HOMILY FOR THE 29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B
Imagine for a moment sitting elbow to elbow with many people around a very long table. You are extremely hungry, and placed right in front of you is a plate heaped with all your favorite food. The only problem is that you can’t feed yourself because your fork, knife and spoon are over 2 feet long and there is no way for you to get the food into your mouth using your own fork, knife and spoon (and, no, you cannot use your fingers). What do you do?
This is a scenario used to illustrate the difference between heaven and hell. In both heaven and hell, very hungry people sit crammed next to each other around a very long table. There favorite food is heaped on the plate in front of them, but they cannot feed themselves because the fork, knife and spoon are too long. In hell, everyone remains miserable and hungry because they can’t feed themselves. In heaven, everyone is happy and well fed because they used their forks, knives, and spoons to feed the person sitting on the other side of the table. In hell, the self-centeredness and greed of Original Sin infects and starves those infected. In heaven, the effect of Original Sin is overcome as people serve one another.
The guiding principle of Original Sin is encapsulated in the phrase, “What’s in it for me?” We see this played out in our politics, in our economy, in people’s involvement in their community, in their schools, and in even their churches. The words self-sacrifice and commitment to others or the greater good that once was the hallmark of our nation, has now been replaced by self-service and self-advancement at the expense of the common good of all.
In today’s readings, we hear Jesus declare that our present lifestyle of self-centeredness and greed is contrary to what God intended for humanity. In the Gospel, James and John place on display for us their own tendency to be self-centered and greedy. Believing that Jesus was going to create a political dynasty, they wanted in on the action. They wanted the highest positions in Jesus’ dynasty. When the other 10 apostles hear this, they get angry. Why? They want to get in on the action, too. Jesus then addresses the infection of self-centeredness and greed in his apostles. He tells them, “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus is not only addressing the self-centeredness and greed present in his apostles, he is challenging them to confront the intent of their discipleship. Is the reason they are following Jesus based solely on the hope to possess positions of power and wealth in the dynasty they believe that Jesus will establish? What are the reasons that they have given up everything and are following Jesus?
Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus modeled for us what God had intended for humanity from the very beginning, namely, to live lives of loving service to one another. The writer to the Hebrews expresses it this way, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” Jesus was tested many times to think of and place himself before others, but born without Original Sin, he was never infected with the self-centeredness and greed from which we all seem to suffer. This is demonstrated for us most vividly during the liturgies of Holy Week.
On Holy Thursday night, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Curiously, the Gospel for Holy Thursday is not about the Paschal meal we hear about in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The Gospel for that night is from John. John focuses the Last Supper not on the Eucharist, but on Jesus washing the feet of his apostles. The very one through whom all creation came forth, gets down on his knees and washes the feet of those he created. After he is done, Jesus says to them, ““Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
This Gospel had a tremendous impact on St Francis of Assisi. St Francis saw that from the very moment of Jesus’ incarnation, Jesus’ life was spent giving and sacrificing himself to those he had created. All the miracles he worked, all that he suffered was always done out of love for the humanity he had created. St Francis observed that when Jesus had nothing else left to give us, he gave to us his very last possession, that being his last breath as he died on the cross.
Today Jesus asks us to examine the intent behind the actions, both bad and good that we do. When we do good things for others is the intent behind that good action, self-glorification, or recognition? Or, are the things we do for others based on genuine love?
The positive thing we can take away from our readings today is that we are not doomed to succumb to the self-centeredness and greed that infects our world. Look at the saints displayed in our stain glass windows and our statues here in church. This is our church family photo album. These people didn’t buy their sainthood through money and power. These people didn’t manipulate others in order to become saints. How did they become saints? They modeled their lives after the life of Jesus, their Savior. They killed the infection of self-centeredness and greed of Original Sin in their lives with the antibiotic of placing God and others first in their lives. They got down on their knees and humbly washed the feet of others. And, like Jesus, offered up their last breath in service of God and others.
“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” Jesus presents us with a choice to make. Using the opening scenario, we can choose to be among the damned and be miserable and starving by refusing to serve those around us at the table, or, choose to be among the saved, happy and well fed, by taking our long forks, knives, and spoons, and feeding the person those around us.
