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They
came to Capernaum, and once inside the house, [Jesus] began to ask
them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they remained
silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was
the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
"If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the
servant of all."
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In
the movie "Live Free or Die Hard," evil is represented by Thomas
Gabriel, an electronic genius who felt that he had to teach the
government a lesson. His method of teaching the lesson was first of all
to trick Internet hackers like the young unassuming Matt Farrell into
giving him the ingredients of a "fire sale," a condition that
temporarily destroyed systems that depended on computers. In the
process,
he deliberately killed people, caused incredible chaos in downtown
Washington DC, and in general would have accomplished his goal had not
John
McClane been in the way. Ostensibly, his reason for doing it was the
lesson he wanted to teach--he quite deliberately and with full control
of what he was doing downloaded files of the United States government
networks that gave him access to immense amounts of money. Ultimately,
however, the reason was jealousy. He had been fired from his government
position and he simply wanted what other people now had. His jealousy
caused his revenge which took over his life.
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One
of the causes of evil in the world is jealousy of what others have.
Jesus saw it in his interaction with the people of his day. It was one
of the underlying thoughts of the Pharisees and scribes with whom he
continually argued; it was the a determining factor that controlled the
Romans who occupied the land of Palestine in his day. Incredibly, it
was also present among the people whom Jesus chose to carry on his
mission of salvation. When his disciples "discussed among themselves
who was the greatest," it was a discussion that was rooted in jealousy.
Each of them wanted what they thought the other had.
Throughout the ages, jealousy has been present in one form or another. Students of history easily recognize that the cause of evil from take-overs of government to genocides is nothing more than the jealousy of one group or one person of what others have. The Apostles did not give themselves completely to evil, of course, but their jealousy temporarily blinded them to what Jesus had in mind for them. Jealousy destroys all good intentions. In the Gospel story, the ever-patient Jesus sat his Apostles down and in effect said to them, "Look carefully at how you are thinking. One does not accomplish anything by being jealous of others, one accomplishes things by helping, by being the servant of all." Jesus does the same for us, and in fact has said the same to thousands of his followers who unfortunately have not followed his words over time--jealousy destroys good intentions. The only way to accomplish good things in life is to take on the attitude of a servant. |
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THOUGHT
In what areas do you see "jealousy" at work
in the world around you? In what areas of your own life do you see
it?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, because we are human, we tend to be jealous of what
others have. We simply cannot be satisfied with what you have given us.
Help us listen to your Son and understand his words about being a
servant so that we can control any jealousy that we may have. Be with
us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |