Self-Promotion

Gospel:  Luke 17: 7-10

In an age of self-promotion, today's Gospel portion is not well received.  In our world we are constantly told to promote ourselves.  Build up the resume.  Strive to acquire the various honors and promotions our jobs and world can offer us.  Keep honing your social media brand, making sure everyone knows of your accomplishments and dinner choices.  Seek for those ever elusive media mentions.  This is what our world preaches to us.  

However, this is the exact opposite of what Jesus states in today's reading.  In the kingdom of God, we are merely servants doing what is expected of us.  If we perform acts of justice and charity, that is no great feat.  That is what we are supposed to be doing as followers of Jesus.  If we are looking for accolades and press coverage for such things, we are not doing these things for the right reasons.  We might delude ourselves by saying it advances the Gospel, but in reality we are only advancing ourselves.

The pursuit of attention and promotion is really a pursuit of the things Jesus rejected in the desert - power, influence, and wealth.  Jesus repeatedly hid himself from the crowds when they wanted to make him king.  He rejected titles of status offered to him.  He simply went from town to town doing good: healing the sick, liberating people from their demons, feeding people at table.  The disciple imitates the Master in all he does.  We must go about doing good, seeking no glory or recognition.