· XXV(B), September 24, 2006
· Theme: The Successful Christian

· Introduction:
· We American churchgoers, who have been heavily influenced to admire and want to be “number one” should tread carefully today.
· Perhaps a warning should have been posted in this morning’s parish bulletin, like the one on cigarette packages, “Warning: hearing the Word of God today might cause dizziness, confusion and disorientation.”

· Today’s Gospel is the second of three well know passages of Mark’s Gospel that predict Jesus’ upcoming suffering and death.
· The three passages are similar (8,9,10 chapters):
· Jesus predicts his suffering, death and resurrection
· The disciples just don’t get it.
· Jesus shocks them into understanding.
· Here Jesus talks about his ministry — about
· God’s Wisdom as we heard about in the first two readings
· The disciples are thinking about the Wisdom of the World
· They are looking for power and prestige
· Jesus says there is a cost if they want to be his disciples

· The Disciples, even though they were closer to Jesus than anyone, did not understand what their teacher was saying.
· They were looking for a political leader who would overthrow the oppressive rule of the Romans.
· They were looking for a king who would give them the highest places in his court.
· Today, we might say they were looking for the Business Entrepreneur who would give them the jobs with the big bucks and huge perks:
· Stock Options
· 2 million frequent flyer miles
· 2000 hours of free cell phone time
· How do the disciples and we define success?
· School friends - two MBA’s
· Both got great jobs - Great pay; lots of travel.
· They spent weeks without seeing each other
· Sometimes the only time they could met would be in airports and they were waiting for planes to take each of them to their next assignment
· Very Successful in one sense
· Is it worth it?

· In Today’s Gospel Jesus shocks the disciples by saying:
· that if they want to be First, they have to be servants of all;
· that if they receive a child, they are receiving him.

· Let’s not romanticize childhood at this point. We live in a different culture than the one of this story.
· When Jesus places a child in their midst it is not just to show them his love of children.
· In Jesus’ culture children had no status or position.
· They were without voice in religion and government.
· They needed protection.
· To welcome one of these in Jesus’ name suggest the disciple must stand with those without status and rank.
· To be able to do that we disciples can’t strive for and grasp at a higher position; but must choose to be with and like the very ones we serve.
· The way we can do that is to believe that Christ has done the same by his taking on our flesh and that he now stands with us as we serve his little ones who need our care

· We all have lots of things to do in our busy lives
· Pay the bills,
· Earn a living
· Check off the things on our way too long “To do list”
· However, what we ask in this Eucharistic Celebration is that we do not loose focus:
· That we do not forget that life is a gift of God
· Don’t waste it
· That we don’t forget those who are without status and success,
· They belong to God also, and they could easily be us
· That being a successful Christian
· Might not provide stock options in the New Economy
· But it provides the opportunity to let our hearts be healed by God, and
· It give us the opportunity to be a partner with God to heal the broken hearts of the wounded and the most vulnerable around us.

· As we continue with this liturgy,
· Let us pray in thanksgiving to the Lord for the call he has given each of us to be a disciple
· Let us pray that we can share that gift, especially with the most vulnerable in our society.
· As we move into the election season, let us pray that we all exercise our voting rights with good conscience for the benefit of all God’s people.

· Amen

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