Gospel: Matthew 23:1-12
Jesus
spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the
Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and
observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For
they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and
lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All
their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and
lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor
in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for
you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all
brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do
not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among
you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever
humbles himself will be exalted.”
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Reflection:
Should we
aspire for greatness in our service for Jesus and our fellowmen? No, because
the moment we aspire for greatness we are not anymore serving Jesus and our
fellowmen. We are rather feeding our own egos and personal agendas, whatever our
personal agendas are.
Many of
us including church people as well as politicians fail in this aspect of true
servanthood. For the reason that instead of giving true service we accompany it
with our own selfish motives. Why are we offering our free
service to the church? Is it purely to serve, or we may have hidden
motives in serving the church. Same with politicians during campaign they
would always offer themselves as servants, but after they’ve won we could hardly
see them anymore.
Jesus is
teaching us that if we truly want to serve we must be ready to forget ourselves
or forget who we are. We walk our talk without
complaining whatsoever. We silently do what we have to do not minding if we
would be rewarded for what we do for this is what servanthood is all about.
Let us
not worry if we are not cited for whatever noble undertaking that we do. God is
not sleeping He sees everything and knows everything. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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