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Scripture Reflections
25 July 2013, Thursday, Feast of St James, Apostle
TRUE SERVANTHOOD PRESUPOSES THAT WE HAVE EXPERIENCED THE SERVICE OF THE CHIEF SERVANT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: : 2 COR 4:7-15; MT 20:20-28

Today, we celebrate the Feast of St James the Greater, one of the two sons of Zebedee. From the gospel, it is clear that James, before the death and resurrection of Jesus, was a very selfish, self-centered, egoistic and judgmental person. Apparently James did not grasp the teaching earlier on when Jesus spoke of unconditional love, humility and humble service. For James was the one who urged Jesus to rain down fire and brimstone on the village that did not welcome them. And almost totally insensitive to Jesus’ imminent suffering in Jerusalem, he could even ask Jesus for a place of honour in His kingdom. His motives for following Christ were ambivalent although the self-centred motives were quite evident.

However, the other apostles were no better because they, too, harbored such desires. Otherwise, “when the other ten heard this” why were they “indignant with the two brothers”? Their envy was but an expression of missed opportunities, not because they were indignant that the two of them were insensitive to Jesus’ pensive disposition at that point of time.

Furthermore, Jesus took the occasion to explain to the apostles, not simply to the sons of Zebedee, the authentic meaning of authority and service. He said, “You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave.” Hence, the message of humble service was directed at all the apostles because all of them had harbored the hidden aspiration to be rich, powerful and recognized. They still were too dense to understand the true meaning of discipleship, authority and service.

But before we condemn them, we must also realize that we are not much different from them. Our motives for service are not always pure. Of course, on the conscious level, we always give positive and noble reasons for wanting to be in ministry. We would say that we want to serve the Church, the people of God and be engaged in the mission of Jesus in the extension of the kingdom of God.

However, the conscious motives quite often belie our real motives, the unconscious motives. This is because we are good at rationalizing whatever we do. It would be too devastating and humiliating for us to admit that we serve the Church and the people of God for ulterior motives. We deceive ourselves into believing that we are selfless and pure in service and love.

However, it is not that difficult to discover our real motives in serving the Lord. We only need to examine the concrete situations in our lives. Why do we take up certain tasks assigned to us? Are we dictated by the benefits we can get, be it monetary, prestige or otherwise? Why is it that many of us feel slighted and angry when we are not appreciated for the work we do? When we do not “perform” well in our ministry, do we feel disheartened or disappointed? The fact that we are more worried about success and achievement clearly shows that we are ego-centered. For the true servant of the Lord, as Blessed Mother Teresa says, is called to be faithful to the mission of the Lord and not to be successful. Success or failure must be left to the Lord.

In the light of what is said, it is important that we be honest with ourselves. This is the first step towards spiritual maturity through the purification of motives for apostolic service. We must humbly admit that we have not yet arrived at sainthood. Like the apostles, we are still learning how to love and serve. Like them, we need to purify our motives in serving the Lord and discover the hidden agenda within us.

However, we should not become discouraged just because we know we are still inadequate in our love for the Lord. We are only earthenware jars, imperfect, weak and fragile. Yet, at the same time, we have the heavenly treasure that is God’s Spirit in us. For this reason, St Paul could say, “we are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but never killed.” Through our mistakes and difficulties, we grow and learn to be more focused and pure in our motives and service. Instead of falling into depression and self-hatred, we must instead turn to the Lord for His mercy and grace.

We can be confident of His love and mercy since even though James and John and the rest of the apostles failed to live up to the exhortation of Jesus on humility and poverty, He did not condemn them or their mothers for aspiring to places of glory. Instead He saw in them not so much arrogance and pride but ignorance and a conditioned mindset. This explains His remark, “You do not know what you are asking.” Furthermore, when He asked them, “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? They replied, “We can.” And Jesus answered, “Very well… you shall drink my cup.” Did they know what they were asking? I am quite sure that their answer was based on their pride and self-confidence but mostly ignorance.

Isn’t it true that we have also given the same answer when asked the same question before we joined the ministry? But when confronted with some trials and difficulties or humiliation, how many of us immediately get angry with God, with those who hurt us and even consider leaving our ministry or even the Church?

But we cannot do this by human effort alone. We need the grace and power of God. St Paul says, “We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us.” Only God can change and transform us. For His grace to work in our lives, we must allow Jesus to serve us. After all, He himself has declared, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Only when we have been touched by His unconditional love and mercy, can we follow Him to do likewise.

In a similar vein, St Paul reiterates that it is because of the death and resurrection of Jesus that we can be confident that God will transform and give us the strength to be like Jesus in the power of the Spirit. What is needed now is that we continue to cooperate with His grace to die to our self. St Paul and the apostles too walked in that path. Thus he said, “always wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are consigned to our death every day, for the sake of Jesus, so that in our mortal flesh the life of Jesus, too, may be openly shown. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore
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