INTRODUCTION
1.The world is increasing in religious affiliations yet it is decreasing massively in prophetic / evangelical witnessing. The devil has devised a means of making disciples: He no longer prevents the people from worshipping in their religions, rather he lures them into an easy and artificial faith, devoid of authenticity.
It is in the face of this changing world that the church is called to become more prophetic and visionary in the image and likeness of Christ the head.
According to Vatican II the church is missionary by nature because her founder Jesus Christ, was the first missionary who came to earth to announce the message of God’s love for humanity and showed that love by dying to save men from sin and death. Thus the missionary character of the church lies in the evangelization of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and salvation.
It is binding on every Christian without exception, to be a missionary. Missionary in this sense does not necessarily mean traversing beyond one’s territory. It is rather the attitude of witnessing to Christ even within ones territorial space. We are meant to renew our missionary obligation today in order to help the church’s missionary activities vis-a-vis a transparent Christian life, fervent prayers, and charity especially towards the most needy.
2. It is quite good that this year’s mission Sunday falls within the moment of the synod on the young people. For this Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the congregation for the evangelisation of the peoples reminded the young people that they too are called to spread the Gospel.
And according to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, “life in itself is a mission, and every life has missionary characteristics.” The Gospel must be taken down the peripheries of our world. In his first World Mission Sunday message, 2013, the Holy Father challenged christians to proclaim courageously and in every situation the Gospel of Christ, a message of hope, reconciliation, and communion. In his next Mission Sunday message, the he challenged the Church to become a welcoming home, a mother for all peoples and the source of rebirth for our world through the intercession of Mary, the model of humble and joyful evangelization. And in this year’s mission sunday message, he urges young people to join the Church in the crusade of bringing the Gospel to all.
3. The readings of this Sunday present the core missionary character of Jesus. He is that servant of Yahweh who voluntarily accepted the way of suffering and shame for the good of his brothers.
FIRST READING: ISAIAH 53: 10-11
“My servant makes many to be accounted in righteous and he shall bear their iniquities.”
Isaiah 53 is the fourth of the four “servants song” (the others are found in Isaiah chapter 42, 49 and 50). Though the servant in Isaiah 53 is scarcely identified. Meanwhile early in the book of Isaiah, God predicts the long and difficult exile of the Jewish people. Chapter 53 occurs in the midst of Isaiah’s message of consolation which tells of the restoration of Israel to prominence of God’s chosen people.
The offering of the self for his brother is at the heart of the mission of the “servant of Yahweh”. Through his sacrificial offering, he shall bring them back to their God by bearing their iniquities; he will reconcile them with their God.
The key to understanding this chapter lies in correctly identifying who actually is speaking. Though the book was written by Isaiah, verse 53: 1-10 are told from the perspective of world leaders. Following in the footsteps of the previous chapter (52:15 “the king will shut their mouths in amazement”), these verses describes how world leaders will be shocked with disbelief when God’s servant Israel will be vindicated. Despite all contrary expectations, Israel will surely be vindicated and will blossom in the messianic era (Isaiah 53, the suffering servant, by Marshal Roth, May 21, 2011). Like the Israelites, our God is announcing a new message of imminent salvation. He will soon save his people from the clutch of their enemies. And the worst enemy that has kept them in captivity is sin. The Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ is the only perfect exchange and sacrifice pleasing to God for the atonement of the sins of the world. If we think that we are still slavery to our sins, let us be humble enough to submit to the power of our saviour who alone can pull us out from the dungeon of our inequities and restore our identity of sonship.
SECOND READING: HEBREWS 4:14-16
The epistle to the Hebrews stated that Jesus’ became perfect through suffering. Suffering drew him beyond theory to reality, beyond conviction to proof. Jesus was not simply resuscitated but raised – raised to a new and perfect way of being human by the action of the Father. His humanity was transformed. Wonderfully, the epistle went on to state that Jesus became source of similar salvation to each single person who wholeheartedly accepts his way of love, and to the whole world when everyone else does likewise. We become perfect through him, with him and in him. And nothing in us can boast wholeness or perfection without him who is the source of our perfection. His suffering and death did not just win us salvation but equally made us a people, since we were not a people at all until he made such a definitive and perfect sacrifice.
