THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

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A good Sunday to all. 

Before getting married, people in love should reflect; they should not be swayed by the first emotional impulse; they need to evaluate whether they are made for each other, whether they share the same dreams, and whether they have the same goals. Only at the end, when they feel fully committed to a single life project, do they declare their unconditional love for each other. If we want to understand what it means to believe in Christ, we must refer to the image of falling in love, because it is the one used in the Bible. 

In the Old Testament, God is presented as the bridegroom of Israel, and so the first commandment says, ‘You shall not make other gods for I am a jealous God.’ The one in love knows that he is the only one who can make the one he loves happy, and he does not want any rivals to ruin this relationship. Then, in the New Testament, this same image is taken up again and accompanies the whole New Testament. 

John’s Gospel begins with a wedding feast and with the Baptist, who says, ‘I am not the bridegroom; the bridegroom is coming; I hear his voice, and I am happy.’ And we know how the New Testament ends, with a wedding feast, as the seer of Revelation tells us in chapter 19, when he says: “Rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife is ready, and then the angel said to me: Write, ‘Happy are those who are invited to the wedding of the Lamb.’ This is the conclusion of the whole history of the world.” 

Believing in Jesus does not mean admiring him for his life or for what he teaches; it means falling in love with him and deciding to unite one’s life with his. This cannot happen before you have acquired a deep knowledge of him, knowing exactly what is in his mind and what happens to those who decide to join their lives to his. Therefore, a time of mutual knowledge, a time of maturation of this relationship, is necessary, because otherwise there could be surprises later, and one could say, ‘I believed in Christ, but I was wrong; I expected from him what he did not give me.’ 

The three years of Jesus’ public life marked this period of mutual acquaintance between the apostles and Jesus. It was a time of commitment. In his Gospel, Mark wants to lead all of us through the disciples’ spiritual journey so that we may come to understand who Jesus is before the wedding feast, when we decide to join our lives to his. 

Last week we were with the disciples in Caesarea Philippi; let us remember that in that enchanting place the Master asked the disciples two questions, and the second was especially provocative because he asked the disciples and us as well, ‘To what extent do you feel involved in my life?’ Are you willing or unwilling to bet your lives on me? And what do you expect from me? 

The question is addressed to us; the disciples in Caesarea began to realize that things were not going as they expected, not as they had hoped for their wedding with the Master. I believe that, for Jesus, it was also a moment of intimate suffering, not of disappointment, because it was expected. What he proposed was too demanding. The proposal was this: ‘My life is like this. Do you say Yes or No?’

Jesus did not expect great things and was prepared for their hesitation; he expected it, but he felt intimate suffering; he felt the disappointment of the lover who, after a year and a half, realizes that he has not yet been able to involve the disciples. It is a time of crisis in love, and Jesus wants to overcome it. 

Let’s listen to what he does: 

They left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know about it. 

At Caesarea Philippi, Peter had spoken on behalf of all and rebuked Jesus for what he had said; Jesus called him Satan, and Peter must not have been pleased. I believe the two-day journey back to Capernaum was quite tense, marked by many moments of silence, a fragile calm after the storm. When there is a severe misunderstanding between two people in love, what do they do? How do they overcome it? One way is to pretend nothing happened, let some time pass, not bring up the subject again, and wait; after a few days, everything will be as before. I think the disciples thought of this solution: to wait for Jesus to meet again among the people, to resume preaching, and to do wonders, so the misunderstanding would be a bad memory. 

Jesus does not make this choice because it would be sweeping the dust under the rug. To recover a relationship between two people who love each other, they need to meet again, by themselves, to confront each other, to understand each other, and to readjust their thoughts and hearts. It is better to provoke a discussion, even a hard one, even to quarrel, but it is necessary to be able to solve the problem. And this is what today’s Gospel passage tells us Jesus did. 

He decided to stay alone with his disciples; he did not want anyone to know where they were; he tried to resume the discussion that had provoked the crisis. Remember Peter’s reaction when Jesus told him, “I will lay down my life.” Peter could not accept joining his own life to his own because, according to common sense, one does not seek failure. 

