THE TWENTY NINTH ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B!
During the American Revolution, a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers who were busy pulling out a horse carriage stuck in deep mud. Their officer was shouting instructions to them while making no attempt to help. The stranger who witnessed the scene asked the officer why he wasn't helping. With great dignity, the officer replied, "Sir, I am a Corporal!" The stranger dismounted from his horse and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers himself.
When the job was completed, he turned to the corporal and said, "Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this and you don’t have enough men to do it, inform your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again." Too late, the proud Corporal recognized General Washington. Washington understood that those who aspire to greatness or rank first among others must serve the needs of all . Where did Washington learn such leadership skills? I have no doubt he learned them here, in these words of Jesus: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” The young corporal had these words modeled for him by the man at the top. Jesus' disciples, likewise, receive from their leader a picture of servanthood.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us heard of the reminder that pride and ego, self-confidence and ambition have no place amongst us Christians and those things will only lead to our downfall and doom, if we allow those to control our lives and our actions. We have been shown and taught what it truly means to be Christians, in our daily living and actions, and if we take heed of what the Lord had reminded us, through the Scripture passages today, we should do our best to do His will, and to be humble and be focused on Him, and not to give in to the temptations of our human pride and desire, which had become the bane and the obstacle for so many of our fellow brothers and sisters, past and present.
Many people think of religion as a way of avoiding or getting around reality and of the Bible as a kind of holy religious book. Both assumptions are very far from the truth and reality. One of the reasons why the story of Jesus is so powerful is that it is so human and so simple. It is a story of human dishonesty and ambition, of trial and error, weakness and strength. It is a story that most of us can identify.
Today's Gospel portrays the human weakness of the disciples. The lesson was this: if there was such human weakness amongst the disciples of Jesus, should we be surprised to find the same weakness in our present leadership and within ourselves? Then, if this weakness is ever present, we need to learn to lean more on Jesus than on our own weak selves.
Today's Gospel tells the story of the ambition of James and John, the two most favoured people doing their own dirty work. They themselves come and ask Jesus to give them power and to allow them to rule with him. The reaction of the other disciples is one of great indignation. Being themselves most ambitious, they very much resented the two who tried to get an inside track on them in the political race. This is a very human story that is still being acted out where human beings work together. It is to be found in the army, the government, business, in the schools and colleges,in the Church, in our religious congregations, and at home. The higher up one goes in all of these institutions, the more subtle and the more ruthless supporters tend to get.
Jesus responds to the two brothers by telling them that they do not know what they are asking for. They are asking for a shortcut, but there are no shortcuts to God's favour. Earlier He had spoken about how He would be handed over to the authorities who would condemn him to death. The two disciples conveniently bypass this stage and want to enter and share Jesus' power when He enters into glory when the suffering has been done.
Jesus brings them back to the realization that kingship or authority is not about wearing a crown but about carrying a cross. Jesus really got to the point that leadership is not about self-glorification but about the service of and the upliftment and empowerment of others. It is not for lording it over others but for standing under others. For Jesus, that is not a theoretical teaching; He himself lived it. "For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Let us pray thst may God, in this eucharist, cure us of our need to dominate and abuse power and infuse in us a spirit of service.
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