GRAND REVERSAL – Saint Agnes Catholic Church

Jesus is the wisdom of God in person, the summit of the divine wisdom, the intelligence of God who comes down from above. The wisdom of God is contained in the teachings of Jesus and is accessible to those who live by His Spirit. God’s wisdom is found only along the way of the Cross. It is only through the foolishness and the weakness of the way of Jesus on the Cross can we come to possess true wisdom and so our hearts are set right. The Cross is the ultimate reversal. Jesus who is the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Creator of the universe is a convicted criminal, naked, disfigured, humiliated, betrayed, insulted, dying and bleeding on the Cross. The Cross is scandal and stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles but for us believers, the Crucified Christ is the wisdom and power of God. Wisdom because it is the only way to be totally free and fully alive. It is loving to the end and giving all. Power because on the Cross Jesus reveals God’s extravagant, boundless love. God’s love is the only true power. Love alone is eternal. The wisdom of God is great reversal because God said that my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). Jesus said that anyone who wishes to be first shall be the last of all and the servant of all (Mark 9:35). Servant in Greek is diakonos where we get the word deacon. A deacon is a humble servant because humility and service are true marks of greatness. They are the sterling qualities of a true disciple of Jesus. The only way to be first is to be last. The only way to be master is by being servant. The only way to be Number One is by being No One. That is why Jesus took a child in front of His disciples to reinforce His teaching of greatness. A child during the time of Jesus was of lowly status, insignificant, nobody, no influence, powerless and helpless. It is to seek to be as insignificant, powerless as a child and to be the least in order to be at the service of all. That is the grand reversal because service is love in action.