25th Sunday of the Year
Today we are summoned to probe our emotions and convictions to understand the values that really motivate our behavior and reactions. Today’s gospel breaks up into two sections: Jesus words about his imminent betrayal, death and resurrection which confuses the disciples; and the argument among the disciples about who will be the greatest with trappings of ego and greed. It is something that can be very real for many of us.
The disciples are double minded. They want God’s reign to succeed as well guaranteed positions of authority. They want justice and a reward for pursuing it. If they had to choose – justice and anonymity, or injustice and fame-which would they choose? What if the goal was not ego or validation, but rather kinship, community, and relationships where justice work focuses on the other and community needs ensured? Justice work is not about ‘who did it,’ but rather what was done to benefit others. This may call for moving out of the way and making space for others; to not be front and centre whilst humbly being beside those who are marginalised.
Deep wisdom forces a reality-check that there is within us a tendency to quickly turn simple disagreements into dissolved relationships. James tries to help the community to be centred on Jesus and his teachings when it finds itself at odds. For James, wisdom involves gentleness of spirit and care for the well-being of others. It is born of kindness to friend and foe alike. Gentleness is grounded on reverence for life in its many forms. James condemns the rich and reflects the judgment of the early community where those who had more than they needed stole from those without the basics of life. James’ words are prophetic in our time where there is unprecedented inequality between the 1% with unimaginable wealth and the majority of the human family. It is not only directed at individuals but also to the wealthy industrialised nations which were criticised and reminded of their responsibilities at the recent Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga to address the crises they have created due to fossil-fuel-driven production. Pacific Island nations, including many others, have been exploited and controlled by economically and politically powerful wealthy nations. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that rising sea levels are ‘putting this Pacific paradise in peril’. They remain poor and are struggling to deal with the impacts of the changing climate. The widespread culture and systems of competitive consumption and accumulation have consolidated global wealth, creating what Pope Francis has called ‘throw-away societies.’
Once again, Jesus’ followers struggle to understand the nature of his mission and their role as leaders of his emerging movement. ‘Who is the greatest among us?’ they argue. They still see greatness in terms of access to power and lordship over others. No doubt, like many people today, they were captivated by images of power embodied in their contemporary rulers who were privileged with a controlling power.
Having heard Jesus’ talk about death and resurrection the question arises: would Jesus give up everything for them? For humanity? That he refuses the fight back and play the war games we engage in? Builder of empires or builder of God’s reign. One is preoccupied with success, influence and expansion and driven by power, ambition, and self-image, and the other with healing and strengthening relationships expressed through self-sacrifice, vulnerability, and humility. Church history is replete with instances of empire building rather than building the Beloved Community of God. We easily slip into an empire building mentality when our connections and relationships are based on building more walls rather than dismantling them. Empire expressed as unrelenting colonialism is about conquest, subjugation, and control and it continues. It does not contribute to encounter, to peace building, or human security. Jesus has nothing to do with ambition, power, upward mobility, and glory. Jesus’ message needs to be continually listened to. Jesus sees greatness in terms of service and empathy; in the willingness to give oneself on behalf of others rather than for self-interest. It involves humility and being willing to serve rather than be served. It inspires unity and empathy rather than separation and apathy.
As, the disciples appear to believe that greatness involves being set apart from their peers in power and adulation, Jesus presents a countercultural vision of greatness where leadership is about service and people who are forgotten take centre stage. And it is these, like children, who model what it is like to be great in God’s realm. How we see greatness shapes our spirituality, ethics, and political involvement. Can we see it in terms of relationships rather than power over others?
Pope Francis calls for a church based on a culture of encounter which is not possible where we seek power, esteem, control and wealth. It involves commitment to the least of these. The greatest people love well, seek beauty and bring forth wholeness in their relationships. The love here does not conform to patriarchy or matriarchy, power relationships, possessiveness, or even cultural roles or class-distinctions, but seeks healing and wholeness, freedom and creativity, beauty, and growth, for the beloved, whether a child or adult, spouse, friend, including the non-human world.
The mystics show us by their experience of God’s presence and love they attain a broader vision that expands their concern for their sisters and brothers and the whole of creation. They discover that the holy is embedded creation and all people. Julian of Norwich discovered God in a hazelnut. Francis of Assisi experienced God in the disfigurement of a person suffering from leprosy. Mother Teresa saw Christ dying on the crowded streets of Calcutta. Their personal experiences of the ‘other’ or ‘divine’ or ‘sacred’ expands to embrace all – people and creation – and to an identification with the well-being of the larger world and drive us to become active in seeking the transformation in the social order. This is what prompts us toward social action for the wellbeing of others. Howard Thurman said, ‘Social action is an expression of resistance against whatever…separates one from the experience of God, who is the ground of his being’ and so it follows that one’s social agenda ‘has to do with the removal of all that prevents God from coming to himself in the life of the individual. Whatever there is that blocks this, calls for action.’ So, the only greatness we can achieve is in terms of our relationship with Jesus. A deeper vision as to who we are and who resides in us, enables us to respond to the Christ we experience in everyone we meet, revealing to all their own deeper Christlikeness.
Where the disciples wanted to know who was the greatest, Jesus presents a child who was socially invisible. He is offering a different model of greatness. Jesus saw something his followers did not see. By seeing and receiving the socially invisible, we receive Jesus, and the One who sent him. He is saying that this child represents the heart of God! He asserts that greatness involves empathy and compassion. It is embodied in caring for the most vulnerable members of our community, hearing their stories, and responding to their cares. So, to abuse a child, indeed anyone who is vulnerable, is to abuse the One whose image they bear. To leave children homeless is to abuse the image of God they bear. To transport children to offshore detention centres is to abuse the image of the God they bear. To leave children starving and without adequate health is to abuse the image of the God they bear. To deny children an education as in Afghanistan is to abuse the image of God they bear. To slaughter children in Gaza and the West Bank is to abuse the image of God they bear. To abuse them is a sign of weakness, indeed inhumanity. Can we recognise Jesus speaking to us through the little ones; can we see them as ‘sacraments’ of Jesus’ presence among us? As we listen to today's readings, may we examine our attitudes about power, service, and love.