This coming Sunday is the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. “Greatness in the kingdom” is an odd expression given we are to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) but then that is rather Jesus’ point in this Sunday’s gospel. We are all able to cite: “the first shall be last and the last shall be first,” but none of us really wants to be at the end of the line. One only needs to think of the boarding process for any airline. Before the “boarding group” numbers are called people are already crowding closer to the gate. A few years ago on a flight from DC to San Diego, when the attendant called for anyone who needed a “little extra time in boarding”, a very elegant, tanned, fit and handsome couple presented themselves offering that they were “retired.” They seemed a bit oblivious to nearby people in wheelchairs, on walkers, and a mom traveling with two small children and twin infants. Part of accepting others is to first notice them.

The theologian Karl Barth describes Jesus’ radical insistence on the acceptance of others – and putting them first – as the foundation of Christian ethics. He wrote: “To think of every human being , even the oddest, most villainous or miserable as one to whom Jesus Christ is a Brother and God is Father, and we have to deal with him on this assumption. It is a challenge for volunteers at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other service organizations – not the first time, but perhaps after several sessions. The challenge is when the initial enthusiasm has worn off and reality that the people you are serving can be quite difficult sometimes – then comes the real challenge to treat them with dignity. And perhaps the first sign is that you stop listening to the one you are called to serve and simply serve them with little acknowledgment of them.

A few years ago, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times offered insight about such moments:

Humiliation, in my view, is the most underestimated force in politics and international relations. The poverty of dignity explains so much more behavior than the poverty of money. People will absorb hardship, hunger and pain. They will be grateful for jobs, cars and benefits. But if you make people feel humiliated, they will respond with a ferocity unlike any other emotion, or just refuse to lift a finger for you. As Nelson Mandela once observed, ‘There is nobody more dangerous than one who has been humiliated.’

By contrast, if you show people respect, if you affirm their dignity, it is amazing what they will let you say to them or ask of them. Sometimes it just takes listening to them, but deep listening — not just waiting for them to stop talking. Because listening is the ultimate sign of respect. What you say when you listen speaks more than any words.

Image credit: The Exhortation to the Apostles | James Tissot | Brooklyn Museum | US-PD