The Gospel of Mark, chapter 9:35

The old cowboy movies are like morality plays about the conflict between good and evil. If you are too young to have gone to the Saturday matinees to see these old movies, you may have seen then on television. The hero was always a man apart, who always wore a white hat, and he was surrounded by evil men, who always wore black hats. Only the heroine supported the hero, but she was always a frail, though beautiful creature, who needed a savior. The more the hero insisted on doing what was right and honorable, the more the town hated him. The more he championed the powerless, the more the powerful persecuted him. A battle was always the climax of these movies and in that battle, the hero always triumphed.

Evil, in its perennial black hat, always seems about to triumph. It hates the goodness of those who care about others and it tries to destroy them. In the end, goodness, like the cowboy in the white hat, will triumph. God is on the side of those who care about others; those who serve rather than dominate others.

Today’s scripture focuses on a kind of evil that often eludes us – competition. We do not think of competition as a spiritual evil. In fact, many Christians thrive on that desire to be ahead of others. It can be the motivating force in many of our schools. If you doubt this, listen to some high school students compare their SAT scores. Listen to the coaches goading their athletes to victory. We all want to win. There is nothing wrong with that so long as winning is achieved with dignity and fairness.

The unspoken assumption in many jobs, as people congratulate those who have triumphed over others and have risen to the top, is that nothing succeeds like success. We may even imagine that this is the way it will be in heaven with some possessing better spots than others. But, Jesus says something else. He has another way. He calls for service to others, to become like a little child, acknowledging our dependence on God. Which is right? Our ways or the Lord’s ways?

The gospel insists that the man or woman who follows Jesus will be a sign of contradiction to others. It understands that the followers of Christ will provoke envy and even hatred, like the cowboy in the white hat. It is important to pray for ourselves, for others and for our spiritual leaders that we may have the courage to follow Jesus and put His example of service above everything else.

Fr. Hugh Duffy