First Reading
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B – 2009 Wisdom 2:12, 17-20
The wicked say: Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.
Second Reading
James 3:16-4:3
Beloved: Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace. Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Gospel Cycle Cycle B
Mark 9:30-37
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. 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 the 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.”
We continue the same theme that we were given in last Sunday’s readings: the way to life is through dying to ourselves. The more we come to know Jesus, the more we know that if we want to follow Him, we must accept all the sufferings that come with such a commitment. Even if we live in Christian communities, we will still suffer. Suffering is just a normal part of following Jesus Christ.
The second reading, from the Letter of Saint James, shows us the reasons for suffering: jealousy, selfish ambition, inconstancy, insincerity, wars, conflicts and asking wrongly. These negative qualities and others like them are found in all of us from time to time and in varying degrees. Although we are made in the image of God, that image is no longer clear in us because of the effects of sin. Sometimes we suffer from the effects of bad example, from the sins of others and from difficult things that have passed in our lives. We also have the effects of all of the bad choices that we have made, some of them sinful and some not.
Redemption in Jesus Christ gives us power to live in another way but not always a complete healing of all that is in us which is negative or of sin. Believing in Jesus Christ does not immediately make us perfect human beings. The graces of Baptism and the other Sacraments begin to change us. The more we cooperate with the grace of God, the more God can transform us. We are invited to become like little children and to live in the Lord with total confidence and trust.
In our struggles in life we will surely meet up with people such as those described in the first reading, from the Book of Wisdom. Always there are people willing to put themselves against us. We are blessed when we can avoid such difficulties. On the other hand, we are also blessed when we meet opposition because it clarifies for us the meaning of following the Lord Jesus.
This Sunday we can pray that we be able to know the will of God in our lives, that we have the power of the Holy Spirit to fight against all that is negative or of sin within us and that we can love all those who may set themselves against us.