AUTHORITY EXERCISED BY SACRIFICIAL SERVICE

Very often, people in authority act as if others exist only to serve them. Even in our democratic form of government, our elected officials, although called “public servants,” frequently strut around like monarchs, interested in serving their own appetites for power, prestige, and wealth. They forget the fact that authority is different from power. Power is something a person has and forces on people. Authority is something a person gains—it’s given to one by the people one leads. One can gain authority from those one leads only through service and sacrifice. When people see that a person has their best interests at heart and is willing to sacrifice and serve them, they will be willing to follow. That’s real leadership and authority. Jesus saw authority as an opportunity to serve others rather than to promote his own honor and glory. He connected authority with selfless service. He considered authority without sacrificial love as merely self-service. Suffering and service go hand in hand. First, service always involves suffering because one can’t help another without personal sacrifice. Second, God always invites those who suffer to put their suffering at the service of others by uniting it with the suffering of Jesus. Third, we must learn to be sensitive to the suffering of those around us. One way to cultivate this sensitivity is to focus on the needs of others rather than on our own needs. Another way is through prayer, as explained in St. Francis of Assisi’s famous Prayer of Peace.

 

THE UNACCEPTED CHALLENGE

Jesus realized that this rich young man was shackled by his possessions. So he challenged the young man by listing those precepts of the Decalogue that deal with social and familial relations. Then Jesus told the young man that if he wanted to be perfect, keeping the commandments was not enough. He challenged the young man to share his riches with the poor.  “There is one thing lacking, Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and then you will have real treasure. After that, come and be with me.” Jesus thus makes it clear that a true follower who wants to possess eternal life must not only be a respectable gentleman who hurts nobody, but also someone who shares his riches, talents and other blessings with the less fortunate. In other words, Jesus tells the young man that life is a matter of priorities. God must have the first priority in our lives. Unfortunately, the rich man was unwilling to accept Jesus’ idea that wealth is not something to be owned but rather, something to be shared with others. Jesus asked him to break his selfish attachment to his wealth by sharing it. He makes the same challenge to each of us today. Our following of Jesus has to be totally and absolutely unconditional. Our attachment may not be to money or material goods, nor to another person, a job, our health, or our reputation. We must be ready to cut off any attachment in order to become true Christian disciples, sharing our blessings with others.

DIVORCE A CURSE ON CHILDREN

Today, divorce is at all-time high, and are more lives shattered by it than can ever be documented or calculated. It has been reported that children of divorce have a very hard time growing up. They never recover from their parents’ breakups and have difficulty forming their own adult relationships. Chuck Colson, a noted Evangelical Christian leader, notes some disturbing realities that plague children who grow up without a father: a) Children of single-parent families are five times more likely to be poor because half the single mothers in the United States live below poverty line. b) Children of divorced parents suffer intense griefs and other mental problems requiring psychological help. c) Children from disrupted families have more academic and behavioral problems at school and are nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school. d) Girls in single-parent homes are at a much greater risk for being sexually precocious, and are more likely to have a child out of wedlock. e) Crime and substance abuse are strongly linked to fatherless households. f) Statistics show that 60 percent of rapists grew up in fatherless homes, as did 72 percent of adolescent murderers, and 70 percent of all long-term prison inmates. In fact, most of the social problems disrupting American lives today can be traced to divorce.

GREATNESS THROUGH LOVING, HUMBLE, LIFE-GIVING SERVICE

Greatness in Jesus’ view, is found in our willingness to accept, welcome and serve with love those who are considered unacceptable and undeserving by reason of class, color, religion, wealth or culture. We must welcome people the loving way a child welcomes them before he is taught discrimination. If we are to be truly great, we must be ready to accept four challenges: (1) to put ourselves last, (2) to be the servant of all, (3) to receive the most insignificant human beings with love, and (4) to accept nothing in return. We pray for the spirit of service, for an attitude of love for those around us. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us to become truly great through loving humble and selfless service. Mother Teresa of Culcutta puts it like this : “Be the loving expression of God’s kindness through humble service. Show kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile and kindness in your warm greeting.”The Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, live tis motto: “The fruit of Silence is Prayer. The fruit of Prayer is Faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of Love is Service. And the fruit of Service is Peace.

“WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?”

Jesus poses a fundamental question to disciples when He asks “Who do you say that I am?”  The question of Jesus’ identity and authority is one of the most important themes in the Gospels. Various people give different answers, partially true, but not fully. Jesus claims to be the Son of God and that claim has implications for our lives. If Jesus is not who He claims to be, there are only two options: Either He is a liar and attempting to deceive us, or He is a lunatic and delusional in His thinking. This is a serious question that every disciple must answer. Who we believe Jesus to be, will have real implications for how we follow Him. Obviously, we would not follow someone we believe to be a liar or a lunatic. If we are following someone we truly believe to be the Lord, we need to understand and accept the implications of that belief. Namely, as Lord, Jesus has total claim to every part of our lives. He is Lord of our homes and our families. He is Lord of our priesthood, marriages and of our businesses. He is Lord of our finances, sexuality, and politics. He is Lord of our leisure, our habits, and our friendships. Jesus asks each of us to answer this question as a fundamental act of our discipleship and subsequently to live out the consequences of that response. If we want to know what we really believe about Jesus, we only have to look at our lives and see how we are currently allowing Him, or not allowing Him, to affect us. The Gospel passage challenges each of us to answer the question of Jesus to conform our life to that answer: “Who do you say that I am?”