Gospel reflection for Aug. 31, 2025 — 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
I recently attended a panel on the role of celebrities and influencers in contemporary American culture. We covered many aspects of that phenomenon including fashion, political views, lifestyle, and product usage. While the considerable majority of those participating were fascinated by the growth of their influence, we generally rejected the power of celebrity in our personal life experiences. Yet, the phenomenon continues and only grows. Andy Warhol’s famous prediction that everyone would enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame seems to have come true. Give a kid a camera and the right social platform, and fame and wealth soon follow.
In order to make the Gospel and the Church relevant in this media driven world, even priests and religious have come to use these media platforms to evangelize and catechize, while at the same time gaining their own notoriety in the process.
Jesus calls us to the powerful countercultural position of humility, challenging the ego-driven culture that defines Western society. He warns us against the unbridled focus on the self that permeated even the ancient cultures. The Roman Emperor Caligula (37-41 AD) was the first to proclaim himself divine, and built a temple with a statue of himself to be used in worship. The irony is that at the same time the very first followers of Jesus moving throughout the Roman world proclaiming the Gospel, announcing that he who was born the son of a Jewish tradesman was in fact the incarnation of the God who created all things, including the emperor Caligula.
Jesus was not afraid to take hubris and the social castes in Judaism head-on. He challenged the elite — priests, Sadducees, Herodians, and tax collectors — directly and not through a veiled parable as he so often does. He mocks their tendency to seek places of honor and to receive the accolades of the people.
Jesus does not condemn a sense of preference among people, so he is not here arguing for no distinctions among persons. He knows that families, communities, organizations, and other social situations honor dignitaries, and have revered members. Jesus always shows due respect to those who hold power and authority, even as he challenges them. We see this even as he stands trial before the Sanhedrin, the Chief Priest, the Roman Prefect, and even a Client-King. His deference, however, was not passive, for the Son of Man was never really subject to any human authority, even as he submitted to their pretensions.
What Jesus challenges is the tendency to be presumptive of respect, authority, and deference. Might doesn’t make right. A title or an honorific doesn’t automatically come with integrity or real authority. So often in our society, and clearly within our Church, we have seen this abuse of power and of pretensions. Pope Francis often spoke against clericalism, and was a strong in his desire to curb the tendency to seek positions of power and authority among the clergy.
In Pope Leo XIV we see an example of authentic humility. Forged by his Augustinian heritage and the many years he spent in the missions of Peru, the Holy Father exudes the joyful humility that should be the hallmark of the Christian life.
Instead of the rabid pursuit of fame, wealth, honors and distinctions, the Christian is called to humble service, and a proper sense of place within the world. The need to be noticed and recognized is pathological, not spiritual.
While for the Christian the truest recognition is our name written in the Book of Life, it is difficult at times to avoid the recognition that comes from this world. A media fascinated with wealth and beauty, turned a simple religious sister serving the poorest in what was then Calcutta into an international celebrity. She didn’t work for fame, and when it was thrust upon her, she used that platform not to promote herself, but to advance the Kingdom of God.
Perhaps that is our greatest lesson. We do not seek greatness for ourselves. We seek first the Kingdom of God — and use whatever we have for his greater honor and glory.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.