Twenty-Ninth Sunday of ORDINARY TIME. 22nd October 2000

First: Is 53:2a.3a.10-11; Second: Heb 4:14-16; Gospel: Mk 10:35-45

THEME of the READINGS

The expression "to serve in order to redeem" summarizes the essential contents of today’s liturgy. "Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all," Jesus tells us in the Gospel. Jesus outshines us all in service, embodying within himself the figure of the servant of Yahweh, despised, the lowest of men, a person of sorrows, familiar with suffering, who gives himself in expiation (first reading). He is also the figure of the High Priest who is not incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, who has been put to the test and is the same as we ourselves, apart from sin (second reading).

DOCTrinal MESSAGE

Power and service. In the Gospel Jesus seems to compare two conceptions of society and relationships between persons. One of them, the vertical conception, is centered around power, a power which underscores the difference between the powerful and the powerless, between those who dominate and those who are dominated, between oppressors and the oppressed. This conception runs counter to the most basic needs of our free nature. It can only be imposed with the force of arms, and bears within itself the mortal virus that will destroy it. Jesus Christ counters this conception with his own, which he has come to bring into the world with his presence, and which he wishes to leave as a legacy to his disciples. Jesus’ conception is horizontal, it highlights the equality between all and is centered on service. This service is generous, to the point of being baptized with Christ in the blood of martyrdom and drinking with him the chalice of the Passion. No one is compelled to serve, because no one is compelled to love, and the expiatory and redeeming service of Christ and of his disciples springs from the source of true love. The power of arms is replaced in this new society by the power of true love, the most effective weapon in history and in relationships between human beings and nations. But this weapon is often unknown, despised, abandoned and destroyed. The society that triumphs victoriously with the arms of love is not contaminated, it has no virus to corrode it. It is a healthy, free, loving society, in which there is solidarity. This is the society for which God made himself present among us in the life of Jesus of Nazareth; this society is the raison d’être of the Church and of all those who belong to it. It is not Utopia, it is the Gospel, the Lord’s good news. Would we be so petty as to consider the very essence of Christianity an unreachable Utopia?

Features of Christian service. 1) Christian service, as it is presented in this Sunday’s liturgical texts, is expiatory and redeeming. It is the experience of the servant of Yahweh (first reading), who because he has known suffering and trial in his life, will justify many and bear their guilt upon his shoulders. It is the historical experience of Jesus, who has come not to be served but to give his life for the redemption and ransom of many (Gospel) and who, as High Priest of the New Covenant, has experienced suffering. He is one of us, he is like us in everything apart from sin (second reading). 2) Christian service is also participatory. Christ the servant wishes to live and be present in the midst of a community of servants. This is why among Christians the first must be the servant of all. In other words, he has to be the first in service. This is not an option, it is the law constituting the Christian community. 3) Finally, service is effective and fruitful. It was effective and fruitful in the life of the servant of Yahweh, who "after the ordeal he has endured... will see the light and be content." It was fruitful and effective among the early Christians who, like Paul, considered themselves as servants of Christ in their service to their brothers and sisters, and who formed communities founded on love and solidarity. It was effective and fruitful in Jesus, who as High Priest penetrated the heavens and now sits in the throne of grace for our good and benefit. All human beings have access to that throne, and from there Jesus Christ avails us of the treasure of his grace and mercy.

PASTORal SUGGESTIONS

Christian, or in other words, servant. There is no doubt that in contemporary Christianity there is a greater consciousness that the Church is a community of service, and that each Christian is a servant, although there may be individuals or groups in whom this awareness has diminished or is almost non-existent. This consciousness is a great wealth for the Church of our time, and extends to the entire ecclesial body. Let us give thanks to the Lord, for this consciousness is already a fruit of his redeeming grace. However, we know that consciousness is not enough. From consciousness we must make the transition to a living experience. Thank God, this step has been taken and is taken every day by many children of the Church. The Church is at the forefront of service to the socially marginalized (drug addicts, AIDS patients, migrants, abandoned children...). The Church is at the forefront of effective aid, albeit limited, to the countries ravaged by natural calamities or by the terrible scourge of war. It is at the forefront in its service to all persons, especially to the most powerless. With vigor and perseverance the Church defends the fundamental rights of the human being, especially the most fundamental right of all, the right to life. The Church is at the forefront in the promotion and defense of human and Christian values. In every parish, in every diocese, there are so many ways, sometimes very simple ways, of serving!

Serving and suffering. Although spiritually service may be a fountainhead of joy, suffering with its different faces is not absent from service. To serve, one must suffer. One must suffer fatigue, the hard effort of giving oneself totally; even illness. One must often suffer humiliation, and even the contempt and ingratitude of those whom one is serving. At times one must suffer the tragedy of the enormous distance between what one does at the service of some, and the huge needs of many millions of human beings in the world. Perhaps one will have to suffer from the lack of understanding on the part of others, from biting comments, from the way in which some people misinterpret one’s service. It is not easy to serve while suffering. It can only be done with the power of prayer, meditating on the Word of God which gives life to the spirit; thanks to the energy that comes to us from the bread of the Eucharist; thanks to a huge faith, which makes us discover in others, whoever they are, the same living Christ who is present in our daily life. If you have to suffer in order to serve, do not be afraid! In the painful service to others you will surely find God, and you will also find yourself.

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOB.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].