29th Sunday of the Year
In recent weeks, Jesus has taken us on a journey towards Jerusalem whilst instructing his disciples about what it means to follow him. Last week we heard that a wealthy man unable to be seduced to let go of his possessions and experience the Reigning of God. As has often occurred, Jesus’ message has been distorted and interpretations completely self-serving. Each time Jesus warns his disciples about his approaching passion, they go in a different direction as Peter tries to silence him and later, instead of listening to Jesus, they argue about ‘who is the greatest’ among them.
Again, the disciples completely misconstrue Jesus' message as James and John make their bold and self-serving request, ‘We want to share your glory by sitting at your right and left.’ Jesus says that they do not understand what they ask for. On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus knew that whatever glory coming his way would be through his faithfulness to God and commitment to people. Jesus had already told them that his mission would lead to his death. The had failed to understand the egalitarian nature of Jesus’ vision for human communities. We still face the difficult changes necessary to be an authentic follower of Jesus. Jesus turns human assumptions about what really matters on its head; ‘greatness’ is measured by ‘service.’ In the upside-down (or right-side up) Reign of God, greatness is defined differently to the power, fame and fortune criteria human systems use. In God’s reign, ‘greatness’ is found in the role of a ‘servant,’ as exemplified and embodied in Jesus. It opposes the view of might is right but that the greatest among us do not rule over us but serve. Unfortunately, three centuries after Jesus’ Resurrection the Christian community adopted the trappings of Empire where leaders exercised power, had special designations, special titles, special garments, and wealth. Our call is not to passively give ourselves as ransoms for death, but to become channels healing as we relate to one another and shape social, political, and economic structures as we share space with each other here in our world. This week’s narrative is call to both imagine and work toward a different world.
The temptation to seek an important ministry, organisation, or influence can lead to arrogance and domination of others. Pope Francis follows Jesus in expressing the need for a culture of ‘greatness’ that emphasises self-giving, humility, service and small acts that contribute to the greater good. The creation of this culture begins with us with each of us.
The gospel of the man with wealth who could not let go (last week) and the striving for positions of power (this week) all point to a failure or inability to connect with those around us - to recognise our interconnectedness with our sisters and brothers and Mother Earth. This leads to a moral and religious failure – the failure to recognise another in need. Jesus’ parables involve people who do respond and those who fail to recognise the other in need. We see that in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31), and the goats who failed to see the hungry, thirsty, and naked (Matthew 25:31-46). They failed to recognise the one in need and none chose to be a neighbour. In this week after the rejection of the Voice to Parliament for First Nations People, do we recognise that their lives and voices matter. The failure to recognise leads to a failure to act.
If the disciples had really listened to Jesus, they would have known that being close to him in his ‘glory’ meant being close to him in his humiliation, suffering and death. They would not have asked to sit in the seats of power. Today we see clericalism that obstructs genuine leadership and being close to hurting and wounded people. It occurs in diocesan offices and is also exercised by many ‘non-clerical’ employees. Genuine leadership serves and stands alongside people where they can grow and become ‘servants.’ It is by having the heart of a servant that enables us to be like the One (cf. Hebrews) who is touched by our infirmities, able to sympathise with our weaknesses and be not aloof from pain and suffering. This is not always possible from positions of power and privilege. The Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer believed that Christians stand by God when God grieves - when God is poor, scorned, homeless and hungry, suffer under the weight of the powerful. He critiqued the Christianity that seeks the protection of status and power yet avoids the cross. Politicians in Australia and the USA are jockeying for power in the run-up to coming elections. We have seen this grab for power for decades. It has prevented many from coming near to those closest to God’s heart and acting on their behalf: the poor who are oppressed, Indigenous peoples who are continually deprived of their ancestral lands, displaced farmers, hungry people, and attacks with impunity on people who raise their voices for justice. In a broken world that often extols strength and perfection, vulnerability is often seen as weakness. It is the willingness to open oneself up emotionally without the shield of defenses. By acknowledging our fears, insecurities, and imperfections, embracing them rather than hiding them, we can allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, invite genuine connections and enable authentic relationships to flourish. Vulnerability opens the way for empathy, understanding, and compassion, creating a bond that transcends superficial interactions. It is what binds us to and for one another.
Jesus’ way requires us to be in solidarity with the afflicted, the wounded, the bruised and brutalised, the ones led astray, the oppressed - the prisoner, the asylum seeker, the homeless person, the struggling young person, the person living with mental illness. The call to us as church is to go to the hell holes of the world to be with people who are dying, suffering, perishing, oppressed. It is not possible from positions of power and privilege.
God’s sacred image in our sisters and brothers cries out for response. To choose to ignore the truth by closing our eyes or ears is to fail to appreciate the consequence of the ‘baptism’ Jesus asks of us. We have been given a power in the gospel: a power for life, life for others…. We must use it. This reveals that the true spirit of power is about serving, not exploiting or subordinating people.
We need to flesh out the tenets of our faith in acts for justice and human rights. We need to stand in solidarity at the places where violence is taking place around us. Poverty, hardship, disaster, pain, and suffering are never God’s will. Hierarchy, domination and control are not part of God’s plan, because the Crucified God is close to people and is the first to weep when they suffer. William Sloane Coffin, a New York pastor and civil rights activist in the late 1970s, said when people tried to comfort him with clichés about God’s so-called will when his son was killed, responded, ‘The hell it is! When my boy was killed, God was the first who cried’ (Peter Gomes, The Good Book, HarperCollins, San Francisco: 1996).
The gospel today gives us hope. God’s Spirit continues to be given despite our failures, and surprisingly today, each day, we are again sent to the world and challenged to learn what real prominence in Jesus’ Reign is: service and self-giving. Father James Alison suggests that Jesus' passing through death to a transformed life in God make it possible for his followers to act fearlessly. The revelation of Jesus' human life, his temptations and passion, his sharing in human weakness all the way to death, revealed that God can be trusted, even in the worst of circumstances. God has a dream for us ….it is a dream that we will all fall in love - in love with Jesus present in ourselves, others and in creation - a love that will cause us to be passionate about our sisters and brothers and contribute a world of hospitality and compassion. It might begin in our most intimate relationships. It might begin with the small act of kindness – even when unrequited.
We have been given a power in the gospel. The key question is to how it is exercised. Is it power for the life of others? Is it about serving, not dominating, controlling, exploiting, or subordinating? Otherwise, we will fail to notice the other in need. Our faith does not ask us to flee the public arena but rather to embrace it by using whatever skill and power we have to serve the urgent needs of all the human family.