Gospel: John 13: 16-20
There are still some professions where the skill is learned from a master at the craft and we learn the trade as an apprentice. Teaching is much like this, as is athletics in many ways. How many of us wanted to "be like Mike" in the 1990s? And no matter how hard we would try at basketball we would never be as good as Michael Jordan, but we would be better than we were.
That is the point of Jesus' lesson today. As disciples of the Lord Jesus we aspire to be like him, but we know that no matter how hard we try we will never be as good as Jesus - but we are better than we were had we not tried to emulate him in our lives. And if we never tried we would be far worse than what we are now or where we began.
Imagine a world where everyone tries to be better than they are now - where we put aside self-interest and seek the blessings of the Beatitudes in lives of mercy, meekness, peace-making, seeking justice, being pure of heart and poor in spirit. Compare the vision of Jesus in these images to the world around us that we have built from self-interest. We may not achieve heaven on earth in living as Jesus did, but we would certainly be better than we were and are.
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