As a young priest, I often visited the children at our parish school. Teaching children about the Sacrament of Marriage can be both fun and challenging. Here are a couple of questions and answers. Q: HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED? A: You might have to guess based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids. Q: IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED? A: Girls should be single, but not boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them. And finally, Q: HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE LAST FOR A LIFETIME? A:Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck.
Art Linkletter used to say, “Kids do say some of the darndest things,” which is often the case because they have yet to be “contaminated” with the cynicism and pessimism of adulthood.
Children often have a way of seeing the world that seems, at times, very foreign to most of us.
We can hardly remember a time when qualities such as openness, innocence, and optimism were at the forefront of our thinking.
Adults and children are so very different, but how soon we forget that we were once children ourselves.
Some adults indeed grow up to be children— and we marvel at them; sometimes, we criticize them, and many of us are jealous of them.
Today, St. Mark reminds us about some of the adults in Jesus’ company arguing and fighting over things such as “Who would be the most important?” Who would be the greatest, and who would have the most influence and authority in the new society Jesus would bring about?
It is interesting to note what Jesus did after hearing his disciples' discussion.
Mark tells us that “Jesus sat them down”— which we do with children— when it is appropriate to admonish them for bad behavior.
And when Jesus asked them what they were arguing about— like children when being scolded, they said nothing— they remained silent— the silence of shame— the silence of children— when they know they have done something wrong and can come up with no plausible explanation for their misbehavior.
Correcting, disciplining, and reprimanding are “responsibilities” that parents, teachers, and guardians have toward their children. And very often, it is not something we relish or enjoy—but it must be done—rooted and motivated by love.
And Jesus, today, does the same thing with his disciples.
There is something genuinely heart-breaking in all of this— much like the disappointment a mother or father feels when their child “acts out” in a very inappropriate way.
Jesus had just explained, for the second time no less, that he was about to suffer and die on a cross— and here were his most trusted friends and companions— arguing about who would be the greatest.
If there had ever been a moment when a frustrated and exasperated Jesus probably wanted to throw up his hands and say, “I give up with you people,” today would have been as good a day as any.
I know there are many parents, teachers, and all those who work with children (and adults) who want to say the same thing: “I give up on you”—the grief, frustration, and anguish are (sometimes) just too much to bear.
But, of course, at least most of the time, those moments pass— and we realize that this is an opportunity to “turn things around and set things straight.” And that’s precisely what Jesus did.
Jesus took this problem very seriously. He sat down and called the Twelve to him, exactly as a Rabbi would. He told them that seeking greatness in the Kingdom was something to strive for—as long as they went about it in the right way—the way he would show them.
We, too, are challenged to “show others the right way to go.” And I am convinced that if we do not show our sisters and brothers the way to go, someone else surely will.