Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 21, 2012 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Isa 53:10-11; Heb 4:14-16; Mark 10:35-45 or 10:42-45]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.
Very soon our nation will be electing "public servants' to office in a vast range of roles from President to Senator to Representative as well as state and local positions. With election to office comes recognition, power and all the prestige, along with the headaches, constant fund-raising for re-election, and folks seeking influence in important decisions (as well as unimportant ones)! None of this is new. James and John come to Jesus seeking a form of "preferment" in his "glory!" They want to sit in places of honor! In their society, where you sat in relation to the head of the table would be a sign of your own influence and power. All that Jesus can promise them is that they will share in the headaches. To make this clear, Jesus calls all of the Twelve together (the other ten are "indignant" at the two brothers) and warns them that any power in his kingdom is power to serve. Their model is not to be the that of the Romans or petty kings around them. Indeed, Jesus identifies himself with the portrait of the "Suffering Servant" that we hear in today's first scripture from Isaiah.
I truly hope that whoever is elected to whatever office wherever in this country will remember to put service first and power only as an instrument of service and not as an end in itself. The fact that some people will not do this is the reason there are term limits on some offices. Perhaps we should consider term limits on ALL offices! I pray that all public servants will remember Lord Acton's famous saying about the corrupting nature of power. Most of all I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide our choices. The lives of many depend on this! AMEN
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