Power of the Church

“Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…” Has it ever occurred to you why Jesus had to instruct his disciples umpteen times as to who will be the authority or who will be in power after Jesus? Once I was at a Mass in a parish, and since it was Lent, the colour of the vestment was either Rose or Purple. As I was preparing for the Mass, I reached out for the purple vestment, but at once a loud voice filled the sacristy saying, its supposed to be Rose and not purple. I was perplexed about whole this bizarre episode of the man. I explained to him that its either purple or rose and in the footnote I told him, if that makes you happy I shall wear the Rose. Then someone in the sacristy whispered to me, why did you budge to his demand, you are the authority in the Church. My immediate reaction was, I am here to serve not to be in authority or power.

It is natural that every human person longs or has power over someone. May be parents over children, teachers over children, and the top notch in a firm over the person under them, priest over faithful etc. Throughout the human history we have witnessed several wars in order to dominate the other. The recent war that is prevalent in Israel and Palestine is the clear example that one nation out rightly dominates the other. Power has made some leaders adamant even adamant to destroy other fellow humans.

In the Gospel of Matthew, when mother of Sons of Zebedee requests Jesus to make her sons to sit on the left and right, Jesus is puzzled at the power mongering people in his own friends circle. It is obvious for the mother of Sons of Zebedee to raise her sons to that power to be the successors of Jesus, because she clearly misunderstood the mission of Christ here on earth. At this time, Jesus was becoming a powerful and revolutionary figure but with he was clear about the purpose of being that revolutionary. He was not looking for a popular revolutionary rather he was service-minded revolutionary. He had a mission of God the Father or in other words to help people to build the kingdom of God. This was not clear to the disciples hence a temptation to be on his right and left.

The Church is a missionary Church, which at the service of the people who is in need. The Church calls us to be at the service of the people on the one hand, on the other had it calls us to reach out to the poor. To do this, we need a strong disposition of service and not of authority. The words “authority” or “hierarchy” in its negative sense have reflected a purpose that is contrary to the purpose that Jesus intended. It is not a pleasant feeling when someone commands us to do this or that in the house of God. However, if this is done in a service minded heart, it is acceptable. We can be sure that Jesus wants us to be at the service of the people, hence words of Jesus, ‘I have come for the sinner and not for the righteous’ come in handy to present my argument. We have see Christ in our mission, in other words, we have make Christ as the centre of our work in the Church. We have to guard against the temptation of domination, power and authority. It is because of Christ’s love for us, our Church today is sustained. It is fed on the Word of God and the Eucharist, from which we draw our strength. At the end, we will joyfully reap the fruits from God’s own garden, a hundredfold, sixty or thirtyfold.