelve chefs and after the first round of solo cooking the group will be divided into two sections each with a team captain. Needless to say, they all think they are the best and they should be the captains and that is when the arguing starts. The hosts, who are master chefs, critique each chef’s dish and then call them all back together. When the hosts ask them what they are talking about and who they think did the best they all get quiet. Sounds a lot like what was happening on the way to Capernaum. 

Whether it was two thousand years ago or today our egos always seem to get in the way. Jesus knows this and knows he must put a stop to it quickly. I can just picture Peter, James, and John debating which of them is the greatest after all they were the ones he took up the mountain for the transfiguration. I’m sure in their minds they are at the top of the list. Then Jesus does what he always does he loving teaches them a lesson they won’t forget.

In the time of Jesus servants had servants and they were pretty much the bottom rungs in society. Telling them the first would be last and servant to all was distressing. If that was not enough, he then brings a child into the mix. Children had absolutely no worth in the time of Jesus. It must have been quite a shock when he put his arms around a child and said, “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.” 

Jesus uses this shocking image to grab their attention and put a stop to the arguing. Jesus knows how much time he has and how much he must teach his disciples. These images will grab their attention and help them understand that Jesus came for the poor and forgotten. In doing this he is also showing them that they will have to surrender fully to him and the One who sent him.

The work of the disciples would be a call to service. A call to care for the poor and lowly. Children were the example Jesus used for the Anawim, the poor lowly ones. Anawim is a Hebrew word from the Old Testament which described the poor ones who remained faithful to God in hard times. The children were the poor in spirit, the lowly ones. The disciples being well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures, would recognize this, and know that Jesus was making a very important point. This was a very visual way of teaching them a lesson. A lesson of selfless love and one that they would then teach to others and to us two thousand years later. You could say Jesus gave the disciples and us the perfect recipe for success. Take caring, mix in service, add prayer and lots of faith, hope and love then you will have the recipe for success in being a good disciple of Jesus.