Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 25, 2017 - July 25 - St. James, Apostle
[2 Cor 4:7-15 and Matt 20:20-28]The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, "What do you wish?" She answered him, "Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your kingdom." [Matthew]
One of the features of visiting with friends who have children is the conversation that takes place, before we sit down to eat, about who gets to sit next to me. It doesn't take too long for that to wear off as the kids get older! However, the phenomenon continues in other ways. Notice the group photos of political situations - e.g. the president signs a bill in the oval office - and who gets to stand closest to the desk and the president. For us Catholics, an occasional glance at Church news will tell us who is considered more influential in the Vatican. Pope Francis has publicly admonished the Vatican bureaucracy for this kind of thing. Today's gospel scripture tells us that it's nothing new!
Jesus picked an interesting group of people to be his closest associates. These included at least four fishermen, a tax collector and a political activist. When Jesus began to preach about a kingdom, these men, all of them "earthen vessels" (as the first scripture from St. Paul today reminds us all), knew of kingdoms only in terms of people like Herod and, to some extent, the Romans. They also knew that at a dinner, the most important and influential guests were seated to the right and left of the host! This is how "power" is displayed publicly. James and John were no exception to this all too human tendency. Jesus must have suspected that the other ten felt the same way because he called everyone together for a pep-talk about how power would be displayed in his kingdom. He reminded James and John that getting close to him would be dangerous and they had better be ready to accept the risk. To all of the disciples he reminded them of something we all should remember. The best "power" is the serving power and not the ruling power. In Jesus' kingdom, serving power is "power WITH" and not "power OVER."
The desire for power is one of the most dangerous enemies of the Body of Christ. Whether it is in a family or an organization, we should be aware of how this impacts the life of the group and guard against the negative consequences. AMEN
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