What sign can you do?

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John 6:30-35 If I wasn't in the same boat as these sinners following Jesus I would probably be laughing right in their face. I often wonder how Jesus kept from rolling on the grass laughing at what some people do. Today we hear the crowd ask Him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?..." Is this not the same crowd who in verse 2 we are told - "followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick ."? Are these not the same people who in verse 14 " when they saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."? Yet still they seek a sign. However, they are not seeking a sign so that they might believe, they are wanting to be fed. Jesus worked a "sign" with the loaves and the fishes and now they want Him to do it again. Wisely, Jesus is using their bellies to get to their hearts; He is using earthly things to move them,
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The Least

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Mark 9:30-37

Once bitten twice shy is the saying and I think it applies to the first part of today's Gospel reading. Jesus tells the disciples of His coming Passion for the second time. Scripture says, "they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him." Again we see the disciples thinking as man thinks and not as God thinks. Therefore they didn't understand how this sort of thing could happen to the Messiah. Why were they afraid to ask Jesus any questions? Perhaps they were afraid that He would call them "Satan" as He did Peter. They weren't about to make that mistake! They'd already been getting in enough trouble with Jesus - asking Him to make more bread, rebuking Him for talking about the Passion, not being able to cast out a demon - so they probably wanted to play it safe and stay low for a while.

It's obvious that they really were not grasping what Jesus was leading them towards when He mentioned His Passion. We can see this because on their journey to Capernaum they are arguing about who will be the greatest. They still had earthly vision. Jesus, gently leads them further into the mystery of God. He shows them that to be the first one must be the last and be the servant of all. To be the greatest in the Kingdom one must "compete" with another in seeking to be the servant. Their and our competition should not be one that pits us against each other but seeking to out do one another in service and generosity.

He illustrates this beautifully by embracing a child. Here we have the Lord and King of the universe holding the smallest, in the eyes of the world, and telling the disciples that they must even seek to serve those who are the least and do so in Jesus' name. Their ideas of power, prestige, and the like are slowly fading as Jesus continues to reveal to them the true Kingdom of God.

FROM THE SAINTS - "Use this prescription for your life: "I don't remember my own existence. I don't think of my own affairs, because I haven't the time." Work and service!" - Saint Josemaria Escriva The Forge # 853

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