Christ, the
Suffering Servant - The 29th B - World Mission Sunday
My dear bothers and sisters,
Today is the World Mission Sunday. On the message for this day,
Pope Francis said that:
Mission is a
passion for Jesus and at the same time a passion for his people.
When we pray before Jesus crucified, we see the depth of his love which gives
us dignity and sustains us. At the same time, we realize that the love flowing
from Jesus’ pierced heart expands to embrace the People of God and all
humanity. We realize once more that he wants to make use of us to draw closer
to his beloved people and all those who seek him with a sincere heart.
The readings of this Sunday focus our
attention on Christ the suffering servant, as the model of Christian
leadership. In the first reading from Isaiah, the prophet sings about the
suffering Servant who through his suffering, shall justify many, and bear their
guilt.
Truly, through Jesus, we are not gaining the normal life
span of a human being on earth, but eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Through
the atoning Blood of Christ, the Heavenly Father will no longer remember our
sins.
After the first reading, the Gospel of
today leads us to discover Christ’s example as a model self-giving leadership
in the Church. By taking on himself the role of a servant and redeeming us by
his own suffering and death, Christ has turned all human ambitions upside down.
"Whoever wishes to be great among
you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the
slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to
give his life as a ransom for many.”
Repairing for his disciples, on the final journey to
Jerusalem, Jesus says that there he will suffer and die. Far from expressing
sorrow or sympathy, James and John skip the thought of suffering and move to
the thought of resurrection and ask Jesus to let them sit at his right and left
when he enters his glory. They want to be more important than anyone else! They
want position, power, and status. Jesus answers that they may get what they ask
for, but they certainly will follow his way of suffering.
My dear bothers and sisters, like James and John, we all
fantasize about greatness, but very few make the sacrifice to achieve it. Jesus
spells out the price: not puffing oneself up, but by accepting some deflation.
Not by talking about oneself, but by listening to the other person. Not by
using others, but by allowing oneself to be used. In a word, by becoming a
servant.
"Whoever wishes to be great," says Jesus, "will be your servant." True greatness requires a man to become small - to put himself on the same level as the "little ones" - in order to bring out the potential of the other, especially the child. Like a servant, he sacrifices his own comfort. That true greatness means to become small, to become the servant of others.
The way of Christ is the way of being a servant to God and
to others, done out of the gifts of love and abilities given by the Spirit.
Serving others is the work of the Church. Serving others has nothing to do with
being servile. It has to do with being a human being among other human beings,
nothing more but also nothing less, loving them as Jesus does, with actions as
well as words.
Martin Luther King,
who was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian,
and leader in the African-American
Civil Rights Movement, said that: "Everybody
can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college
degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to
serve.... You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
In short, let us proclaim the Gospel through our
lives, fulfilling the lesson that Jesus teaches us
today: Whoever wishes to be great among
you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the
slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to
give his life as a ransom for many. Amen
Joseph Pham Quoc Van, O.P.
