+ The theme of the homily last Sunday was the possibility of a misguided notion of wealth. This week we have the idea of the possibility of a misguided notion of greatness.
All of the readings today point to the fact that worldly greatness and spiritual greatness are two entirely different things. And the one that counts in the end, naturally, is the supernatural one: the spiritual. It is what God thinks about anything that really matters: and he tells us prophetically in the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah that the great one who would justify many and bear the guilt of all would be the afflicted one and the suffering one: not a very appealing characteristic of greatness for the upwardly mobile, worldly minded, self-serving individual. This "Suffering Servant" would of course be Jesus, who would come to be our salvation and our true and lasting joy!
The second reading tells us that this Suffering Servant, Jesus, would also be the one, true, great and eternal high priest, who would do what no other high priest had ever done: offering one, unending sacrifice to remit the sins of all; and also to do this as one of us, one who could sympathize with our weaknesses and temptations(because he experienced them - although he never gave in to them and sinned): which gives us the hope of almost eradicating sin in our lives if we really work at it! We will probably never be entirely sinless – even after we go to confession – which we ought to do at least on a semi-annual basis – but when we hook our spiritual lives onto the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus – with its need for constant reexamination and inner conversion - we can get a lot closer than we ever thought possible.
In the gospel passage, of course, we have the classic lesson taught by Jesus about greatness. Sometimes it is easy to jump to criticism of James and John for being so presumptuous as to ask for privileged seating assignments in heaven. But the reason they did this was because they loved Jesus so very much, and wanted to be as close to him as possible when they got to his Kingdom. Jesus took this opportunity to gently teach them that who it is that will actually sit at his right and left at the end of the world, is yet to be determined; and that greatness – the topic of discussion among the twelve which precipitated this whole exchange in the first place – is not about places of honor, or power, of having lots of money – but it rather has to do with loving service – even to the point of great self-sacrifice! Just as he himself had left his divinity behind and came among us as one of his own creatures, coming to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many – so too, if we want to consider ourselves truly great, we must do the same (with his help).
Just think what a fantastic world it would be, beginning right here with this gathering and then extending everywhere – if greatness was truly measured by willingness to serve, in the lowliest positions (if needs be); and then the actual engagement in such sacrificial service, out of love for God – to give him thanks, praise and glory! He would be so very pleased and would bless us and our efforts abundantly!
Be great today, be small today, be a servant of all today – just like Jesus! You will receive him in Holy Communion shortly – what other help could you possibly need to do this well, to do it lovingly, to do it daily?
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