True Power

Today’s Gospel passage shows us how different Jesus’ views on life are from what we see and hear around us. For example, when some popular magazine runs an article on “The Ten Most Successful Men and Women of the Year,” what does it highlight?  The fact that Mr. Billionaire made a huge “killing” of several million dollars on a business deal, that he belongs to the “in group” of the rich and the famous, or that he is considered the best-dressed man, and he jet-sets to famous resort places around the world, and collects mansions and vintage cars or famous paintings, and so on.

Nowadays people look for successful people among the movie celebrities and super athletes.

In today’s Gospel, the teaching of Jesus gives us a truer view of reality. The event took place on the way to Capernaum. The Apostles were heatedly arguing. In contemporary times they would be arguing as to who caught the biggest number of fish, or who was the most macho, or who was the sexiest, or who had the highest IQ, or who was the best dressed man of them all.

But the Apostles were arguing as to who was the greatest, the most important. You could hear Andrew insisting, “I saw him first.” And Peter retorting with “Okay, but he gave me the keys.” And  James joined in, “Don’t forget, he took me up the mountain to meet Moses and Elijah.  Only the three of us saw that.” And Judas with the last word, “You guys can talk your heart out.  Who holds the money?  Money talks.  No money, no honey. If you hold the money, you hold the secret of power.”

Unbelievable!  After three years with Jesus! But at least they had the good sense to be embarrassed when Jesus asked, “What were you arguing about on the way?”  They had the good sense to say nothing. Just the same they were given a lesson: “Do you want to know what it means to be first? It means to be last; it means to be the servant of everyone else.”

Recall too, when James and John requested Jesus that they be placed in the positions of honor, one to the left and the other to the right of Jesus in the kingdom.  The others were angered at the request. 

And Jesus admonished them, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones made their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you.  Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be the first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve   and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28) 

The most important word here is to be the servant. To be a Christian is to be a servant.  You have here what it means to be a Christian in a nutshell, what it means to be a leader, to have authority.  And here a homilist can go to town with the woes to politicians, who are involved in graft and corruption, those, who abuse power and influence entrusted to them, who use their power and influence not to serve the people they promised to serve, but to exploit and impoverish the people to fill their own pockets and bank accounts.

And we ask, “How can leadership in a Christian country be reconciled with graft and corruption?  With the big gap between the rich and the poor?” 

This kind of leadership is possible only because we the people allow it, only because we elected this kind of leaders into office and we tolerate their abuse and dishonesty.

It is possible only because we as a people have lost the sense of Christian leadership. We have lost the sense of genuine service. 

People say, “What are we in power for?” How often we Christians missed the point.  Even Church organizations and Church leaders are more often concerned with honor, prestige, positions, and “palabas” – how to impress, how to be in the limelight, rather than on how to serve people well. 

Today’s liturgy reminds us of what Christian leadership means, and our call to service.

Our Guide and Model is Jesus.  He not only comes as one who serves, but he was seen as the Suffering Servant of Yahweh of whom Isaiah the prophet speaks: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”

And St. Paul writes to the Christians in Philippi: “…Though he was in the form of God [He] did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. Coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”

What did service mean for this servant?  Obedience… humiliation… death.

Now, how does the servant Jesus touch our service? Intimately. For a disciple is not above his or her teacher, nor a servant above his or her master. Christian service is Christ’s service.

And so it involves, in the first place – Obedience. Here we are not talking about obedience to seniors or superiors, to parents or pastor, to pope or president. In essence, to be obedient means to be open.

Open to what God might ask of you, might ask of you now – a God who calls in unexpected ways, to unexpected service. The God, who calls countless Saints to heroic service, the God who calls millions of nameless Christians to lose life in order to save it, to give their lives as a ransom, a redemption for many. 

You will hardly be a servant of Christ if you are not open, if your tomorrows are so programmed that there is no room for the unexpected. No, to be Christ’s servant is to be as he was: “Not my will but thine be done.” Only in this way will you be open to the men and women who need the gifts God has given you, need your hands or your heart, your wisdom or your strength, your love and your compassion.

Second, humiliation.  The primary way Christ humbled himself was in emptying himself. He put off his right to be God, and put himself in our condition, became like us. So, don’t wait for others to humiliate you. Christian life is a constant self-emptying, a putting off of yesterday, to join the human race of today. Like Jesus we must be increasingly aware of our solidarity with every man and every woman. In this way only can we be the servant of all.

Third, death.  Not just the dying at the end of our earthly existence. Here we mean the daily dying to yourself that you cannot escape in Christian living. It is the dying that comes from openness to God and self-emptying. To die to yourself is to live to God and to others.

The author, Lawrence LeShan tells this story of an old monk, who prayed many years for a vision from God to strengthen his faith, but it never came.  He has almost given up hope when, one day, a vision appeared. The old monk was overjoyed.

But then, right in the middle of the vision, the monastery bell rang.  The ringing of the bell meant it was time to feed the poor, who gathered daily at the monastery gate. It was the old monk’s turn to feed them. If he failed to show up with food, the unfortunate people would leave quietly, thinking the monastery had nothing to give them that day.   

The old monk was torn between his earthly duty and his heavenly vision. But, before the bell stopped ringing, the monk made his decision. With a heavy heart, he turned his back on the vision and went off to feed the poor.

Nearly an hour later, the old monk returned to his room. When he opened the door, he could hardly believe his eyes. There in the room was the vision, waiting for him. As the monk dropped to his knees in thanksgiving, the vision said to him, “My son, had you not gone off to feed the poor, I would not have stayed.”

Let’s conclude by listening prayerfully to the words of a great Christian of modern times, Albert Schweitzer. He turned his back on the concert halls of Europe to become a missionary doctor to the poor in Africa.  Schweitzer said: “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know; the only ones among you who will really be happy are those who sought and found how to serve.”