BANDIEZ, YOBHEL AILEC TROY A.

BSMLS-3
October 10, 2021

Mark 10:2-16

Here we are, more than half-way through the Gospel of Mark and the disciples
still don’t get it. They still don’t understand the virtue of humility, the bedrock for
spiritual growth. People brought little children “that He might touch them.” It seems
likely that some of the children were crippled, blind, or sick. Still, the disciples shoo
these desperate people away. The disciples were not nice about it; they were stern.

Jesus did not rebuke the disciples as He so often does to those who interfere with the
will of His Father. Perhaps He used a gentler voice so as not to frighten the children.
He might have been annoyed with the disciples. All of us can identify with that
emotion, especially when life isn’t going our way. Look as Jesus models a charitable
response. We all have days when we are tired or despondent or way too busy. Look to
Jesus in this passage. Stop the action and give a hug to a whining child. That little one
might just may be teaching you how to enter the kingdom of God.

Reflection:

The followers of Christ can be caught between valuing the commitment of life’s promises in
marriage, and compassion for people whose marriages maybe should never have taken place,
or have broken up. Jesus values the commitment too; adultery is condemned as a sin against
justice – of tampering in some way with the commitment made of one person to another.