No Slave is Greater than His Master

How much do I really want to be like my master? How far am I really willing to go with him? To be like him? Tonight, we encounter our Lord in the greatest of his human actions, his passion and his death, and we ponder anew what his suffering means for us.

Looking back through Lent, Jesus says many things to challenge us. Perhaps you have taken some of them to heart, and are now wrestling with what he is saying to you. Faced with the challenges, you wonder if you can even meet them successfully. Maybe you began Lent with great resolve to overcome your sins and weaknesses, to dig deeper than you did in previous years, but as each week went by, you lost a little more of your strength and commitment. Do not give up and do not be discouraged.

From all eternity, knowing what we would do to damage the relationship we had with him, God in his wisdom planned to provide the ultimate remedy for us, for every form of injustice, every form of poverty, every sin and weakness, every manner of suffering, and, having fully prepared the human race through long ages, he planted that remedy at the epicenter of history as the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

So great and vast is it's power that God has woven this single event into the fabric of human experience, such that there is no moment or any fraction of a moment which does not contain its thread or feel the shockwave of its grace pouring forth from the earth of Calvary into which it was thrust.

As we read in Hebrews: "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." This suffering is not limited to his passion, but applies to everything he surrendered to become human. The obedience he learned and the perfection he gained must be understood in relation to his human nature, for in his divine nature, there would no need to learn obedience or gain perfection.

The entire human experience of Christ, and especially what he endured on this day, was a satisfactory offering to God the Father, not solely because God willed, but because Jesus in his human nature also willed to redeem that human nature for the sake of each and every human person, so that no one can say with any veracity, or truth, "God does not love me." - "I am unworthy of love." - "I am unlovable." or "I cannot love."

Last night, Father explained this great gift of the Eucharist, Christ’s Real Presence among us, the actual re-presentation of his sacrifice on the cross for all time. Dare we doubt the love and power of God in the face of so great a life as his and so great a mystery as the one presented to us on this altar, one by which we share in the divine life of God?

And if we share His divine life and we truly possess His love, then do we allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking that we cannot keep His commands, that we are without His help, that we cannot become like Him? We deceive ourselves if we partake of the sacraments believing that we cannot carry our own crosses to the point of losing our entire lives, even our entire selves to Him and that we would not be better off if we do; for the power and love flowing from His cross, the grace of perseverance, the grace each of us needs to imitate our master is available to us without doubt!

Yes, we can always do better. We can give up more, not just for Lent, but every day. For example, some may be surprised to hear that we, as Catholics, are obliged to observe every Friday as a day of penance. Every Friday in memory of this Friday is meant to be a day on which we either abstain from meat or perform some other acts of penance and charity. Beyond our Friday obligations, we can offer more of our prayers, joys, triumphs, sufferings, and thanksgivings to God every day of the year. After all, Lent, although a season, is not meant to have a temporary effect. After this weekend, we ought not think that we are to return to our old ways. Will we continue to be slaves to our appetites, consuming all that we want while our neighbors do not have even their most basic needs? If we can fast today, can we choose to fast once a month or once a week?
For, if God the Son would not stand by and watch us remain in our miserable state, but every day of his human life surrendered all to which he had claim for the sake of our greatest needs, then will we continue to fill our lives with what we do not need and stand by as our brothers and sisters throughout the world suffer poverty, hunger, nakedness, war, imprisonment, loneliness, mistreatment, and infirmity?

In our culture, we may be deceived into thinking that the way of the cross leads only to sadness and pain. In reality, it leads to freedom and joy. We must remember that the crucifixion of the body was only the beginning, but a necessary beginning. Without this death, there could not be resurrection and ultimate freedom from sin and death for all of us. In the same way, we too must first embrace the crucifixion of our own flesh through self-control, self-denial, and self-sacrifice. Only by being stripped of all that hinders us will we clearly see how much we need the Lord and how much we can offer others, especially our most needy brothers and sisters. Stripped of our own opinions and prideful ideals, we are able to receive His truth and know the full joy, freedom, and happiness that He experiences in the resurrection as we overcome sin and weakness. When we bring our souls to the point of being naked at the foot of the cross, our truest self remains open to the scrutiny of Christ, our master and teacher, who was also stripped of everything. He is then most able to fill us and clothe us with His righteousness and use us to accomplish His will.

As we heard two Sundays ago, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” Tonight, Christ lost his life for our sake. Do we really believe we can bear fruit without dying to our own disordered desires? Do we bury our lives under all the cares of this materialistic and entertainment-bound society instead of planting our hearts in the pierced heart of Christ? Do we suffocate the new life of baptism with a life of vanity? Have we been buried by the worldly ideals of bigger homes, fancier cars, more mobile devices, more fashionable clothes, the desire for popularity and celebrity? Do we value our degrees over our lives of faith? Do we value our TV shows, movies, and novels over and against a moral, modest, and chaste lifestyle? Do we do all these things and still call Christ our master and teacher? These are the very kinds of things he rejected and forsook so that we might live free and abundant lives of real and lasting joy and peace.

Do not be like the young lawyer who was so attached to his possessions that he could not follow Christ when he was asked to give them up. As we heard last night at the mass of the Lord’s Supper, “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” And in the next passage we read, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.” Are we greater than he that we should live more opulent lives? Are we greater to the extent that we cannot endure patiently the wounds inflicted by those who hurt us and then forgive them? Are we greater to the extent that our own opinions matter more than his teachings handed on to us by the hand of His Bride, His Holy Church?

Let us not jeopardize our opportunity for eternal life by being so unnaturally wedded to the the temporal and fleeting pleasures of this life. Tonight, take hold of the power of this cross, receive his love and resolve to join Him in his passion and death. Claim his grace and offer everything you lay claim to, everything he has handed to you, in an act of love for the salvation of the whole world.