Come to Serve
September 21, 2024 at 9:52 p.m.
Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Okay – I love when I can identify passages in the Old Testament that suddenly jump out at you as being about Jesus. Go back and read the first reading from Sunday, it’s from the Book of Wisdom. It talks about God taking care of someone known as His son. Pay attention to the words. Now find Matthew 27:40-43 and Luke 23:35. Almost the same words. Crazy! St. Augustine said, “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old becomes manifest in the New.”
Sorry for the quick aside. On to the main event!
The second reading and the Gospel touch on something we can all probably relate to in our lives. When we seek to serve ourselves, we lose sight of God’s vision and His plan for us. St. James discusses this in his letter, warning his readers away from jealousy and ambition because they lead to wars and conflicts. Think about your own life and any troubles you have had with the people around you. When do those things happen? I bet there’s a better than good chance that someone was thinking and/or acting in their own interest (it might even have been you). James echoes Christ Jesus and what He teaches His disciples in the Gospel. The twelve were arguing over who was the greatest and Jesus turns their argument on its head by basically saying, “If I were you, I wouldn’t want to be the greatest…because the whole point is to serve each other.”
That’s pretty counter-intuitive in our world today, isn’t it? We’re constantly bombarded with the idea that the only way we can be happy is by putting ourselves first. It’s in the television shows we watch, the music we listen to, and the ads that push products promising to fill some void in our lives because we don’t look like we’re supposed to, or we haven’t experienced this thing we need to. Anti-heroes are pushed in stories, and, through their imperfection, we can identify with them. But they don’t give us something to aspire to. They do the wrong things “for the right reasons” and, often, they are only doing the right thing out of selfish motives.
There was an ad during a cartoon I watch with my son; it was a musical number with lyrics that said, “No one’s made quite perfectly. But who cares, I am everything I need.” I know that sounds great, but if you think about it, it’s actually quite lonely…even broken.
Contrast that with Christ calling us to serve others. Do you know the first thing you need to do that? OTHER PEOPLE!! Service brings you into community, whereas selfishness is oriented toward solitude. You can’t be a loner and live to serve your neighbor. We are made by God…for God. And God became man and came to serve. In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus says, “For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
As Christians, we are called to model our lives after His. Start small. Bring empty garbage cans in from the street when you pass by an elderly person’s home. Help a younger sibling with homework without being asked. Clean up after dinner so your mom or your dad doesn’t have to. Smile at the kid in your class that other kids pick on. There are a trillion ways to serve others without really doing all the much. But the impact you can have is immense.
To close, let me see if I can do better with the lyrics I reference earlier:
No one’s made quite perfectly. But who cares, Christ is everything we need.
There! Fixed it!
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Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Okay – I love when I can identify passages in the Old Testament that suddenly jump out at you as being about Jesus. Go back and read the first reading from Sunday, it’s from the Book of Wisdom. It talks about God taking care of someone known as His son. Pay attention to the words. Now find Matthew 27:40-43 and Luke 23:35. Almost the same words. Crazy! St. Augustine said, “The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old becomes manifest in the New.”
Sorry for the quick aside. On to the main event!
The second reading and the Gospel touch on something we can all probably relate to in our lives. When we seek to serve ourselves, we lose sight of God’s vision and His plan for us. St. James discusses this in his letter, warning his readers away from jealousy and ambition because they lead to wars and conflicts. Think about your own life and any troubles you have had with the people around you. When do those things happen? I bet there’s a better than good chance that someone was thinking and/or acting in their own interest (it might even have been you). James echoes Christ Jesus and what He teaches His disciples in the Gospel. The twelve were arguing over who was the greatest and Jesus turns their argument on its head by basically saying, “If I were you, I wouldn’t want to be the greatest…because the whole point is to serve each other.”
That’s pretty counter-intuitive in our world today, isn’t it? We’re constantly bombarded with the idea that the only way we can be happy is by putting ourselves first. It’s in the television shows we watch, the music we listen to, and the ads that push products promising to fill some void in our lives because we don’t look like we’re supposed to, or we haven’t experienced this thing we need to. Anti-heroes are pushed in stories, and, through their imperfection, we can identify with them. But they don’t give us something to aspire to. They do the wrong things “for the right reasons” and, often, they are only doing the right thing out of selfish motives.
There was an ad during a cartoon I watch with my son; it was a musical number with lyrics that said, “No one’s made quite perfectly. But who cares, I am everything I need.” I know that sounds great, but if you think about it, it’s actually quite lonely…even broken.
Contrast that with Christ calling us to serve others. Do you know the first thing you need to do that? OTHER PEOPLE!! Service brings you into community, whereas selfishness is oriented toward solitude. You can’t be a loner and live to serve your neighbor. We are made by God…for God. And God became man and came to serve. In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus says, “For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
As Christians, we are called to model our lives after His. Start small. Bring empty garbage cans in from the street when you pass by an elderly person’s home. Help a younger sibling with homework without being asked. Clean up after dinner so your mom or your dad doesn’t have to. Smile at the kid in your class that other kids pick on. There are a trillion ways to serve others without really doing all the much. But the impact you can have is immense.
To close, let me see if I can do better with the lyrics I reference earlier:
No one’s made quite perfectly. But who cares, Christ is everything we need.
There! Fixed it!