By now we have all noticed the days becoming shorter and the nights cooler. This Sunday is the autumnal equinox, when the length of day and night are equal in both the northern and southern hemispheres. It marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall, at the halfway point between the summer and winter solstice.
Our Sunday gospel is also taken from the middle of Mark’s Gospel. Last Sunday Jesus predicted his rejection, death and resurrection (8:31). This Sunday he does so again (9:31). And he will do so once more before he gets to Jerusalem (10:32-34). The bright long sunny days in Galilee are left behind as summer gives way to fall. The nights are getting longer and colder as Jesus leads his disciples towards the awaiting shadows of “the Holy City.”
The most powerful man in history with the manliest of missions foretells His battle plan: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and three days after His death, the Son of Man will rise.” His power will be made manifest through an expression of weakness. So, halfway between Galilee and Jerusalem He identified Himself as a child.
“Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, ‘Whoever received one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me’” (9:36-37).
The eternal God has become flesh to accomplish the mightiest deed in human history, and he does so as a child, the Son of Man and Son of God. What an amazing balance we see in Jesus, here at the autumnal equinox! He is equally divine and human, equally powerful and childlike, such a humble king! And he calls us to maintain our balanced identity.
For we are children of our parents, and children of God. We are “poor banished children of Eve” and princes and princesses of the greatest king. Sometimes we enjoy long sunny days, and sometimes we endure long cold nights. And we are called to live them all as God’s beloved children. The light on the outside is meant to illumine the light within us, so that when we find ourselves in the middle of the longest night we will be balanced by the hope of a new season. For “after three days, the Son of Man will rise.” And we will arise in him.