YEAR OF MISSION - 29th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Jesus, in Mark’s Gospel, reveals himself as the one who serves, as the one who reaches out in tenderness, as the one who lowers himself and empties himself out of love for others. It’s Jesus’ words and his actions that reveal to the disciples the need, not so much to be the first or the greatest or the most powerful or the best or the most successful, but to encounter God in others and serve God, love God, in them. The disciples find that a hard lesson to learn but they have Jesus, not just to instruct them, but to show them. The cross reveals that service and that emptying in action. If we want to be considered great it’s not because we have trampled on everyone to get where we feel we need to be; it’s that we have loved and loved and loved…giving everything.