Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Homily for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Isaiah 53:10-11/Psalm 33/ Hebrews 4:14-16/ Mark 10:35-45 THEME: Serve to redeem

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). The first reading is fourth of the Servant Songs of the prophet Isaiah which forms part of the larger section of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 also called the book of Consolation. Sometimes, it is hard for us to accept the will of God in moments of adversity. In the case of the Suffering Servant, “... it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain” (Isaiah 53:10a). What was the purpose? “So that through him, the will of God will prosper (v.10b). This song declares that the servant intercedes for others, bearing their punishments and afflictions. In the end, he was rewarded with an exalted position. As if that was not enough, in his suffering, he will find satisfaction because his suffering will make many righteous. Not only did he bear their iniquities. In this Servant Song, we are presented with one who willingly accepts suffering because of his people. His joy is that his action brings joy and hope to his people. Power presupposes service. This is at the very heart of Jesus teachings. He is the Suffering Servant presented to us in the first reading of today. For those seeking power, Jesus presents to them the experience of the Suffering Servant. In the gospel, Jesus Christ counters the conception that power means lording it over those placed under our care with his own experience of total self-giving (cf Isaiah 53, Philippians 2:6-11). This is the legacy he wishes to leave to his disciples. Jesus´ conception 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. Jesus offers us the following as Features of Christian service: 1) Christian service, as it is presented in this Sunday´s liturgical text, 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. May Christ be our light; may he shine in our hearts; may he shine through our darkness; Christ be our light; shine in your Church gathered today. This is because, our world is crying for Servant Leadership In contemporary Christianity there is no 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 consciousness is still alive. This consciousness is a great wealth for the Church of our time, and extends to the entire ecclesial body. Let us ask the Lord for this consciousness because it is the 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 especially, 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! In conclusion, Serving and suffering go hand in hand . 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.

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