Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Service, or serving others, resides at the core of our Christian discipleship. Just as Jesus came in his incarnation not to be served but to serve (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45), so we as Christ’s followers are called to model our lives after his pattern of service. As we consider the example of Elijah in today’s first reading, reflecting upon what motivates our service may be a helpful exercise. Let’s each pause to look deep within, peel back the layers of our inner onion, and ask ourselves, what internal driver, what root source, motivates me to serve? A follow-on question becomes, how far am I willing to go in my service to others? I submit that Elijah’s motivation to serve was the purity of his love for God and his genuine love and compassion for others, and that from that deep well within him he served selflessly until his very last moment on earth. I want to grow in holiness after his example. I pray that kind of growth for each of us today.
If I were to poll parishioners at IC, I imagine people’s service might include some of these motivators: there’s work to be done in the parish and Fr Satish and the Staff need volunteers; the Church teaches that service is a virtue and I want to be (or be seen as) a virtuous person; I feel a sense of obligation to serve; I believe God requires/demands service from me; serving others is just something I’m “supposed to do;” I have a heart to serve, it’s part of my temperament to serve others; serving others makes me happy; the bible teaches that service is part of Christian discipleship; I serve out of gratitude for what Christ has done for me . . . That’s not an exhaustive list, but perhaps you see within yourself one or more of those motivators or identify others.
Notice that some of those motivators are external, influencing forces from outside ourselves. Those outward pressures sometimes become internalized as we yield to those forces and the expectations of others. When we internalize the external forces such that they become our inner drivers, we become vulnerable to stress and burnout, or just simply become tired. When serving others becomes difficult, it’s really easy to simply give up. That’s why Elijah’s example is so important for us today because he invites us to a more pure place.
The Lord was preparing to take Elijah up to heaven; Elijah’s earthly life and ministry was at its end. He had precious few moments left with Elisha, his protegee and beloved companion. Notice verse 9, “Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Ask for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’” I’m deeply humbled by Elijah’s generous spirit of service, even as he prepares for the very end of his life. His last thought, his dying wish was to serve another person one last time! Elijah’s servanthood reminds me of Peter’s mother-in-law, whom Jesus healed. That remarkable story includes, “When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him” (Matt. 8: 14-15). I can’t say that my dying wish or my immediate response to being healed would be to serve others. I want to grow in this area.
As in the entirety of our discipleship, love lies at the heart of it all. I want to know divine Love more completely in my being so that my every response, my every action, my every thought becomes a flow of Love to others regardless of what circumstances or situation I find myself in. Notice Elisha’s response to Elijah’s humble invitation, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.” I think what Elisha requested was a reorientation of his internal drivers such that his motivation to serve would be patterned after Elijah. Today I’m praying to know divine Love more completely so that it becomes my primary inner motivator. I invite you to voice your own prayer to God today as you consider your orientation toward service and how far you’re willing to go in serving others.
- Elizabeth Wourms