Let us now listen to how Jesus resumes the discourse with them: 

He was teaching his disciples and telling them, ‘The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, who will kill him, and three days after his death, he will rise.’ But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. 

In Caesarea Philippi, the disciples had understood very well what Jesus had said; he had been unequivocal. Now Jesus resumes the discourse, not to explain himself further, but to provoke the disciples, to open a debate with them, and to bring to light the objections that they have in their hearts. It is necessary that we feel this discussion between Jesus and the disciples as addressed to us. 

Why did it cost the disciples so much to accept Jesus’ proposal, while we, instead, say yes to the Lord so easily? The effort they made to let themselves be involved must be ours, because conversion is necessary and very painful; it requires renouncing ourselves and our selfishness. If we think we can become disciples without this hard experience, we deceive ourselves. Jesus resumes the discourse by saying, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”

In Hebrew, the term “Son of Man” means a real man, one who is entirely human, the successful man, because we know that one can be a rational animal but not a person. Those who commit injustice, violence, and abuse are not fully human. They may master science and technology, but if they build bombs, kill, and commit injustice, we cannot say they are human. Here, Jesus presents himself as the Son of Man, the successful man. What does he foresee happening to this man? 

He says he is about to be delivered to men. It does not say he will be delivered to the high priest, but to the scribes and Pharisees; he is delivered to all men. Who has delivered him? I believe we all immediately think of Judas… no, Judas delivered him to the high priest. Here, on the other hand, there is one who delivers him to men. In this case, biblical scholars speak of the ‘divine passive’; that is, how the evangelist presents the work of the heavenly Father. It is He who gave his only Son into the hands of men. 

This is the most beautiful image of God. God is the one who puts Himself in our hands. Love is to put oneself in the other’s hands and give oneself to the other. The other can ask me for everything needed for life, and the one who loves him puts himself in the other’s hands. God has put Himself in our hands. This is the opposite of what we think of a successful person, the one who has others in their hands. They can put their hands on many people and dispose of them as they want. No! These are not yet people; they are the ones who have power, but that power is anti-love, anti-human. And how will it end? What will the men do amid whom the true man is found? 

He is a lamb among wolves; there will be a conflict between the new man and those who do not want him, because they want to perpetuate their world, where the law is competition, where one tries to prevail, to enslave the other, to dominate the other. It is a world of wolves, and his fate is sealed when this real man, a lamb, comes. And the heavenly Father, when he gave his Son into the hands of men, knew that he was giving him over to death. The only way to usher in a new world is through the genuine people—the lambs. 

Jesus says it will not end like this. Once he is killed, he will rise again after three days. To the wolves who killed him, it will seem like a victory because they got rid of him; he was a nuisance, and he had to be taken out of the way so that life would go on as before, when being a man meant being a wolf and, among wolves, being the strongest. 

Jesus assures us that death will not win. Things will not end with death. What will win is love. It is an illusion to think that death will be conquered by living like wolves, attaining power, dominating, accumulating wealth, and living for oneself. Those who live like this live like wolves; they see their lives being swallowed up, moment by moment, by death. 

The only way to overcome death, Jesus tells the disciples, is to give it up out of love, as a lamb gives its life. If it has become love, death can no longer touch it. Every time we silence the selfish impulse that leads us to think of ourselves and despise others, we defeat death. The disciples did not understand these words. Jesus’ words were very clear, but they were too far from Jesus’ way of thinking, judgment criteria, and hopes. 

They were not yet ready to accept the proposal to be lambs. They were unwilling to admit that they must surrender themselves to overcome death. They were afraid to ask for explanations, but Jesus wanted their objections to come out. It is not surprising that after hearing the same announcement a second time, the disciples could not accept Jesus’ proposal and did not open their mouths. Why? Because they could not wait for Jesus to change his speech; they wanted to continue cultivating their dreams. And, if we think about it, that’s exactly what happens to us. If, during a sermon, we hear somebody presenting the real Gospel, very provocative, that clashes with our life choices, that provokes us and requires a conversion, we don’t say that it is wrong, but we cannot wait until the sermon is over to talk about something else, not bad things, beautiful things, but about something else, because that’s very challenging. And they don’t ask Jesus any questions. He wanted them to ask him questions, but they were cautious about doing so. 

