Last week the Prophet Isaiah painted a picture of “The Lord’s Servant” who cannot be turned away from his mission because of his unshakable trust in God his defender.
Today in the Book of Wisdom, we see “just” people, who are often persecuted, sometimes even condemned to an infamous death — supported by God who despite appearances, never abandons them. He pours out His Spirit with incomparable liberality and sovereign liberty upon them. Even the godless are aware of this fact and want to set traps to test them: “The godless say to themselves, ‘Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life…. Let us condemn him to a shameful death since he will be looked after — we have his word for it.’”
The mere presence of these “just” people is insufferable to the godless. As always and as we saw last week, in such cases, evil doers begin by trying to break down those who oppose their ways by reviling and torturing them. These tortures whether moral or physical, are the usual means used in the hope of overcoming the meekness and patience of the “just’” Those who have recourse to such measures believe them to be infallibly efficacious because, in their opinion, force can obtain anything; and because, they themselves are unable to resist similar pressures. The failure of these methods exacerbates their fury and unleashes their worst instinct.
Unfortunately, we see evidence of this today, throughout the world we live in — where — as Saint Jame’s tells us: “Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony, and wicked things of every kind being done…. You want something and you haven’t got it; so, you are prepared to kill.” These things of every kind are not necessarily power and worldly opulence, sometimes it is purely jealousy because of faith in God, which the “just” possess. It’s clear, this passage from the Book of Wisdom applies to a multitude of men and women of all times; persecuted, tortured, put to death, all because they stood, by their mere presence, unshakable witnesses to righteousness and justice. And it applies literally to the “Just One” par excellence, Christ.
Jesus declared that He was God’s Son. He never stopped denouncing impiety and injustice by His teaching and by His conduct; He was the defender of the little ones and the poor; He never ceased to trust and proclaim God the Father. He suffered the sarcasms and the insults of those who, putting Him to death, thought they were through with Him: “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matt 27:43).
The Cross of the Righteous One which from now on stands on earth as God’s answer to all the challenges of the powerful of the whole world, is God’s testimony to the invincible strength of those whom brutal force will never cause to falter: “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:10) All of us, in our own way, can verify the relevance of these words of Saint Paul, as we place all our trust in God.
But as faith proves itself by acts, so does “The wisdom from above.” It is one of those good things that we must intently ask the Lord by unwaveringly fighting against the “Passions that make war within [our] members.” Wisdom is that virtue which makes us appreciate everything at its “just” value and, as a consequence, is a norm for daily conduct. James today, speaks of Christian wisdom. It is opposed to “Jealousy and selfish ambition’ which is reflected in today’s Gospel, even among the apostles as they “Argue on the road… who among them is the greatest?”
As Christians we are called to live in peace and harmony with one another. One of the things that is very damaging to unity is false ambition, this causes us to put our own interests first, which of course, is at odds with Jesus’ teaching.
Mark’s Gospel tells us of Jesus crossing into Galilee, incognito, as it were, accompanied by His disciples, among whom the ‘Twelve’ are the most prominent. During this journey, He devotes Himself to teaching the little group of those who travel with Him; and, for a second time, he clearly announces His forthcoming Passion: “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; and they will put Him to death; and three days after He has been put to death, He will rise again, but they did not understand what He said and were afraid to ask Him.” Although afraid to question Jesus on this matter, it should be noted that the disciples were not afraid of Jesus as though He was some sort of tyrant no. The disciples cannot imagine that Jesus will really be put to death, consequently, the prediction of His resurrection shortly afterwards (Three day’s) is quite mysterious. Under these circumstances, the disciples probably think that these words have a hidden meaning that escapes them. — and this is why they were afraid to question Him. In fact, when the event occurred, the disciples were surprised and confused. The explanations we read in the account of the travelers to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-25) aim at elucidating why “It was necessary” that these events should happen, in other words, what their meaning was? Jesus simply does not say: “Nothing astonishing in all this; it was foreseen.”
Jesus must realise that the disciples do not understand what He is talking about, and that it had stirred up in them all sorts of questions, but He does not broach the subject immediately. He waits until they’re “Inside the house” at Capernaum before asking them: “What were you arguing about on the road?” They remained silent, ashamed that Jesus overheard their conversation when they were discussing “Who was the greatest among them.” It is necessary to clear things up immediately: Jesus sits down, as a Master engaged in teaching, and calls the ‘Twelve’ to Himself, in order to give them the answer to the question they had been debating: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and servant of all.” This teaching reaches beyond the ‘Twelve’ to the whole Church. In the ecclesial community there is not — there must not be — any other distinction than that of “Ministries”, a word that means “Services” (1 Cor 12:1-30).Those who are entrusted with a function must consider themselves and be considered by others: “Servants of Christ. — Stewards of the Mysteries of God” of whom it is required “That they be found trustworthy.”(1 Cor 4:1-2) This responsibility, to which it is praiseworthy to aspire, entails duties, but does not give the right to material advantages or honours: “You must not lord it over people”. — It is a responsibility which spans time from the apostles to the clergy of today. Saint Augustine in one of his sermons had this to say on the matter:
“If I am afraid of what I am for you, I am consoled by what you are for me. For you, I’m a Bishop; with you I am a Christian. The former title is that of the dignity I am invested with; the latter reminds me of the grace I received; the former is rife with dangers for me; the latter spells salvation and safety for me…. Seeing that I am entrusted with such important, numerous, and varied duties, help me with your prayers and your obedience; ask that I be affected less by the honour of giving you orders than by the happiness of serving you.”
Plainly Saint Augustine had grasped the Lord’s teaching of the apostles’ centuries before and its apostolic translation to us today. Such was the importance of Jesus’ teaching, He called a little child to Him, embraces him and says: “Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me, but the One who sent me.” By identifying Himself with a child, Jesus shows what He Himself is — without pretence. The Lord and Master certainly, but as one who serves. This was clearly demonstrated at the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet off the apostles and told them: “You call me Master and Lord, and rightly so I am, if then the Lord and Master have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.” Here Jesus the Master has become the one who serves. The disciples and all who serve Christ today, must conduct themselves in the same manner and rejoice at being welcomed as lowly persons, not seeking to cut an impressive figure or assert themselves: to be humble and innocent too, for in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells us unequivocally who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven : “Jesus called a little child to Him, and set the child in front of them. Then He said: ‘I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven: and so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
So, there we have it, to be great we must be as children; humble, innocent, and like the Master. — Servant of all.
Such a message runs counter to the man-made statements and laws of the world today and to proclaim such a message is to invite sarcasm and contempt from a world and society so contrary to Jesus’ teaching. A world that is so ready to embrace selfishness, greed, rivalries, power, force, competition to finish an unbridled race for the top positions, to become the greatest — all leading to a world without peace, unity and harmony.
So, what’s the answer? We have the answer already from Jesus — “Trust in God still and trust in me”
So gathered around Jesus “In the house” [Church] today, let us take the time to hear what the Lord is saying to us — to be imbued with his teaching. To become like children!
“For theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”
