Faith Like a Child
In today’s Gospel from Mark, Jesus tells His disciples that He will soon suffer and be killed. However, the disciples do not fully understand this serious teaching and instead argue about who among them will hold the highest position. This reaction shows human nature and our attachment to worldly success. Today, we will reflect on what challenges Jesus’ teachings give us, and how we can live them out in our own lives.
1. First, we need to think about why the disciples could not understand Jesus’ teaching. At that time, many Jews believed the Messiah would be a powerful political leader, like a king. Because of this, it was hard for the disciples to accept that the Messiah would suffer and die. They expected the Messiah to be victorious, to free Israel from Roman rule, and they hoped to share in this glory. This expectation is why they argued about “who would be the greatest.”
But Jesus taught something completely different. He clearly said that, as the Messiah, He would suffer and fulfill God’s will through service and sacrifice, not through worldly success or power. The disciples’ misunderstanding was not just because they didn’t know better. It was because their wrong expectations and desires for success were blocking their understanding of spiritual truth.
2. Seeing the disciples argue, Jesus placed a child in the center of them and taught the true essence of faith. He said, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). With these words, Jesus emphasized that we must live a life of service with a pure heart.
The innocence of a child symbolizes something very important in faith. A child doesn’t calculate or overthink. They live fully in the present. Jesus used a child as an example not only because children are innocent, but to show us that our faith should be simple and pure. It should not be complicated by worldly desires and ambitions.
Too often, we make our faith complicated by worrying about future rewards or being stuck in past regrets. But Jesus teaches us that faith is about simply accepting God’s love in this very moment and living it out in our lives. This reminds me of a book by Robert Fulghum, ‘All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten’. Fulghum talks about the simple lessons we learn as children, like sharing, being honest, and treating others fairly. He says these basic principles, which we learned as children, are the most important lessons we need throughout life.
In the same way, Jesus’ teachings are not meant to be complicated. Like the simple lessons of kindergarten, Jesus taught us simple but deep truths. In today’s reading, His message is simple: accept God’s love and humbly love your neighbor. This is something we can all do in our daily lives, just as Fulghum’s “basic rules” teach us simple ways to live well.
3. One of my favorite characters in literature is Alexis Zorba from Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. Zorba is a man who doesn’t worry about the past or the future. Instead, he lives fully in the present moment. Rather than overanalyzing the problems of life, Zorba focuses on enjoying the present. His philosophy can be summed up in the phrase “Carpe Diem,” which means “seize the day.”
Zorba’s way of living is similar to the innocence of a child, as Jesus teaches. Sometimes we let the mistakes of the past or our worries about the future rob us of the present moment. But Jesus teaches us to value the present, to see God’s love in it, and to live fully in it. Like Zorba, we too should live fully in the present and find the true meaning of faith there.
4. Jesus lived His life completely in the present, never seeking worldly success or future glory. Instead, He focused entirely on the people He met, sharing God’s love with them. What is important to remember is that Jesus dedicated every moment to doing God’s will. He never wasted a single opportunity to share God’s grace and love.
Zorba also taught us the value of living in the moment, but his focus was mostly on enjoying the present. In contrast, Jesus had a deeper purpose. He didn’t live just to enjoy the present moment, but to do God’s will in every moment. Jesus used each moment to deepen His relationship with God and to fulfill God’s mission in the world.
5. In conclusion, the pure faith Jesus taught through the example of a child, and the present-focused life that Zorba demonstrates, show us a clear path for our own faith journey. Faith is not about getting caught up in the complexities of worldly desires or ambitions. Rather, it is about being thankful for the moment God has given us, and living fully in it.
If we trust God with a pure heart, like a child, and live fully in the present, like Zorba, we will be practicing the core of what Jesus taught. This kind of life leads us to a daily renewal of our faith in a true relationship with God.
Finally, I pray that all of us will find God’s love in this journey and share that love with others. May the pure trust of a child and the boldness of Zorba inspire our lives as true believers who value and live faithfully in the present moment given to us by God.
Amen.