We must ask Jesus these questions; and to ask them of him, it is enough to ask them in the Gospel, because the Gospel answers us. So, when we have these objections, let us put them to the Gospel. I mentioned that Jesus wanted them to ask him, but the disciples did not speak with him; they spoke among themselves. 

Let’s hear what they were talking about: 

They came to Capernaum, and once inside the house, he began to ask them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they remained silent. They had been arguing among themselves on the way about who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.’ Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, put his arms around it, and 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.’ 

Jesus wanted the disciples to ask him questions and raise objections, but they only wanted him to change the subject. When they came home, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” On the way, they had been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest; they kept silent and did not answer because they knew that, in seeking the first places, the Master would not let it pass. There are subjects that Jesus did not address directly, and on these we can discuss and even hold divergent opinions, but on hierarchies, ecclesiastical careers, honorary titles, hand-kissing, obeisance, and genuflections… Jesus was clear. For us, honorific titles and obeisance are secondary things, but for Jesus they are not secondary at all because this touches the core of his proposal for the new man. It is the old man who seeks these things; the new man is the one who comes down to the last place; he does not expect obeisance; he is the one who bends down and kisses the feet of the poor. This impulse to become great, to be necessary, to count for something, we all have it inside. 

What to do? If we repress it or suffocate it, we will remain unsatisfied and frustrated; we must satisfy it, but it is a matter of knowing how. Jesus teaches us how to satisfy this need to be first, to be great, to stand out, to be out of the flock, and to be superior to others. It’s about knowing how to become great, how to be successful, how to be admired, but by whom… People’s gaze is telling us: if you want to be admired by us, you must go up high so that we all can see you, but if you want to be admired by God, you don’t have to go to the top; you must go down to the last place. So Jesus tells us how to become great. 

The evangelist Mark, who was not present and therefore is not chronicling, says that Jesus sat down, and by doing so he wants to tell us to open our ears wide because he is saying something significant. Jesus sits down because the rabbi speaks and calls the 12 to himself… how come, why? What does it mean that he called them to himself? They were around him physically, but they were still far away; they still belonged to the old world. They were old men; that is, they were still in the wolf world of competition, and they had not yet approached the Master. 

What did Jesus do? He called them to himself and did not rebuke them; he understood their condition and knew that assimilating his proposal takes time to be understood and accepted. He says: Do you want to be the first? If you want to be the first, I will tell you how. He doesn’t say it’s wrong to want to be first; the drive that leads us to emerge must be satisfied. How? Paul says, ‘Love one another with brotherly affection and compete even in esteeming one another in considering the other superior to yourselves; compete to choose the last place.’ And Jesus says that “if you want to be great, you must be the servant of all, you have to be the last of all.” Twice, ‘all’ is repeated. 

The difficult thing is not so much serving, because we could choose; if we could choose whom to serve, we would choose the nice people who show us gratitude… NO. Jesus says: last of all and servant of all; it means being a servant even to the one who has done you harm, even to your enemy. There are services we gladly give to pleasant people, but Jesus says that if you want to be truly great, you must consider everyone superior to you; everyone can give you orders when they need your service. 

And Jesus makes a gesture: he takes a child and places him in the middle. The term used here by the evangelist is παιδίον (paidíon), which denotes the individual who is least important by age and by the role he plays in society. Children didn’t count for anything; it’s not that they didn’t love the children, they loved them, but they didn’t count for anything. If you want to be successful and move up the social ladder, don’t waste your time with those who don’t count, with the poor, the sick, and the needy; if you make friends, you seek the favors of those who can help you rise. Children, on the other hand, only need help, attention, and services. And Jesus embraces the child. 

The real man, the successful man, is the one who embraces those who do not count. He says, “Whoever welcomes these children in my name welcomes me.” That is, ‘welcomes the proposal of man that I have made.’ 

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.