Sunday, September 22, 2024 – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time [B]

Fr. Drew Hoffman

It is a conversation we have all experienced, likely very recently. Someone is talking about a great achievement: maybe a coworker is telling you about a promotion they’ve received or friends are talking about their daughter who just won a big award. You know you should feel happy for their success. But something very different often happens; something bubbles up inside of us, almost anger, at the success of someone else, even if it doesn’t impact our success at all. We think up excuses for why they’ve achieved that thing or look for an opportunity to disparage them in a conversation with a mutual friend. Maybe we even quickly share a story of our own success in response, exaggerating a recent victory or accomplishment.

We’re not proud of it, but envy is deep within our hearts and the “green-eyed monster” rears its ugly head with frequency in our daily lives. Perhaps it brings some comfort to realize that it was no different for the Apostles. Immediately after hearing Jesus express the necessity of His death on a cross, the Apostles started, “discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest.” While Jesus is talking about the importance of self-sacrifice, they’re arguing about their accomplishments and achievements. It would be comical if it wasn’t so sad and so relatable to our own experience.

Why does the success of others so often lead to anger in our own heart and a desire to place ourselves above them? It almost always finds its root in a belief that my goodness and dignity are a direct result of my successes and victories. We all say that God loves us, but deep down, we think He would love me just a little more if I made more money, had more friends, or raised more successful children. We wouldn’t say it out loud, but we often live our lives in a way that implies that my goodness is directly dependent on how much I accomplish. If others are ahead of me, that necessarily means that I am not as good. Unfortunately, we often believe this because it’s how we’ve experienced love from people in our lives. So often on a college campus I experience young people who run through their lives trying to achieve more and more because they felt like their parents’ love for them depended upon their success on an athletic field or a classroom. Without it ever being said, they’re taught that they are good as long as they do good. This is an exhausting way to live, as St. James shares in our Second Reading: “Where jealously and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.” When my worth is dependent upon my own ambitions, I always end up in the gutter.

Jesus turns this worldview on its head in response to the Apostles’ absurd argument. He gestures to a small child and says, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.” A small child has nothing efficient to offer us or society. They can’t win great awards or change the world. Yet perhaps nothing brings more joy to the world than a child! We don’t love children because they are successful, or because they can do anything. We love them because they ARE. We can sense that they are good not because they’ve done anything but because they are incredible creatures made in the image and likeness of God. Their worth comes from within, not from their achievements. This is how Jesus Christ sees me, regardless of my age, and this is the Lord’s great question to the Apostles: Do you think I love you because of what you can do, or because of who you are?

The great beauty of life in Christ is that, instead of this truth making me feel entitled and lazy, it leads me to greater activity and service. Once I know that my worth doesn’t depend on my achievements, and the good of others doesn’t change my dignity one iota, then I am FREE to give myself fully, throwing myself into self-sacrifice and love of neighbor. I am more willing to work hard for the good of my family and community when I know I don’t have to grasp for praise or acknowledgement.

The Lord doesn’t love me because I’ve received a promotion or won a medal. He loves me because I am. May this great truth cast out any spirit of envy and lead me to follow my Creator in a spirit of self-sacrifice and self-gift.