The first shall be last

Saint Mark - Chapter 9

The first shall be last. J-J Tissot

[30] Docebat autem discipulos suos, et dicebat illis : Quoniam Filius hominis tradetur in manus hominum, et occident eum, et occisus tertia die resurget.
And he taught his disciples, and said to them: The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise again the third day.

[31] At illi ignorabant verbum : et timebant interrogare eum.
But they understood not the word, and they were afraid to ask him.[1]

[32] Et venerunt Capharnaum. Qui cum domi essent, interrogabat eos : Quid in via tractabatis?
And they came to Capharnaum. And when they were in the house, he asked them: What did you treat of in the way?

[33] At illi tacebant : siquidem in via inter se disputaverunt : quis eorum major esset.
But they held their peace, for in the way they had disputed among themselves, which of them should be the greatest.

[34] Et residens vocavit duodecim, et ait illis : Si quis vult primus esse, erit omnium novissimus, et omnium minister.
And sitting down, he called the twelve, and saith to them: If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of all.

[1] But they understood not the word. That is to say, in what manner, and for what cause, Christ was to die; and how these words concerning His near approaching death agreed with what He had often told them, that His kingdom was at hand. For otherwise the Apostles understood and believed that Christ would die (see Matt. 17:23), when they are said to have been sorry at this saying of Christ concerning His death. Unless you prefer to say that they were ignorant of the death of Christ, because they were in hesitation with respect to it on account of the different sayings of Christ, apparently inconsistent with one another, and that accordingly they inclined to the view which was the more pleasing to them. For it was this which they wished to be true. “For so lovers frame dreams for themselves.” So they endeavoured to persuade themselves that these words of Christ concerning His death had some other hidden meaning, and that they were not to be taken literally, but mystically.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam