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Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas

Mark CHAP. 9

9:30–37

30. And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.

31. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.

32. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33. And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?

34. But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.

35. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

36. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,

37. Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

THEOPHYLACT. It is after miracles that the Lord inserts a discourse concerning His Passion, lest it should be thought that He suffered because He could not help it; wherefore it is said, And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee: and he would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him.

BEDE. (in Marc. 3, 39) He always mingles together sorrowful and joyful things, that sorrow should not by its suddenness frighten the Apostles, but be borne by them with prepared minds.

THEOPHYLACT. After, however, saying what was sorrowful, He adds what ought to rejoice them; wherefore it goes on: And after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day; in order that we may learn that joys come on after struggles. There follows: But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) This ignorance of the disciples proceeds not so much from slowness of intellect, as from love for the Saviour, for they were as yet carnal, and ignorant of the mystery of the cross, they could not therefore believe that He whom they had recognised as the true God, was about to die; being accustomed then to hear Him often talk in figures, and shrinking from the event of His death, they would have it, that something was conveyed figuratively in those things, which he spoke openly concerning His betrayal and passion. It goes on: And they came to Capernaum.

PSEUDO-JEROME. Capernaum means the city of consolation, and agrees with the former sentence, which He had spoken: And after that he is killed, he shall arise the third day. There follows: And being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) Matthew however says, that the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? (Matt. 18:1) The reason is, that he did not begin the narrative from its commencement, but omitted our Saviour’s knowledge of the thoughts and words of His disciples; unless we understand Him to mean, that even what they thought and said, when away from Christ, was said unto Him, since it was as well known to Him as if it had been said to Him. It goes on: For by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. (Luke 9:46. Vulg.) But Luke says, that “the thought entered into the disciples which of them should be the greatest;” for the Lord laid open their thought and intention from their private discourse1 according to the Gospel narrative.

PSEUDO-JEROME. It was fit also that they should dispute concerning the chief place by the way; the dispute is like the place where it is held; for lofty station is only entered upon to be quitted: as long as a man keeps it, it is slippery, and it is uncertain at what stage, that is, on what day, it will end.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) The reason why the dispute concerning the chief place arose amongst the disciples seems to have been, that Peter, James, and John, were led apart from the rest into the mountain, and that something secret was there entrusted to them, also that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were promised to Peter, according to Matthew. Seeing however the thoughts of the disciples, the Lord takes care to heal the desire of glory by humility; for He first, by simply commanding humility, admonishes them that a high station was not to be aimed at. Wherefore it goes on: And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

JEROME. Where it is to be observed, that the disciples disputed by the way concerning the chief place, but Christ Himself sat down to teach humility; for princes toil while the humble repose.

PSEUDO-CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) The disciples indeed wished to receive honour at the hands of the Lord; they also had a desire to be made great by Christ, for the greater a man is, the more worthy of honour he becomes, for which reason He did not throw an obstacle in the way of that desire, but brought in humility.

THEOPHYLACT. For His wish is not that we should usurp for ourselves chief places, but that we should attain to lofty heights by lowliness. He next admonishes them by the example of a child’s innocence; wherefore there follows: And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them.

CHRYSOSTOM. (Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc. Sed v. Chrys. Hom. in Matt. 58) By the very sight, persuading them to humility and simplicity; for this little one was pure from envy and vain glory, and from a desire of superiority. But He does not only say, If ye become such, ye shall receive a great reward, but also, if ye will honour others, who are such for my sake. Wherefore there follows: And when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me.

BEDE. (ubi sup.) By which, He either simply shews, that those who would become greater must receive the poor of Christ in honour of Him, or He would persuade them to be in malice children, to keep simplicity without arrogance, charity without envy, devotedness without anger. Again, by taking the child into His arms, He implies that the lowly are worthy of His embrace and love. He adds also, In my name, that they might, with the fixed purpose of reason, follow for His name’s sake that mould of virtue to which the child keeps, with nature for his guide. And because He taught that He Himself was received in children, lest it should be thought that there was nothing in Him but what was seen, he added, And whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but Him that sent me; thus wishing, that we should believe Him to be of the same nature and of equal greatness with His Father.

THEOPHYLACT. See, how great is humility, for it wins for itself the indwelling of the Father, and of the Son, and also of the Holy Ghost.

This week's gospel is a companion to last week's, with Christ's first Passion Prediction being the subject last week, and his second Passion Prediction being the subject this week. In both cases, Christ's predictions are misunderstood, last week by Peter, this week by the Twelve.

At the heart this misunderstanding of Christ's Passion Predictions is the misunderstanding of the Son of Man -- the title under which Christ makes his predictions, and the title Christ most often uses of himself.

In the OT, the Son of Man was a person who would appear sometime in the future and who has a double identity, at times appearing as a mortal man, at others appearing as a glorious king seated with the Ancient of Days.

This double identity of the Son of Man corresponds to what we now recognize as Christ's first and second comings, first as the Suffering Servant who will die on the cross for our sins, and second as the glorious king who will come to judge the living and the dead. Likewise, Christ's predictions in both last week's and this week's gospel are not only about his upcoming passion and death but also about his resurrection, making them in effect double predictions corresponding to his double identity.

The problem for Peter and the Twelve is that even though they had confessed, through Peter, that Jesus was indeed the Messiah that Israel had been awaiting -- after all, that confession was the occasion in last week's gospel for Christ's first Passion Prediction -- they simply could not wrap their brains around the fact that the Son of Man could be a mortal.

Last week, Jesus rebuked Peter for his appropriate reaction to the first passion prediction, for his having told Jesus to cut out the talk about suffering and dying. This week, Jesus has to give the apostles a tutorial on discipleship following their inappropriate reaction to his second passion prediction. Jesus has no sooner finished telling them about his death and resurrection than they start arguing among themselves about which one of them is the greatest! In both cases, they cannot fathom the Son of Man's mortality, so Christ's prediction of his resurrection simply goes in one ear and out the other.

Then comes the tutorial. The leadership role that Jesus is grooming the apostles for is a leadership of service for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the kingdom of God. Mark tells us that Jesus begins by wrapping his arms around a child who is with them. In Aramaic - the language which Jesus spoke -- and in Greek -- the language in which the New Testament is written -- the word for child is the same as the word for servant. The point here is clear: To be a child of God is to be his servant. Service is what is going to characterize authentic discipleship and true leadership.