Word to the Wise
Saturday, August 30, 2008 - Saturday in the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time
[1 Corinthians 1:26-31 and Matthew 25:14-30]God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for mothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.
One of Emily Dickinson's most charming (and profound) poems begins, I'm nobody. Who are you? Are you nobody, too? It comes to mind as I read the words of St. Paul to the community at Corinth. He is trying to deal with a problem that seems to have arisen within the community concerning power and factions. We know that this problem was not confined to Corinth. The report in the gospels about the disciples debating about their relative importance and the bold request of James and John for preference is a clear indication that politics was and is a consistent force to be reckoned with. Paul declares that power and wisdom and wealth are of no account in determining the message of Jesus. The cross is a symbol that contradicts all of these. I cannot help but note the current presidential campaign rhetoric in which the nominees are trying to accuse one another of being "elite" or "a celebrity" while each is trying to acquire "power" and claiming to have more "wisdom" than the other! But the problem is not limited to politicians competing for public positions. It seems to be part of almost any group. As a pastor, one of my greatest frustrations concerned folks who seemed to think I presided over a "power pie" with a serving spoon! The message of greatness being directly connected with humble service could be totally lost. In campus ministry, this could be translated into a "title" at the Catholic student center which one could put on one's resume regardless of what service one did in possession of that title! God's choice of "nobodies" is a direct challenge to the famous line from Gilbert and Sullivan: "If everybody is somebody, then nobody is anybody!" In the Christian community the rule would be, "If you wish to be somebody, then you must take care of everybody. That's the way a nobody becomes anybody." Emily Dickinson had it right when she wrote those lines (which I wish Obama and McCain would read): "How dreary to be somebody. How public like a frog to tell one's name the livelong day to an admiring bog!" AMEN
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