deacon's corner

“The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Like the Scribes and Pharisees, we often place ourselves on a pedestal, believing that we have special gifts or talents that make us superior to others while we conveniently forget that we all have our shortcomings and weaknesses.  Or at least we want to forget, so that we don’t have to acknowledge to others that we are not quite as good as we might have them believe. For some, the statement “Lord, it is so hard to be humble, when I am perfect in every way” feels so right and true, but in truth, there is only one who has the right to make that statement… and He died for us on a cross some 2000 years ago.

A scholar of the Law asks Jesus, of the 613 laws written in the Torah, which is the most important?  Now this is a trick question, for no matter which one Jesus picks he will be judged as answering incorrectly since to the Pharisees all the laws were considered to be of equal importance. This is like a mother who picks two shirts for her son—a blue one and a red one—and asks which one he likes the best.  He says he likes both of them equally.  She asks him to put one of them on; so he puts on the blue one and his mother says, “So you don’t like the red one?”

There are two thoughts that come to mind when we hear the gospel today.The first is that Jesus really didn’t like the chief priests and elders very much. Their problem was that they were so hung up on the strict interpretation of the law that they completely missed God’s desire for charity and justice. They couldn’t or wouldn’t accept God’s invitation to change their lives and to prepare for his banquet.

Khalil Gibran once wrote “If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don’t, they never were.” In a very real sense, this describes God’s unbounded love for us. He loves us and out of His generosity has provided each of us with a beautiful vineyard upon which we can produce a bountiful harvest. He only asks for our gratitude and love in return.

I am sure that we are all familiar with the proverb which states that “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Another version says that “hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works.” These sayings are thought to have originated with St. Bernard of Clairvaux who wrote that “hell is full of good wishes and desires.”