The power of love through service

It’s difficult today to go to social media sites or pick up a newspaper or a magazine or dial in a TV program engaged in some controversial article and not find the Catholic Church on the wrong side of the cultural majority.  It could be a question of capital punishment, abortion, immigration, population control or dozens of other social and scientific dilemmas.

Some of us get very offended and defensive that we Catholics are always the popular game for caustic cartoons and snide jokes because of our positions.  It’s nothing new.  Jesus told us this would happen since such attacks have always been the consequence for those who follow Him.

Jesus told His twelve disciples that in Jerusalem He would be handed over to the Jewish and Gentile authorities, mocked, scourged and crucified.  Because He followed His Father’s plan Jesus Himself was subjected to mockery, ridicule and even death (Matthew 20:17-19).

In the Old Testament, the Prophet Jeremiah had the task from God to explain to his people what their idolatrous conduct was going to cost them.  It wasn’t popular message, to say the least.  So he lamented that his listeners hoped to “destroy him by his own tongue, let us carefully note his every word.”  Jeremiah questioned why good was repaid by evil, why his life was threatened by destruction in a pit, and why he had to be the subject of ridicule and mockery (Jeremiah 18:18-20).      

In Matthew’s gospel, the mother of James and John approached Jesus for a favor.  Like a good mother, she lobbied on behalf of her sons.  She asked: “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one on your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”

At first glance, she’s moved by good intentions, the good of her sons.  She asks nothing for herself.  She even acknowledges the coming reign of Jesus and falls on knees before the messiah.  Sadly, however, as with all the disciples, she failed to understand the mission and identity of Jesus.

Ambition can be a powerful force in people’s lives.  The gospel reveals how even the worst ambitions can be masked by what appear to be good intentions.  Ambitious people sought to trap Jesus and eventually to put Him to death.  That same ambition, however, clouded their vision to the point where they saw Jesus as a threat to their power.

The Reign of God, the kingdom, rejects such ambitious power.  Jesus tells us what true kingdom values are: “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 and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:20-28).

Jesus invited His disciples – and us —to live in power; not the ambitious, self-serving power, but the liberating power of sacrificial love.  The Kingdom of God is a kingdom where the power of love unites us to live as a community of disciples as servants of the people of God.