19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle “C” Gospel link: Luke 12:32-48.
My sisters and brothers in Christ, Jesus speaks directly to you and me today when he says: stay awake, alert & alive 2 serve others. We ALL know people who are trained to be ready at a second/moment’s notice all the time. Think of our police and fire staffs, the EMTs & ambulances, & I personally know it’s true: when I became dehydrated last week & couldn’t see straight, people at Mass & an ambulance crew helped me to get medical care to get re-hydrated and well within a 24 hour period. Of course I’m grateful to them, and admire their faithful service!
But who else stays awake, alert & alive to be of service to someone else? I saw it on TV this week: at a professional tennis match, there were ball boys & ball girls at compass points on court: 1 behind each player, and 2 closer to the net area. The ones closest to net: had to keep the court clear of tennis balls and foreign items. The ones behind the players provided towels & a supply of tennis balls. Most of all, these servants acknowledged they were there for players & game, and NOT to call attention to themselves. (PS: they’d be paid about $9.00 an hour to start, with raises given to multiple-year servers.
These young people did EXACTLY what Jesus was calling all of us to do when we serve God: to be READY & focused on the one whom we’re serving, even if changing things up at last second is what we’re called to do, to be those who stay focused STAY faithful & are faithful to God. But there’s ALSO a big difference between these young men & women chasing tennis balls all over, and the followers of Jesus, who are called by God to serve from now until our last breaths.
The biggest difference in the Gospel is that if we DO all we’re supposed 2do & follow Christ’s direction, then Jesus, who is our Master & our Good Shepherd, is going to exchange ROLES with us. Now, to picture Jesus putting on an apron, sitting you and me at a table 4a meal & waiting on US who are the servants, is NOT a picture that most people’s brains will allow them to compute. Yes: God waiting on me? NO WAY. It was a shocking thought 2000 years ago, & it’s an almost unthinkable thought now, because Jesus teaches us he’s called 2 serve others, NOT 2B served by others. Here’s the difference: when Jesus serves us servants, Jesus shows respect 2the humble ones as he teaches the world. He overturns the social, political, & religious expectations of his/our time. Yes: it’s a surprise, a change for us, & as our VBS friends learned this week: “when things are changing, God is good!”
So, what about us? When we put God & others ahead of ourselves, as in the acronym J.O.Y., (Jesus, Others, & Yourself), we are imitating Jesus, who put God and others ahead of himself, and his own preferences. Also, the more ready we are at a moment’s notice to serve someone of God’s own choosing, the deeper our relationship with Jesus is, because we will have become synchronized w Jesus’ own heart. Another way to say that is to remember that when loving others in the spirit of Jesus Christ becomes second nature and almost automatic to us, we have then gone beyond being admirers of X: we’ve become his legs/arms, his vocal chords, his heart/mind and spirit in God’s power. May we all become Eveready servants of God, every day and in every way.
