By their very make-up, infant human beings are totally selfish, being
moved immediately by self-interest, which is – necessarily -- their
law-of-life; and they have to be seriously taught and trained by loving parents
in order to gradually set-aside such native selfishness. Those infants who are not taught to grow up into
sociable adults can become individuals selfish – or fearful -- beyond measure; individuals
who can ultimately turn to violence
both to grab what is wanted or to promote or protect, self; and
such violence can cause death.
John, a working son in his own loving family, was still a ‘bit of a kid’
among Jesus’ Apostles, and, in today’s Gospel incident, he apparently thought
that if anyone was performing miracles in the name of Jesus in their (the
Apostles’) proximity, it should have been an Apostle, perhaps even John himself! And so the, as yet imprudent, younger brother
of the two ‘sons of thunder’, said to Jesus:
Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop
him because he was not following us.
Jesus was most understanding and
simply told them these most wonderful words:
He who is not against us, is on our side.
Let us now try to discover
something of what Jesus’ words involved, something the Apostles would
themselves later come to appreciate, namely, that the calling, the vocation, of
an apostle does not, in the final assessment, require the performance of
miracles, he is to be judged by the singular criterion of his one-ness with
Jesus:
He who is not against US
is on OUR side.
Ultimately, the perfect Apostle is, most fully and most gratefully,
satisfied with that one supreme blessing of being wholly one-with-and-for-Jesus
alone.
The miracle-man had received a
gift from God, a great gift indeed and one that gave glory to Jesus in Whose
Name the miracle was performed. However,
the gift of being, and becoming ever more and more, one with Jesus is an
incomparably greater blessing. ‘That man
is not against us’, Jesus said, ‘he is on our side’; but as ‘that man’, even though he be ‘the
miracle-man’, he is not included in those two other words, ‘us’ and ‘our’, and that
makes all the difference.
The key to apostleship, --
one-ness with and for Jesus -- was, at that time, not sufficiently appreciated
by the apostles; they – most especially Peter -- lived it but, not yet fully
recognizing it, they could not live it to the full. Later they would, and thereby they could and did become models, guides, and protectors
for Mother Church throughout the world and for all ages.
One-ness-with-and-for-Jesus is a
reciprocal relationship in which divine love calls for, demands, our love in
return; it is a relationship in which God’s love is given with the supreme
object of calling forth, provoking, indeed, inflaming and sustaining a return
of child-like love. The gift of
miracle-working is much more one-sided, and nothing that is not the spontaneous
flowering of supreme love for Jesus Himself will be of enduring worth. Love for Jesus, oneness-with-and-for-Him alone
has no need for anything other to
justify it, being itself the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the
field of Christian life and doctrine which is the Church called to become the
beautiful Spouse of Christ: It is the supreme adornment and fulfilment of human
possibilities,
And there, People of God, we
come to the kernel of our considerations this Sunday. In our Gospel reading, John and all the other
apostles were in their student days so to speak, still very solicitous about
their own image before men: Who is the greatest? Who is best able to fulfil
people’s expectations? However, they were not like that when they were with
Jesus; in Jesus’ presence; for they were perfectly well aware that He
knew them better than they knew themselves and, in His presence, they could
only be perfectly natural, no pretence, no ‘braggadocio’ being possible: and such
simplicity is the only way we ourselves can learn from Jesus’ gift of His
most Holy Spirit.
Disciplined oneness with
Jesus in our searching mind and yearning heart; and simplicity of soul in our humble,
attentive waiting on, and response to, the Holy Spirit -- as He fulfils His
divine project of reminding us of, and forming us in the likeness of, Jesus,
Perfect God and Perfect Man -- such is the purpose and summit of the Christian
life and Catholic spirituality.
And this very human desire not only to protect but also to promote self,
seems to have remained with the apostles almost to the very end, for even after
the Last Supper we read in Luke’s Gospel (22:21-26):
Jesus said: Behold, the hand of
him who betrays Me is with Me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has
been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" And they began to question one another, which
of them it could be who was going to do this.
A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as
the greatest
Indeed, for those two ‘Sons of Thunder. James and John, this desire for precedence and greatness
seems to have been given them along with their mother’s milk, for St.
The mother of the sons Zebedee
came up to Him with her sons, and kneeling before Him she asked Him for something. And He said to her, "What do you want?"
She said to Him, "Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one on Your
right hand and one at the left, in Your
kingdom." (Matthew 20:20-22)
The Christian situation in today’s Western world calls for ‘apostolic’ disciples, and therefore we need to know what we are aspiring to and how best to attain our quest. May today’s considerations on the Gospel help promote Christian love and truth among all who want to walk by the light that has the end of God’s life-line for mankind in clear focus.
