Tuesday 26 February

Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11; Psalm 37; Mark 9:30-37

Make me a servant

The disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying about his being put to death and rising from the dead. Such a thing was beyond their experience and their imagining. They could not see that because he came to serve, he had to die. Nor did they grasp that the first and the greatest must be last of all and servant of all – in the words of the first reading, those who aim to serve the Lord need to be prepared for an ordeal. In the words of the hymn, ‘Lord, make me like you, please make me like you; for you are a servant, make me one too …’ Lord, help me to serve, today.