It is quite natural to seek position. School children want to be teacher’s pet; at work people seek advancement over their peers. This is true for every walk of life. The disciples, too, wished for recognition in terms of who was the most important. Jesus tells them that, as genuine followers, they need to be as children – without any power of their own and totally dependent on the Father for their every need. Only then will true humility follow.

This dependence is exemplified in the first reading. Job is prosperous and lacks for nothing. Life is good. He praises God for His bounty, but will he still acknowledge God when the going gets rough? Job’s fortunes change, he loses everything: his children and all his possession. He is grief stricken. But his faith in God never wavers, ‘Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be His name!”

Whatever we need, whatever we have – everything comes from God alone.

Will we welcome God into our lives in the way that Jesus asks?