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Jesus said, “If
the world hates you, realize that it hated me
first. If you
belonged to the world, the
world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world,
and I
have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember
the word I spoke to you, ‘No
slave
is greater than his master.’ If they
persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If
they kept my word, they will also keep
yours.”
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There may not be a better presentation of
personified
corruption than George Lucas’ image of Jabba the
Hutt. Introduced already in the
first part of this
“Star Wars” trilogy, Jabba is a central character
in the beginning session of the movie “Return
of the Jedi.” He
is the picture of
misguided pleasure and power. Consumed
as he was with himself and his own desires, he was convinced that no
one, Jedi
knight or not, could interfere with his own kingdom.
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Why
do people continue to make illegal drugs even though they know what it
does to
people who use them, and even though law agencies try to force them to
stop? Why do
powerful people control
national leaders, dictating to them exactly how they should vote or
behave? Why do some continue to take
poor people’s hard-earned money by demanding inflated rent
payments and the
like? Why do
presidents of chemical
companies deliberately pollute the environment for their own
welfare? The answers are not at all
difficult to
comprehend. There
is corruption in our
world because people benefit from it.
Jesus knew of such corruption and he knew that those who were responsible for the corruption, the “world” as John’s Gospel describes it, would never appreciate him or his followers. “If you belonged to the world,” Jesus tells his disciples, “the world would love its own, but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” People of the twenty-first century world should spend time meditating on Jabba the Hutt. Granted, we may not be as corrupt or vicious as he was, but the tendencies to corruption and especially the benefits of corruption appeal to all of us. Our human desires seek control, money and pleasure, all characteristics of the “world.” But if we are to be identified as followers of Jesus, those elements must not overcome us. Indeed, if we are to be people of integrity at all, we must control those desires. Our personal world depends on it. The external world as we know it depends on it. |
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THOUGHT
What are most common forms of corruption that you see in the world? PRAYER Good
and gracious God, you have created a wonderful world, but often we
have chosen to take your creation and use it for what we want. Help us to value your
creation and to use the
things of this world for the betterment of humankind. 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 |
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