SUNDAY OCTOBER 20, 2024
SUNDAY OF THE TWENTY NINETH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME B
WORLD MISSION SUNDAY
Isaiah 53:10-11
Hebrews 4:14-16
Mark 10:35-45
CHRISTIANITY IS A LIFE OF SERVICE TO HUMANITY
A Christian is one called to follow as disciples of Christ in works of service and love. This invitation to service is predicated on the individualism of each of us with the abundance of gifts, talents and endowments given us by our Good God. God did not endow us with such gifts, talents and time for ourselves but for the others and for the good of our humanity.
In the gospel of today, the disciples, James and John requests from the Lord Jesus a place of honour and security in his kingdom. They anticipated that the departure of Jesus may deny them this close association they had enjoyed till now. To retain this position, they asked Jesus to promise them that in his Kingdom, they will occupy his left and right seat. Jesus uses this occasion to teach us the great lessons of service.
First, we must acknowledge that it is a good prayer to seek self preservation or even pray for it. We cannot condemn James and John for seeking a better life for themselves. Their request is very commendable. But the desire for good life must come with a price, as nothing is that free in life. Seeking free things therefore must not be paramount in our desires in life. We must always work for what we desire in life. That is the way to go.
Worse still is the feeling of entitlement which has enveloped our people today. We must seek to earn whatever we desire. Entitlement is deep eating into our modern life as if some are born to suffer while others work for them.
So generally, seeking to earn good life means working for it, striving to get it and straining oneself to acquire it. This was what was lacking in the request of James and John. They wanted all things free of charge or as entitlement. But it is never like that. Life is much more than that. Nobody is created with a golden spoon in the mouth. Every effort must be spent to earn ones earnest desires. There is never a free lunch anywhere. It must be worked for. The attitude of begging to eat or looking for free things of life when one is healthy and nothing is wrong with you is an act of cowardice and laziness. We work for our earnings. This is what Jesus expects his followers to do.
Again, the kind of work we do and the intentions matters a lot. What kind of work do you engage in to be able to eat and get a better life. Do we engage in swindling or defrauding others, manipulating them, stealing from them, embezzlement of funds or any other societal crimes that dehumanizes and affects people adversely?
Jesus uses the occasion to details to us our given task of working in whatever position or life situation we find ourself as his disciples to get for the betterment and well-being of others. So he asked these disciples, “Are you able to drink the chalice that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?” And going further, Jesus gives them the basic principles of life when he tells them, “For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” We are called to serve others. It is in serving others that we become fulfilled as persons and children of God. Service is what Jesus taught us, lived out and came to the world to do.
In the first reading, it is stated for us how to serve. Service demands sacrifice, giving up of oneself in humility, suffering for others. When Jesus served us, he exemplified it very well by his accepting a slave’s position, accepting to be degraded, took to being humiliated.
The gains of serving others outweighs anything else because in service we lift many people up, just as Christ in serving humanity, released us from the curses inflicted upon us. He justified us. Service rendered to humanity brings many good to us, enlivens us, promotes us, betters our course and brings blessings to humanity. This is seen in the first reading as Jesus served us by his coming as man, by healing others, walking on our streets, reconciling many back to God, forgiving sins of others, making them have better life by even feeding them with bread from heaven. This is the value of service.
And Jesus is still serving us as he hears our prayers and attends to them even as he is seated at the right hand of God our Father. Having therefore been through our situation in this world, Our Lord Jesus knows our struggles and our needs and continues to uphold us in our needs thereby serving us still.
We are therefore called as his disciples to serve others. This call is necessary for our salvation. Without service to others we perish. It is only in serving others that we become imitators, disciples and true sons and daughter of God. We serve with our time, our talents and our resources. Service to others is to dissipate our energy for others. It means making sacrifices for others.
Service to others must come with humility, love and dedication without which we may not serve well. It is giving up ones time and energy in humble ways.
Our duty is to serve and we must accept it and live with it. And the more elevated one is, the greater the service demanded by our calling. Do not be afraid to be of service to others.
On this day that the universal Church celebrates World Mission Sunday there is one veritable call which is to serve the course of the gospel. God calls us to be missionary in our world. But we must remember that Jesus is the missionary per excellence to our world and he has equally commissioned us to serve in becoming missionaries. The church lives to be missionaries on earth.
The theme for the world mission day 2024 as written and published by his Holiness Pope Francis is “Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet,” it is rooted in the gospel of Matthew “In this Sunday message, Pope Francis challenges all Christ faithful to be accommodating and welcoming to all especially at the Eucharistic banquet of the Lord. He likens the Christian life to a mother who cares for all people and supports her children. He advocates for the rebirth for our world through the intercession of Mary, the model of humble and joyful evangelization.
We can respond to this call in helping to be missionaries by three ways:
1) By living an exemplary and transparent Christian life. It is known that a rose flower doesn’t talk or struggle to impress. It simply radiates its fragrance and attracts everyone to it by its irresistible beauty. Hence, the most important thing is not the Gospel we preach, but the life we live. This is how the early Christians evangelized. Their Gentile neighbors used to say: “See how these Christians love one another!”
2) Second way to be a missionary is by prayer, Jesus said: “Without me you can do nothing” (Jn 15: 5). Again, we must not forget the injunction of our Lord: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few”, the Lord said; “pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Lk 10: 2).
3). The third way to be a missionary is by your financial support. We sustain missionaries with our financial support. We build schools, hospitals, churches and other infrastructures. We communicate and run offices of the mission, provide security for them and help their converted communities with all these. We are called today to donate for missionary endeavours.
We must always appreciate our missionary obligation and support the Church’s missionary activities by our Christian lives, by fervent prayers, and by generous donations.
Heaven Father, your Son Jesus Christ came to serve us and continued the service even now as we pray. Grant us the true spirit of service. Make us humble, loving and joyful. May we never hold back our resources, time and talent in the service of other. Grant that we will persevere in serving as missionaries in the likeness of Christ in all circumstances of our lives and through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
