Saint Wenceslaus, duke of Bohemia, killed by his own brother at the door of a church, is remembered on this Monday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time, together with Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and his companions, martyrs of Nagasaki. The disciples quietly measure which of them deserves the first place, and that silent contest still runs through our hearts: the readings lead us from Job stripped of everything to a child standing beside Jesus.
Then an idea entered into them, as to which of them was greater. But Jesus, perceiving the thoughts of their heart, took a child by the hand and stood him beside him. And he said to them: "Whoever accepts this child in my name, accepts me. And whoever accepts me, accepts him who sent me. For whoever is the lesser among you all, the same is greater." And responding, John said: "Teacher, we saw a certain one casting out demons in your name. And we prohibited him. For he does not follow us." And Jesus said to him: "Do not prohibit him. For whoever is not against you, is for you." (Lk 9:46-50)
The first reading opens the book of Job, the man of the land of Uz, and it does not take us into his house but into a council in heaven. There the sons of God come to stand before the Lord, and the adversary takes his place among them. The Lord speaks of his servant as a man simple and upright who fears God. The accuser answers with a suspicion that goes to the root of all religion. Job serves because he has been protected, and his faith is nothing more than a wage. The whole book grows from that seed.
What follows is told with terrible economy: in one day the messengers arrive one after another, each still speaking when the next comes in. His flocks, his servants and finally his sons and daughters are taken from him. Job tears his robe and falls to the ground, but he does not curse. He worships, and he says: "Naked I departed from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there" (Jb 1:21). He had held a large place in the world, and now he stands with nothing but his own life.
And yet this emptied man keeps the one place no messenger could take. His place before God remains, and he blesses the name that gave and took: "The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away". The psalm puts the same fidelity into the mouth of the one who prays, and it asks to be kept "as the pupil of your eye" (Ps 17:8), the most guarded place there is. It is not a request for advantage but for shelter. It is the prayer the martyrs of this day made with their lives.
The Gospel according to Saint Luke brings us down from that council in heaven to a quarrel on the road. An idea enters the disciples, "as to which of them was greater" (Lk 9:46), and the question is never spoken aloud but circulates among them in silence. Jesus, perceiving the thoughts of their heart, does not argue with them. He takes a child by the hand and, in the words of the evangelist, "stood beside him". That gesture gives away the place of honour each of them was quietly claiming. It goes to someone who has asked for nothing.
Then comes the word that explains the gesture: "Whoever accepts this child in my name, accepts me" (Lk 9:48). In the world of the disciples a child had no rank to defend. But it is precisely this small figure that Jesus makes the door to himself and, through himself, to the one who sent him. Since "whoever is the lesser among you all, the same is greater", the measure is not reversed for effect but for truth. Greatness in the kingdom is not the place we occupy but the room we make for another.
John, the son of Zebedee, then speaks for the group. His words show how quickly a question of rank becomes a question of territory. They have seen a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus, and they have stopped him, because he does not follow them. Those who wanted the first place now guard the edges of the circle. But Jesus answers without hesitation: "Do not prohibit him. For whoever is not against you, is for you" (Lk 9:50). The place around the Lord is always wider than the group closest to him.
Long before he spoke a word, the Child of Bethlehem had already said what this Gospel puts into speech. He came into the world without a place of his own, was laid where some room could be found, and accepted to be received rather than to take. The childlikeness asked of us is not passivity or weakness. It is the strength of a heart that no longer needs to measure itself against others. Such a heart can therefore make room.
Today the Word of God invites us to leave the silent contest for the first place in our families, our communities and our parishes. But it also sends us to look for the one at the edge. Job kept his place before God when everything else was taken, and the child received the place beside the Lord without claiming it. Let us give up the places we defend, so that room remains beside Christ for others.
Scripture text: Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV), public domain.
Prayer of the Day
Lord Jesus, at Bethlehem you came without a place of your own, and you accepted the room that others made for you. Free us from the silent contest for the first place, and teach us to receive the little ones in your name. When we are stripped of what we hold, keep us as the pupil of your eye, so that our place before the Father is never lost. Amen.
For Meditation
- Which silent contest for the first place is running in our hearts today?
- Who stands at the edge of our circle, waiting to be received in the name of Jesus?
- What would remain of our place before God if everything else were taken from us?
