The power to serve

Tuesday,
September 27, 2016
26th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Jb 3: 1-3. 11-17. 20-23
Gospel: Lk 9:51-56

As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind to go to Jerusalem. He had sent ahead of him some messengers who entered a Samaritan village to prepare lodging for him. But the people would not receive him because he was on his way to Jerusalem. Seeing this, James and John, his disciples said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to reduce them to ashes?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated Life Experience)

James and John were the disciples who had shamelessly asked from Jesus for reserved seats of power in heaven. (In Matthew’s version, it was their mother that made the shameless request). These same disciples showed how they’d use power when they offered to call down fire and brimstone from heaven against a Samaritan town that refused to accommodate them. As if they had the power to do so!

If imagined power is already that disastrous, how much more disastrous actual power is in the hands of the ambitious? Power makes the powerful forget basic realities. One day, the then Archbishop of Cebu, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal missed an outside appointment because his driver came late. I was his assisting deacon then. To me he said, “I am angry, and that’s because I have power over my driver. Had it been another person’s driver fetching me, I’d surely be more restrained. When one is in power it is easier to forget that all persons are created equal.”

“How does your Eminence cope with this issue?” I politely asked. “Servant leadership”, he answered. “By servant leadership a person in authority strengthens the service dimension of his power. Service keeps his feet firmly rooted on the ground. To persevere in service, he must be humble.” “How can one be humble with so much power in his hands?” I asked. “He must serve” He replied. I felt that the answer begged the question, but I did not ask any further questions. I just thought that perhaps the only way out of this vicious cycle is God’s grace.

The way Jesus put his foot down at the suggestion of James and John to bring down fire and brimstone upon an unresponsive town suggests that arrogant ministers irk him. Conversely, servant leaders enjoy his abundant support. The implication is that the more powerful a person is, the closer he should be to God. This way power won’t be a disastrous tool in his hands but an instrument of service to keep in motion God’s divine providence. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email:[email protected].

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