Jesus teaches disciples about service in this Sunday’s Gospel. People to whom Jesus was of service were usually those others judged to be sinners. They were people who were sick, poor, Gentiles, women. In truth though, Jesus was of service to anyone in need. The service Jesus extended to others was the service he called forth from them. In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus, who is a servant, is repeatedly encouraging disciples to “be like servants.”
Accepting that our call to discipleship in Christ is a call to be servants shifts our image of God. It also shifts our understanding of what it means to be faithful to our God. Previous images of God did not match Jesus’ servant image. The first reading from the book of Wisdom imagines a different God. The people are waiting for this God to effect “the destruction of their foes … “punishment of their adversaries.” Their God was an avenging warrior who destroyed all enemies thus saving the just and rewarding them. How then do we understand faithfulness to such a deity? Fidelity would include that same violence. It would include a victor’s reward; if not in this life then certainly the next. In Jesus, all that changes. Not only does Jesus not violently avenge the just, he is a servant to those labeled unjust. He is not hostile to those judged the enemy but is instead a loving servant to them. Jesus then calls disciples to that same faithful service. However, he seems to remove reward as the incentive for our doing so. Jesus presents the virtue of service as its own reward. How and why are we to persevere in this life of faithfulness to Christ without hope of some heavenly reward?
What is the reward we expect from our husbands, our wives? Have we poured ourselves out on behalf of our children because we’re expecting a reward? Which of our friendship have we entered for sake of the reward? As we have lived from love, we have been without desire for reward.
Prayer: Dear Spirit, servant of all, guide us to live from the loving heart within us.
Question: What is the loving service challenging me of late?
August 11, 2013 – Gospel Luke 12:32-48 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time