Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
An Egyptian-Coptic Christian makes an anti-Islamic movie, social media websites allow its video cast, four Americans are killed as are many protestors in Islamic countries and the world moved further away from sanity. Newly trained Afghan recruits kill their Western trainers, the Chinese in Japan and Japanese in China fear for their lives because of a dispute over islands in the East China Sea, the contenders for the presidential elections in the United States continue their vitriolic attack on each other and hundreds of government and rebel forces continue to die in Libya. These are just some of the headlines that dominated the news over the last week. Is there any compelling and credible voice that is calling for peace? If there is, it is not heard.
The first reading from Isaiah tells us that wickedness and evil are not new. Jesus’ world was not any different either. Then too there were constant conflicts between the Romans and militant Jews, between Jews and Samaritans, between Pharisees and Sadducees and between the Pharisees and Jesus. John the Baptist was beheaded on the whims of a king and his illegitimate wife. Beside the fact that Jesus death was God’s intervention in human history, he was also the victim of political, social and religious intolerance and bigotry. Was there a compelling and credible voice calling for peace? Yes there was but it was not heard then too.. Except that Jesus called a small band of followers and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." I like Matthew’s version of the same episode. Knowing that the disciples were arguing about power, politics and status, Jesus said to them, “This shall not be so among you” (Mt 23:11).
1.For the last two years, I have been conducting a discipleship training seminar in partnership with the University of Dayton. The primary reading is the Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s classic The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer says in that book that the cross of Jesus is the truth about humanity. In other words, if we want to know what human beings are like, the cross tells us the whole story. Bonhoeffer lived during Hitler's regime in Germany so his grim assessment of humanity is understandable. I personally think that the cross also tells us the truth about God. But getting back to Bohnoeffer’s point, he was asking Christian to allow the truth of the cross to transform them. He was saying that the cross tells us who we should not be. Bonhoeffer is repeating what Jesus said to his disciples, “This shall not be so among you.” Jesus proposes a different ethic for those who follow him. Disciples of Jesus must follow a different kind of world order. The basis of such a world order comes from the life, the teaching and the cross of Jesus. Jesus is the standard by which we must evaluate our life.
2.On a very practical level, what is the standard set by the cross of Christ? What does Jesus mean when he says, “This shall not be so among you?” The second reading from the letter of James is a good starting point to answer this question. He says, “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.” As we witness the events around the world that made headlines, James clearly tells that disorder comes from jealousy and selfish ambition. “This shall not be so among you,” Jesus says. But then, like Jesus, peace comes from bring pure, peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy, good works without inconsistency and insincerity. And this is what we must a disciples of Jesus must be like. This is the standard the cross of Christ sets for us.
3.Jesus, in light of the political and socio-economic unrest of his times, began a seemingly unattainable task. He was hoping to build the Kingdom of God. And he began with a small group of his disciples. He said to them, “This shall not be so among you.” Through this small band of followers he would begin the task of renewing the world. And we know that he succeeded. As we see the events around the world unravel in front of us, I am sure many of feel helpless. But I think that all hope is not lost. Like Christ, we too can begin small. The first place to begin is our own life. There is only one place were each of has complete control – our individual life. The one thing we can do is the make sure that our life ethic is based on the cross of Christ. Second we look at our home and outside where we have some influence – family, friends, co-workers. This is our small band of people – the people we can influence. In the midst of them and with them we too can be the builders of God’s kingdom.
The Eucharist is a celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ. If this is what we believe, then this Eucharist is both a celebration of who we are and a challenge to be who we are called to be. May our participation in this Eucharist become for us the way to the Kingdom of God.
- Fr. Satish Joseph