This weekend we celebrate “Catechetical Sunday,” a day to focus on Catholic education. So, it’s probably appropriate for me to begin with a fundamental question on our Faith. Actually, today’s question has four, equivalent answers. Any one of them will do, since they’re basically the same. My question is this: What is the proclamation of the “Mystery of Faith?” Yes, what is the “Mystery of Faith?”
We say the words at every mass. Usually they’re: “Christ has died. Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” Sometimes, we say: “Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory.” Some of you may prefer: “When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory.” And finally there are the words: “Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the Savior of the world.”
However, perhaps the more important question is: “How do we respond to the words of the “Mystery of our Faith?” Perhaps, this is what we need to ponder, not only in the next few minutes of this homily, but also during the rest of our lives.
In today’s Gospel, we heard how Jesus, himself, addressed this question. According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus and his disciples were on a journey through Galilee, the Northern region of Israel, on their way towards Jerusalem in southern Judea. During this journey, Mark tells us: “[Jesus] 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.”
His disciples had, indeed, heard Jesus, himself, proclaim the central mystery of faith: he would die and be resurrected, he would suffer on the cross, and yet he would re-appear in glory. And they did not understand. Moreover, they were afraid to question him about what he was saying.
In last week’s Gospel reading, we heard how Jesus had said the same thing to them in Caesarea Philippi: “the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.” And when Peter questioned him on the meaning of these words, Jesus chewed him out, calling him “Satan,” and said the disciples were thinking like men of this world. Instead, they were told they, too, must suffer on his behalf and for the sake of the Gospel, the Good News, for the Reign of God had begun.
And now, in today’s reading, how did they respond to these words of the mystery of faith? When they arrived in Capernaum, when they returned to the very house where it had all started, the house where Jesus cured Peter’s mother-in-law and began his healing and preaching mission, what did they do? They started arguing among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the Reign of God, in the Kingdom of Heaven!
Their reaction to hearing of the suffering, death and resurrection of the one Peter had proclaimed to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One of God, their reaction was to argue about who would sit in authority with Jesus in the new kingdom he was ushering in. Who would be his CEO? Would it be Peter, who usually spoke up when Jesus asked a question? Or maybe John, whom Jesus seemed to love more than the others? Who would be his Chief Financial Officer? Judas Iscariot seemed to have a lock on the position. But you never could tell about Matthew, who had been a money collector before joining up with Jesus. Would Judas or Matthew be a better CFO?
And Jesus heard them arguing. And what did he do? What did he say? Jesus placed a child in their midst 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.” Perhaps we can gain a better idea of what Jesus meant when we look at another translation that reads: “Whoever welcomes one child … welcomes me … and welcomes God.”
What does it mean to “welcome” someone? To “receive” someone? Two thousand years ago, to welcome or to receive a visitor into your nomadic tent, or even into your permanent house, meant you were to serve the visitor. You were to make your domicile the home of the visitor. Spanish has a way of putting it: “Mi Casa, Su Casa.” My home is your home.
And the visitor whom Jesus used as his example was not an exalted one, not a royal or divine visitor. Rather, the one in their midst was a mere child. A nobody. One who had no legal protection. This child was the one whom his true followers were to honor. They were not to honor themselves. They were not to act like those who appear with Donald Trump or on Survivor. They were to act with humility, and to serve the humble.
As I suggested earlier, the real question for today is not merely what are the words of the “Mystery of faith?” Rather, the true question is how do we respond to these words? As Christians, do we attempt to promote our own self-righteousness by talking about how involved we are in Church projects? Do we attempt to show how important we are by the number of Church committees we chair? By the influence we have on the Pastor, or on the Cardinal? By the size of our financial contribution to the Church?
Or – do we respond to the words of the “Mystery of Faith” by our other actions? By what we attempt to do for the poor, the homeless, the alien. How we extend our efforts toward today’s orphans, the ones suffering famine and disease in war-torn countries or in our own! Or how do we act toward today’s so-called “widows,” all those who have no other protectors, those who are abused or forgotten?
When we hear the words of the “Mystery of Faith,” do we react by puffing ourselves up, by our pride that we are members of the Kingdom of God? Or when we hear these words, do we recall we are to serve the “children of the world,” all those who are not able to exist without our hospitality, without our loving concern for all of God’s children, for all of our brothers and sisters.
Yes, at each mass, we proclaim: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” But in the meantime, do we recall we are not only members of the Kingdom of God, but also members of the Body of Christ?
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time; September 20, 2009 (Catechetical Sunday)
Wis 2;12,17-20; Jas 3:16-4:3; Mk 9:30-37