Are you important? Are you great? Do you want people to think you are great? What does it mean to be great? This week's commentary will explore this. The readings are after the commentary.
Love Compared to Recognition
Last night, I read Matthew 20:20-28. This passage is the story of the lady who asks Jesus to let her sons sit at the right and left of Jesus. Jesus responds "you do not know what you are asking..." He then tells the disciples,"whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve..."
The mother, along with her sons, wanted recognition. Even the other disciples wanted recognition, for they were offended at the 2 who sought to sit at the Lord's side. The disciples and the mother thought that greatness meant to be recognized. But Jesus said that to be great is to serve, not to be recognized. Being great means to give the most. Perhaps that means to love people who are hard to love. Maybe that means to give everything we have to someone who cannot repay us and will not thank us. To be great means to be a servant.
Serving Someone You Don't Like
Think of a person you don't like. Perhaps this person annoys the heck out of you or is just difficult. Yes, THAT person. What does this person do to annoy you or cause you difficulty? What is his/her name? Are you willing to serve this person? Are you willing to be perfectly loving towards this person with no promise of recognition or even gratitude? As Christians, we are called to do this.
The soldiers and most other people who Jesus was giving up his life for, did not even like Jesus. They made fun of him. They even hit him and spit on him. They tempted him. They hurt him. Even Jesus' friends abandoned him. Was Jesus still willing to love them and SERVE them? He WAS willing. Jesus was not RECOGNIZED for who he was (King and Lord of all). He was looked upon like a piece of trash. Jesus' people felt he was so inferior that he didn't even deserve to live. Yet he was still willing to love these same people with no promise of human recognition or even gratitude. That is service, and a picture of greatness.
A True Follower of Jesus
That is what Jesus meant when he said, "you do not know what you are asking" in Matthew 20. To be great means to give EVERYTHING to God. Are we willing to do this? I have to examine my life and ask myself, "do I live to serve myself? Or do I live a life of sacrifice for love of God and a life in service for anyone and everyone?"
* At work- do I work to serve myself or to serve God and others?
* With people- do I do things in order to serve myself, or do I GIVE and SACRIFICE myself for the benefit of others?
* My relationship with God- do I obey God because I want him to reward me, or do I obey him as a gift of of love to him?
Do I do things in order to be recognized or repaid, or do I simply SERVE and love?
God's Wisdom Versus Our Wisdom
Let's look at the contrast between Jesus' sincere gift of himself and the disciples' desire for recognition. With this in mind, we can better understand Paul's words in the second reading, "Christ crucified is foolishness to people [gentiles]. But to those who are called, Jew and Greeks alike, Christ [crucified is] the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." We human beings desire recognition and it looks foolish to pass up recognition and to focus instead on loving someone who cannot return the favor. But God's love is brilliant, pure, and perfectly REAL. What looks like weakness (Jesus does not fight back against physical abuse or insults) is really just love in its highest and truest form. God's wisdom is perfect and our common way of thinking is foolish in comparison.
The Call of the Commandments
The responsorial Psalm for this week (Psalm 19) says that "The law of the Lord is perfect......giving wisdom to the simple". This helps us to understand the first reading which lists the 10 commandments. We've heard the commandments since we were kids. Telling the truth (commandment 8) is a perfect way to speak and if we always tell the truth, we will be "wise" even if we are "simple". Paying for music instead of illegally downloading it for free may seem "foolish" yet it can be a loving act towards the musicians who worked to create it (commandment 7). If we take a look at the commandments, we will see that they are a detailed description of what it means to love PERFECTLY-that is, to serve and to be great.
Jesus does not impose the commandments upon us. He GIVES the commandments to us. He SHARES the commandments with us. If we want to know God's motivation for giving us the commandments, we need only picture Jesus carrying the cross. Despite ridicule, pain, and being abandoned, he carries his cross. He loves us and he wants to give us EVERYTHING. That's why he gave us the commandments. He wants us to live as he lives.He wants us to be happy and loving towards God and toward one another. We are given the commandments because God is perfectly wise and he wants to help us live lives of joy and peace. The commandments help us to do this. The person who obeys the commandments is happy and holy.
Real Life
I had a friend who loved me perhaps more than any other person has ever loved me. One day, my friend told me that maybe I should think about moving to a far away place in accordance with God's will ("he" was talking about a specific place). I knew that my friend enjoyed my company and I certainly enjoyed his. Yet, my friend believed that it was God's will for me to go to this far away place perhaps never to return. Eventually, I decided to go. In response, my friend told me that he thought it was the right decision.
I later realized that my friend loved me with a very special love. He loved me with the love of God. He was willing to give up whatever pleasure and benefits he got from having me around (forever) in order to let me do God's will. My friend loved both me and God perhaps more than anyone else I have met. This love reminds of God's love. God's love is self-sacrificing and self-giving. It is beautiful. It is real.
God loves us!
for more commentary on the commandments paste this into your browser
http://massexcitement.blogspot.com/2008/05/are-you-missionary-for-god-or-devil.html
Reading 1
Ex 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17
In those days, God delivered all these commandments:
"I, the LORD, am your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not carve idols for yourselves
in the shape of anything in the sky above
or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
you shall not bow down before them or worship them.
For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God,
inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness
on the children of those who hate me,
down to the third and fourth generation;
but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation
on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.
"You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
For the LORD will not leave unpunished
the one who takes his name in vain.
"Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
Six days you may labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God.
No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter,
or your male or female slave, or your beast,
or by the alien who lives with you.
In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
but on the seventh day he rested.
That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
"Honor your father and your mother,
that you may have a long life in the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife,
nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass,
nor anything else that belongs to him."
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11
R. (John 6:68c) Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the command of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eye.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.
R. Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
Reading II
1 Cor 1:22-25
Brothers and sisters:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Gospel
Jn 2:13-25
Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
"Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
"What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews said,
"This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?"
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.
While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
many began to believe in his name
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.
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