Serving Better and Humbler (31st Sunday Ordinary A)

The hierarchy is a gift to the Church.  But like any other good things, it can easily be subjected to abuse.  It is a gift because it facilitates better service.  Since the early Christianity, levels of ministering to the needs of the people have been established.  The designated positions like diaconate, presbyterate, episcopate are positions of ministering.  These are always understood in the spirit of the gospel today:  The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest.

                                                             

In my homily for the thanksgiving mass of a newly ordained priest, I reminded him that the priesthood conferred upon him is foremost a position of service.  Since we both play tennis, I couched my message in tennis language:  Priesthood is a lot like tennis.  To be the best, you’ve got to serve well.  In order to serve well, you need to do a lot of practice. (I’m not sure now if he got me right. I heard he’s now spending a lot more time in tennis courts than in the church!).

Positions in the hierarchy can be abused. And it’s alarmingly easy.  It begins when positions held for the ministry turn into self-serving use of power and authority.  The abuse strengthens and becomes institutionalized when the higher one goes up the ladder the more one gains leverage to serve one’s own convenience and demands members to honor him properly with fantastic titles, front seats,  privileges, and what not.

In today’s gospel (Mt. 23:1-12), Jesus takes issue at the abuses of ministerial positions and authority by the scribes and the Pharisees.  Jesus affirms them as legitimate leaders following Moses. But he instructs his disciples not to imitate their example for “their words are bold but their deeds are few. They bind up heavy loads, hard to carry, to lay on other men’s shoulders, while they themselves will not lift a finger to budge them. All their works are performed to be seen... they are fond of places of honor at banquets, and front seats in synagogues, of marks of respect in public and of being called ‘Rabbi.’”

Jesus continues his instructions by telling his disciples that among them the desire to serve must be the motivation for assuming any community position and humility must be the accompanying attitude: “The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

The witnessing of St. Paul in Thessalonica is exemplary of an authentic Christian leader, an apostle.  In the second reading (1 Thes 2: 7-9, 13), we read Paul’s description of his service as a leader among the Thessalonians. He was caring, gentle, and dedicated. He did not impose any form of burden upon them. In fact, he even worked for a living in order to provide for his own needs while preaching to them the Good News. 

This Sunday, I believe, is a grace-filled opportunity for self-criticism and evaluation on the part of the leaders of the Church today.  Hierarchical positions, as I have noted, can easily be abused.  The person to whom the ministerial position has been conferred may gradually be intoxicated by the respect and endearment afforded by generous and loving members.  When the sense of entitlement creeps in, the minister may unwittingly begin to demand the privileges for himself and end up losing the original vocation to serve others.   The authority conferred may be wielded not for the good of all and of God’s Kingdom but for the advancement of personal agenda instead. Today’s reading is a healthy reminder that among the Christian communities any difference in position and any form of entrusted authority are justified only by the requirement of the ministry. 

Among the laity, in this time of lay empowerment when the lay are rightly tapped for important positions in the different ministries and apostolate of the Church, the same reminder is very helpful.  Our business in the Church is service and not to lord it over the people.  It is not uncommon to hear criticism among the lay regarding the authoritarian attitudes of lay leaders.  “Mas istrikto pa kay Father!” Or worse, we hear of pastoral council president competing with the authority of the parish priest.  The result: Division among the flock.

Let us not follow the example of the Scribes and Pharisees.  Jesus himself explicitly enjoins us that.  Instead, let us serve in the spirit of St. Paul’s gentle, caring and dedicated leadership and ministering among the Thessalonians. 

And in a healthy self-criticism, let us save the Church from our own abuses of the gift of authority. 

Forgive me Lord for the times I have marred the gift of hierarchy by attending first and foremost to my own convenience through the authority entrusted to me.  Give me the grace to serve much better and humbler. Amen.