North Star News 07-18-2013

One of America’s self-help gurus was quoted in the media in June as saying, “Don't waste your time hanging around people that stop your growth,” which would be good advice if the only goal in life was building up yourself.  But the famous opening line of one of the most influential Christian books of recent times is right when it says, “it’s not about you.”

Jesus lived his life for others and, in the end, sacrificed his life for all humanity.  In Mark 10:45 Jesus said, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, to give his life a ransom for many.”  Then he practiced what he preached by spending his time not seeking to find those who could improve his life but seeking those whose lives he could improve.  In John 4 there is his encounter with the woman at the well in Samaria.  She had nothing to offer him except a cup of cold water, and she even hesitated when he asked for it.   She was foreign to him and of questionable morality.  His disciples thought that by hanging around her he could only damage himself and his reputation.  But Jesus engaged her in conversation and eventually offered her living water that leads to eternal life (John 4:10-14)  This was a totally lopsided exchange.  John does not even say explicitly that Jesus ever got his cup of cold water.  But she was blessed beyond measure because of her conversation with the Man from Galilee that led to her conversion and to her testimony to others. (John 4:39)

Philippians 2:5 says, “have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant….”  No one reading these words has “equality with God” or is “in the form of God,” but everyone reading this can have “this mind among yourselves.”  To be a disciple of Jesus Chirst is to live for others.  Jesus said in Mark 8:34-35, “if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, will save it.”  And then in Acts 20:35 he is quoted as saying, “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”  The way of Jesus that leads to life, joy, and peace is the way of service to others.  So waste a little time today doing something for someone who has nothing to give you to help you grow.

In his first year in office Pope Francis has put a renewed emphasis on Christ’s call to be of humble service to others.  His namesake, St. Francis, sparked a reform movement 900 years ago that called people back from the desire to be served to the mandate to serve, because spiritual growth comes through service to others.  He wrote a famous prayer that says,

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen”