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Vigils Reading – 29th Sunday Ordinary Time
October 20
THE SERVANT OF ALL
From a commentary by St John Chrysostom1
When the ten disciples were indignant with James and John for separating themselves from their company in the hope of obtaining the highest honor, Jesus corrected the disordered passions of both groups. Notice how he did it.
He called them to him and said: Gentile rulers lord it over their people, and holders of high office make their authority felt. This must not happen among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to be first among you must be last of all.
You see that what the two brothers wanted was to be first, greatest and highest: rulers, one might say, of the others. So, revealing their secret thoughts, Jesus put a curb on their ambition, saying: whoever wants to be first among you must become the servant of all. If you wish to take precedence and to have the highest honors, aim for what is lowest and worst: to be most insignificant and humble of all, of less account than anyone else, to put yourself after the others. It is virtue of this kind that wins the honor you aspire to, and you have an outstanding example of it near at hand. For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as ransom for many. This is what will make you illustrious and far-famed. See what is happening in my case: I do not seek glory and honor, yet by acting in this way I am gaining innumerable blessings.
The fact is that before the incarnation and self-abasement of Christ the whole world was in a state of ruin and decay, but when he humbled himself he lifted the world up. He annulled the curse, put and end to death, opened paradise, destroyed sin, flung wide the gates of heaven, and introduced there the first fruits of our race. He filled the world with faith in God, drove out error, restored truth, caused our first fruits to ascend a royal throne, and gained innumerable blessings beyond the power of myself or anyone else to describe in words. Before he humbled himself he was known only to the angels, but after his self-abasement he was recognized by the whole human race.
1
(Homilies against the Anomeans, VIII: Bareille 2, 253-54).