One of the bad habits that we Filipinos often accuse ourselves of is so-called crab mentality. This habit is based on the behavior of the crabs in a bucket. Whenever one crab is on top, one pulls it down. Many crabs could have escaped from the bucket if nobody pulls it down or if the rest of the crabs helped the one on top to succeed in getting out of the bucket.
Of course, they are just crabs but often we behave like them or even worst. For example, how often have we pulled somebody on top or prevented somebody from achieving something? When somebody is doing good or experiencing success in life, instead of praising or offering support, how many times have we purposely tried to bring him/her down. Just because we are jealous or we try to justify our action by saying, “If I can’t have it, then you can’t have it as well.” Tragically, in the end, nobody ever succeed and nothing ever gets accomplished.
This mentality is nothing new as it may have been around ever since human interaction began. Talk about survival of the fittest!
In the gospel story today–the 25th Sunday in ordinary time–we read of a similar incident, an incident from about 2,000 years ago. Jesus and his disciples were walking to Capernaum. The disciples were following Jesus who was going from village to village preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God. The final destination of this missionary journey is Jerusalem. Along the way, the disciples were arguing with each other. When they reached Capernaum at the end of the day, Jesus asked them what they were arguing along the way:
They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, [Jesus] 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.
Along the journey, the disciples were trying to vie against each other about who will be on top when Jesus will finally reign once they reach Jerusalem. They all were trying to pull each other down in order to take the top spot.
The funny thing is that Jesus told them beforehand that what awaits him once they reach Jerusalem is anything but glory, power and fame. It was all about betrayal, suffering and death.
“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.”
It seems that, pitifully, no one among the disciples heard what Jesus was saying. Either they did not understood him or they were overwhelmed by fear.
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.
(They will eventually understand and banish all their fears, after the resurrection of Jesus).
But suppose the disciples fully understood then what Jesus was saying, would you think they would vie among each other about who would be the first in his kingdom? If they understood that to be part of Jesus kingdom entails suffering, sacrifice and even death, would the disciples still scramble for the top position? Probably not. Each one might say to the other, “You go ahead, you be the no. 1, I’ll be right behind you.” or “Its OK, i’ll be no. 2 or no. 3 even last, just not want to be the first.”
Nonetheless, even after Jesus’ own prediction of his suffering and death, the disciples remained steeped in their own world. Indeed, what was starkly demonstrated in this gospel story is the diametrical opposition between Jesus’ world and values and the disciples’ world and values and how the disciples’ values and Jesus values never met on the same level. The disciples’ values were worldly success measured in wealth, popularity, influence, status and power. Jesus’ values were godly success measured in service, sacrifice, love and humility. Within the disciples and Jesus’ world and values, lies each one’s concept of greatness. But each concept of greatness is utterly different from each other since their world and values are totally opposite each other
Since greatness was the disciples’ overriding agenda, Jesus did talk about greatness, albeit from his divine perspective. And in a powerful way. Jesus took a child and placed the child in their midst.
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.”
In most ancient Middle Eastern cultures the child would place last in social status and position. Within the family and the community, the child had next to no status. A minor child was considered almost equal to a slave. Only after reaching maturity did a child become a free person with rights to inherit the family estate. In other words, the child in Jesus’ time and society has no wealth, status, honor, position, influence and power in society. Expanding the image of child or children in society, the child are the poor, the anawim, the insignificant, powerless, the rejects, the sinners, the “little ones” in Jesus’ society. To be great in Jesus’ kingdom, therefore, is to welcome these little ones. Receiving and casting our lot with the poor, the least, the lowly and the most abandoned in society is receiving and welcoming Jesus himself and the Father who sent Jesus into the world.
“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.”
By placing a child right in their midst, Jesus was making a very powerful statement against worldly values that contradict the Kingdom of God. A child who has no power, status and position taking center stage becomes a counter-symbol to power, domination, wealth, violence, pride, and injustice that is the cause of exploitation, inequality and poverty.
Don’t get Jesus wrong. Jesus wants his disciples to be great–in his kingdom. Jesus wanted his disciples to be great not so much in this world but in his kingdom. In order to be great in his kingdom, the disciples need to leave behind their worldly values and standards. They need conversion–metanoia–a change of heart and mind according to the heart and mind of Jesus. They need to change their view of what greatness is. (Again, this will finally occur to the disciples after the life-changing event of the resurrection of Jesus).
To be great in his kingdom is to be like a child–no wealth, status and power but a life full of service, sacrifice and humility.
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
How can one be great without wealth, status and power? This seems to be a daunting if not an impossible task in our world. Jesus is asking us to do great things without the need to anchor on wealth, status and power. Right! Good luck! This indeed goes against every practical rule in this world let alone every tissue of our body. But come to think of it, Jesus is hinting at a wonderful piece of wisdom here. Just think about who were the greatest people in history, in the bible, in the church and in our country. Think about the greatest saints in the church and the real heroes of our country. Many of them were not kings, princes and wealthy but ordinary, poor, even oppressed and rejected with no fame, honor and power in the time and society they lived. Many of them suffered greatly and gave up their lives in the end. Talk about Moses, David, Isaiah, Buddha, St. Francis, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Andres Bonifacio, to name only a few. Not to mention, the greatest of all–Mary, an ordinary peasant girl.
To be great in Jesus is to discover the real treasure within ourselves and the world around us. The real treasure is the kingdom of God which is like a mustard seed–the smallest of all seed but when it grows becomes the biggest of all trees. To discover the seed of God’s kingdom which God, the prodigal sower, has planted in every human’s heart is to have the mind and inquisitiveness of a child full of wonder and innocence.
In a staunchly competitive world where everybody wants to be first, Jesus wants us to be no. 1 in his kingdom. Everyone can become no. 1 in his kingdom without the need for wealth, power and status. We just have to be who we truly are–a child of God who is dependent on the grace and goodness of God and of one another.
In God’s kingdom, we don’t need to pull each other down as we will all be on top basking eternally in God’s blessings and presence.
National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help 