“Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
Matthew 20:26-27
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.”
Reflection
As they travel to Jerusalem, Jesus tells his disciples that the Son of Man will be handed over, condemned to death, and raised on the third day. At this, James’ and John’s mother approaches Jesus and asks if her sons can be seated at the right and left side of Jesus in his kingdom. Jesus replies that she doesn’t know what she is asking, for whoever wishes to be great will be a servant. The Son of Man came to serve, not to be served.
Do we make our authority felt over others? Do we wish to be served, rather than serve those around us? Today, Jesus tells us that wishing to be great will result in becoming a servant; just as our Lord came to serve, so should we. This is another call to grow in humility.
While having power in certain situations is not always a bad thing, we must be careful with how it is used. We must remember that as disciples of Christ, we need to be merciful, just, and loving. It can be difficult to do this if we have aspirations of greatness that don’t promote a healthy growth in humility. Jesus wants us to serve others in our own special way – how is he calling you to do this today?
Saint of the Day
St. Casimir: 1458 – 1483
| “I prefer to be found pure before God rather than stained with the riches of the world.” St. Casimir |
The Healing Word 