In my second or third year as a young priest, at the end of the Second Vatican Council, I began to tell people to drop the Father and just call me Tracy. Very shortly one of the wise leaders of the parish pulled me aside to tell me a simple truth: It was not about me!
She said the community needs to respect and honor the role of the priest. It was very important to them. Therefore, I would be wise to stop the nonsense about, “Call me Tracy.”
Jesus is basically saying the same thing in today’s Gospel message. While He is addressing the fault of the Jewish leaders, He is even more forcefully speaking to the disciples about leadership in the Christian community. It must be service first and foremost. “The greatest among you must be a servant.” (Mt. 23:11)
That is easier said than done. There is a drive in the ordinary human experience that calls us to seek privilege, prestige and recognition. We are all inclined to be special. Every gathering of human beings has to deal with organization and leadership that lives with the tension of power and service. Obviously, in the faith community this conflict plays itself out between the priest and the laity and the curse of clericalism that plagues the Church. However, there is no group that is not challenged by this tension between power and service.
The Festival committee wants to passionately help the parish but it is very easy to lose track and reduce the whole effort to how much the individual groups made on their project.
The Liturgy Committee deals with the same tension. While all are there in the name of Jesus It is not unheard of that some of the greatest conflicts in a parish take place in how to arrange the worship of the Lord!
The ushers and the Eucharistic ministers also tend to raise the ego above the service sometimes. Actually this is true of every parish group. Likewise, the parish and the school share a ministry but at times this hard to find the spirit of the Gospel in these troubled relations. I always remember an old Baptist minister that told me as a young priest, “The devil comes into the church through the choir!”
Jesus gave us a lesson about the Christian community in Chapter eighteen of Matthew’s Gospel. Asked who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God, Jesus says we must become like little children. Then there is a series of teachings about the Christian community. Jesus lays out a clear plan for all especially the leaders. Humility is the foundation. We must especially pay attention to the weaker members and the ones that stray away. All this is done in the context of a deep and loving forgiveness.
It is obvious that we have work to do to realize Who is the only Teacher and the only Father. (Mt 23: 9) It is a long journey for all of us to realize it is not about us. That journey is from our lips that say, “The greatest among you must be your servant.” (Mt 23:11) to our heart that will direct us to live a life of true service to the community.
