NOT TO BE SERVED, BUT TO SERVE
(September 5)
“…And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20: 26-28)
The ten disciples are “indignant” at James and John, – but for the wrong reasons. It’s not because the mother of the “sons of thunder” just asked Christ to provide them with top positions in His future kingdom, an outrageous request in light of everything Christ had been teaching them about His way. (It has been suggested that the boldness of their mother is what inspired Christ to nickname James and John “sons of thunder,” because our Lord has a sense of humor.) The ten disciples are upset because they themselves were also interested in those top positions. So, our Lord tries to turn their merely-human ambitions upside-down, pointing out to them (and all of us) His way, the better Way, of seeking “not to be served but to serve.”
How liberating, to seek to be of service, rather to be served, because the latter entangles us in pointless expectations and disappointments. Today let me not ask pointless questions, like, Why “didn’t” he/she do this or that, for me, or say this or that, or respond in the way he/she did? I can have more peace today, by God’s grace, if I choose to embrace His way, the cross-carrying way of self-offering. “O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen
