To Follow and Serve

Gospel: John 12: 24-26

Each year on the feast of St. Lawrence we are inspired by his stand before the Roman Empire which demanded of him the treasures of the Church.  His response was to bring before the tribunal the poor of Rome, announcing that this is the treasure of the Church - to serve the poor.  For Lawrence, it was not a mere display or show.  He served the poor day in and day out as a deacon providing material and sacramental support to the poor throughout the city.

To serve the poor is to follow and serve Jesus.  Jesus went about caring for the poor his entire ministry: healing the sick and lame, liberating those in the grips of demons, feeding people at table.  The poor became Jesus' very identity, for he places as the only criterion of judgment before God whether we care for the poor or not.  We follow Jesus by doing what he did.  We serve Jesus in the very people whom Jesus served and with whom he identified.  

To follow and serve Jesus is not about supporting media empires or political factions.  It does not consist in the ongoing care of elaborate campuses and shrines.  It is not represented in the donning of religious garb and finery.  To follow and serve Jesus is about one thing only: the care of the poor.  The only authentic Christianity is one that has that as its primary mission and inspiration.  St. Lawrence, pray for us. 

Adrift at Sea

Gospel: Matthew 14: 22-33

The disciples find themselves at the whims of the sea between the crowd on one side of the shore and Jesus on the other.  The sea is unsettled, the wind is brisk, it is the dark of night, and they are adrift.  At a certain point, coming out of the darkness comes Jesus walking out to them on the sea.  They are frightened, thinking they see a ghost.  Jesus has to reassure them:  do not be frightened, it is I.  Jesus comes to bring peace and reassurance.  

Yet, Peter is not convinced.  If it really is you, bid me come out to you on the sea.  So Jesus invites him to come walk on the water.  Peter approaches and initially has success in walking out to Jesus.  But a gust of wind frightens him and he sinks into the sea, needing Jesus to help rescue him.  How often it is that the slightest distraction and inconvenience we sink into the water.  How often are we adrift at sea between the crowds and Jesus.  

The more we read the Gospels, the more we come to realize that they are not so much about the literal story as much as they are about the constant examination of our spiritual lives.  Whether this story took place or not is not as important as our own status the story seeks for us to discern.  Are we moved by the emotions of the sea as the disciples, unable to decide whether the crowd is more important or being with the Lord on the mountaintop? Is discipleship our priority, or imitating the Lord Jesus?

Inadequacy of Discipleship

Gospel:  Matthew 17: 14-20

A man has a son in the grips of a demon.  He first went to Jesus' disciples to help him, but the disciples were not able to do so.  The man then comes to Jesus, stating that his disciples were not able to cure his son, and he begs Jesus to cure his son.  Jesus, of course, does so, but not without a lament about the lack of faith he continually sees.  Our first reaction to this lament of Jesus is to have pity on this father - how could he be blamed in all this?

But Jesus is not blaming this man.  He is finding fault with the lack of faith in his disciples.  In fact, Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith in failing to help this boy and his father.  As so many other Gospel stories make evident, discipleship is not the goal of the Christian life, for to be a disciple in the Gospels always leads to inadequacy and failure.  The Gospels time and again remind us that the goal of Christian living is to imitate Jesus, to be illuminated and divinized by him.

The father in this story is a model for us as well.  When we find inadequacy in churchmen - when we find they are unable to help us and in fact are obstacles to us - then we go to Jesus.  We let him know that his disciples were not able to help us, that their faith was inadequate.  We then seek to imitate Jesus, not the disciples, and in imitating Jesus we are freed from our demons, we are illuminated, and we are divinized into his likeness.