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| “Christ rebuking his disciples by calling the little child” by Charles Robert Leslie, 1858 |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: James 4:1-10
Beloved:
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.
Adulterers!
Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God?
Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose that the Scripture speaks without meaning when it says,
The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy?
But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says: God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
So submit yourselves to God.
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning
and your joy into dejection.
Humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you.
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Commentary on Jas 4:1-10
St. James takes aim at divisions within the Christian community. He lays blame for the "passions" that tear people apart on love of things of the world. Once again we hear that the Christian must be apart from the world while living in the world. It is clear from the heat of his language that he is asking for conversion of the heart, not just the lips, for the longing of the heart is never filled with things of the world.
“Wars among men are a symptom of the spiritual war within man, whose incessant drive for power and possessions spreads envy and violence throughout the world. The root problem is that our members too easily yield to the inclinations of our fallen nature (1 Peter 2:11).”[4]
“The concern here is with the origin of conflicts in the Christian community. These are occasioned by love of the world, which means enmity with God (v. 4). Further, the conflicts are bound up with failure to pray properly (cf Matthew 7:7-11; John 14:13; 15:7; 16:23), that is, not asking God at all or using God's kindness only for one's pleasure (James 4:2-3). In contrast, the proper dispositions are submission to God, repentance, humility, and resistance to evil (James 4:7-10).”[5]
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 55:7-8, 9-10a, 10b-11a, 23
R. (23a) Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.
And I say, “Had I but wings like a dove,
I would fly away and be at rest.
Far away I would flee;
I would lodge in the wilderness.”
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.
“I would wait for him who saves me
from the violent storm and the tempest.”
Engulf them, O Lord; divide their counsels.
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.
In the city I see violence and strife,
day and night they prowl about upon its walls.
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.
Cast your care upon the Lord,
and he will support you;
never will he permit the just man to be disturbed.
R. Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.
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Commentary on Ps 55:7-8, 9-10a, 10b-11a, 23
Taken in total, Psalm 55 is an individual lament. In these strophes, the evil and deceit of the psalmist’s friends has caused a desire to flee society, to rise above the strife (see also James 4:1-10). In the concluding strophe, the psalmist expresses his faith that God will support the just against all attacks.
CCC: Ps 55:23 322
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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.”
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Commentary on Mk 9:30-37
This selection describes Jesus’ interaction with the disciples following the cure of the boy with the mute spirit. Jesus and his disciples continue their journey through Galilee, and he teaches them in private about what is to come. It begins with the second prediction of the passion Jesus is to face. The disciples, characteristic of St. Mark’s description, do not understand, and begin to debate among themselves who was greatest. Jesus tells them directly that their role (and by extension the role of all Christian disciples) is one of service.
The Lord sees that they do not understand. When they don’t respond to his direct question, he gives them the example of first a servant, and then a child, so they can understand that it is through humility and innocence that God’s servants lead. He probably uses the example of children to represent the “anawim,” the poor in spirit, the most vulnerable of the Christian faithful.
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Reflection:
We find an interesting relationship between the injunction by St. James for Christian unity, and the instruction given to the disciples to be servants of each other by Jesus in St. Mark’s Gospel. St. James recognizes that strife in the Christian community comes from members who accept the values of the secular world. He specifically mentions worldly goods (“You covet but do not possess,” and: “You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”). The passions for wealth, for power, and for sex drive the unwary and, because these passions in the secular world are satisfied by subjugating the will of one person to another, conflicts arise.
St. Mark’s picture of the disciples is not a very flattering one. They persistently do not understand what is apparent, even to early readers of the Gospel. In this case, they must be thinking, “Well if our teacher is going to his death, and will be in heaven, we must be going with him. So, who should be number one when we get there?” They were probably citing personal attributes that would make them superior leaders. It was a very secular argument, one that might be heard in executive washrooms, as business leaders debate who will be next in line for promotion.
Today we pray that our hearts might be changed, that our servant leadership might bring others to Christ, and that through our humble service, Christian unity might be obtained. Our hope is that the Lord will be honored and served, and that our service and humility will lead others to follow, and find peace.
Pax
[1] This sketch for “Christ rebuking his disciples by calling the little child” by Charles Robert Leslie, 1858.
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco
[5] NAB Footnote on James 4:1ff.
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