The Greatest Shall Be the Servant of All

09-23-2018Weekly ReflectionFr. Julius Kundi

The Church still wants us to continue the same theme that we were given in last Sunday’s readings: the way to life is through dying to ourselves and be of service to all. That there is no way we can be true followers of Jesus without the way of the cross. Even though redemption in Jesus Christ gives us thepower to live a new life, it does not exempt us from human suffering. Therefore, knowing and accepting to follow Jesus is a commitment that one has to make bearing in mind the price to be paid.

All the readings reveal where the human suffering will come from. That in our struggles in life, we will surely meet up with people willing to put themselves against us like those described in the first reading from the book of Wisdom. St. James also revealed reasons for suffering to include jealousy, selfish ambition, insincerity, wars, conflicts and asking wrongly, which can come from the heart of an individual. While the gospel presents the distraction of the disciples of Jesus, not paying much attention to what he was saying but rather debating who is the greatest among them. The suffering here will come as a result of over attachments to material things and love for status, which often breed envy, conflict of interests, infighting and evil plots, as we still experience such even in our society today. Christians who are committed in the way of the cross must never be distracted with this but be more focused on their mission.

The disciples of Jesus apparently still did not seem to understand anything about the cross. Or we could say still were not capable of understanding, nor accepting a Messiah who becomes the servant of His brethren. They still dreamt of a glorious Messiah, hence, the preoccupation on petty things like positions and reputations among them instead of focusing on their mission of winning more souls to Christ. Like the disciples of Jesus and St. James’ audience, we too are experiencing a conflict of interest and leadership problems which are affecting the spirituality of the Church. This Sunday we can pray that we be able to know the will of God in our lives, so that we may have the power of the Holy Spirit to fight against all that will distract us from our mission and give us the grace to love all those who may set themselves against us and be of service to one another.