GOSPEL: MARK 35-45
James and John give us a picture of the type of tendencies that inhabit us. They displayed how we often lobby for power and position. It was a move motivated by self interest. The “two brothers” asked for a favour in exclusion of the other ten. Mark tells this story to show that the notion of power and authority as perceived and practiced by men on earth differs from that of the kingdom of God. Men will always lobby their way into power. There is no shortcut into the kingdom of God. It is God Himself who chooses and calls people into his kingdom. And those who are called and chosen must love a life that conforms to the principles of the kingdom.
The request of the two brothers did not receive a favourable answer as Jesus redirected it as a prerogative of the Father to grant.
He equally added to their knowledge what they may not have known before lobbing for position. He made them to understand that to assume a position of authority goes simultaneously with service. In other words, one cannot be a leader and not be a servant. By implication, a great leader is one who serves.
The teaching of Jesus is contradictory to the worldly mentality of leadership.
Very often, people in authority act as if others exist only to serve them. Even in our democratic form of government, our elected officials, although called “public servants,” frequently strut around like monarchs, interested in serving their own appetites for power, prestige, and wealth (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
In our world, people lobby for power in order to dominate, and they command rather than serve. Jesus’ model of leadership can only be accepted by an insignificant few. Generally the world leaders and even a handful of religious leaders live by Machiavellian principle of domination. For Machavelli “Leaders should be feared and not loved”. They should apply “evil” as long as it is meant to realize political expediency. The kingdom of God is not meant for those who are domineering in power but for the humble. Jesus had everything yet He accepted to have nothing so that He may make us everything in the kingdom of his Father. The salvation He won for humanity was possible because of his obedience and humility. And St. Paul captured this in his theology of kenosis: “Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being born in the likeness of men…”(Philippians 2:6ss).
LIFE MESSAGE
1) We are challenged to give our lives in loving service to others:
To become an authentic disciple of Jesus means to put ourselves in the humble, demanding role of servant to others, to seek intentionally the happiness and fulfillment of those we love regardless of the cost to ourselves. The best place to begin the process of “self-giving” service is in our own homes and in the workplace. We have to look upon our education, training, and experience as preparation for service to others. Whatever may be our place in society — whether important or unimportant — we can serve. We should learn to serve with a smile. This is possible whether we are in military service, social service, law, medical service, government, or business. We all have chances to serve others every day in different capacities. Nurses serve their patients, teachers serve their students, parents serve the needs of their children, and spouses serve each another and their children as well as their own parents in old age. In our parishes, we are also called to serve not to be served. We can here apply the famous “ask not” of John Kennedy: “Ask not what your parish, what your Church, your God can do for you; rather ask what you can do for your parish, for your Church, your God!” If we want to be leaders, we must learn to be available, accountable, and vulnerable. We should be afraid of our vulnerability because service is a tough task that often reveal our weaknesses to others. But what matters is that we are transparent in the services we render. We must be sure that it is never easy. And as Albert Schweitzer will put it: “Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.”
2) We serve by suffering:
In today’s Gospel, Jesus connects service with suffering. Suffering and service go hand in hand. First, service always involves suffering because one can’t help another without some personal sacrifice. Second, God always invites those who suffer to put their suffering at the service of others by uniting it with the salvific suffering of Jesus. Third, we must learn to be sensitive to the suffering of those around us. One way to cultivate this sensitivity is to focus on the needs of others rather than on our own needs. Another way is through prayer, as explained in St. Francis of Assisi’s famous Prayer for Peace.
3) We are invited to drink from the cup of Christ’s suffering:
People often tailor their religious beliefs to fit their own needs. In Christianity, this represents a false approach. The Church needs true disciples who are cross-bearers and servants. They seek and follow wherever Christ leads. A happy family is the result of true sacrifice and humble service. The husband and wife sacrifice convenience, comfort, and time. There can be no success without sacrifice. We are challenged to drink the cup of Jesus by laying down our lives in humble and sacrificial service for others, just as Jesus did. (Fr Anthony Kadavil).
PRAYER
Lord Jesus help us to understand that we are nothing without you. Open our eyes to see the limited nature of our being and existence. Make us to be humble in any position we find ourselves and to avoid constant craving for power so that in our evangelical witnessing, we may be able to truly represent you before our brothers and sisters, and bring them to the light of the faith which you yourself are the origin and the conclusion. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
