Service Makes the Church Relevant

Fr. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, California

September 20, 2015

Our world has two rooms. In one room, there are people who can do things for themselves, and in the other, people who need others to do things for them. In one room, we have influential people, and in the other, people who are influenced. In one room, we have givers, and in the other, we have the receivers. In one room, we have those who serve, and in the other, we have the served. In today’s Gospel, Jesus shocked his Apostles who were arguing among themselves who was the greatest: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). On Monday night, I was reflecting on these words of Jesus. I was trying to understand it. Then all of a sudden, a voice within me asked: When we have any parish event, who usually are the last to leave? The servers. When people have a family reunion, who are usually the last to leave the event? The servers. When a small family sits around the dinning table for a meal, who are the last to retire? The servers. When we come to church for Mass, who are the last to leave? The servers. The servers are the ones who clean the room or hall when an event is over. After making sure that everyone has got his or her fill of the food and drinks, they are the ones that clear the tables, wash the dishes, remove tables, chairs, sweep, mop, empty trash bins, turn off the lights and lock the room or hall. They are the last to get to the parking lot and the last to drive home. Some of us may not value their services, but Jesus said they are the greatest. Whoever desires to be first, must be the first to show up for any event, especially church events, get things ready and must be the last to leave. 

Many of us have become consumerist Christians. We come to church to be served. We come to church to consume. Even when we give some money during offertory collection, it is for the purpose of serving us. During Mass, we expect the lectors to read audibly with clarity and distinction. We expect the choir to sing well and even to sing our favorite songs. We expect the priest to preach well and to talk about the issues we care about. We expect him to become obsessed with the issues we are obsessed with. We expect the ushers to do their job well. We expect the security to watch over our cars while we worship. We expect everything to go smoothly with no hitches. While we expect others to do all these, we are not ready to lift a finger to help. 

When there is a call at Mass for people to join the choir, we give excuses: “I can’t sing.” “Oh, you don’t wanna hear me sing; I have a terrible voice.” When Lectors try to recruit us, we make excuses: “I can’t read well.” “I have an accent.” “I can’t stand up there and read. I have a stage-fright problem.” When the ushers try to recruit us, we give another excuse: “I work so hard that whenever I come to Mass, all I want to do is to sit. I get so tired that I don’t have the strength to be moving around.” When the Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion invite us to join them, we make excuses again: “I am not worthy; I am so sinful to touch the Lord. I am sorry, I can’t do it.” When we are invited to join St. Stephen Ministry, Catholic Daughters or St. Vincent de Paul, again, we give excuses: “I don’t really have time. My job is too demanding.” There is every excuse for every group we are invited to join and for everything we are asked to do. In the end, we reduce ourselves as Catholics who only come to Mass simply to consume and to be served. We are not involved in the life and ministry of our church. From year to year, we only come to Mass and right after that, we leave. 

Sisters and brothers, it is not enough to come to church; we must be actively involved in the life and ministry of our church. We will never change our community, society and world by coming to church, but by being the church. If all you do is just come to Mass, be served and attended to, then you are making church all about you. If all we do is just come to Mass, consume, come again and consume more—coming and consuming, coming and consuming, we make ourselves irrelevant. If we are not giving enough of our time, talent and treasure in the service of God and the Church, then we are not being relevant. Service makes us relevant. And guess what? We don’t need to know how to read and write to serve. We don’t need a bachelor’s degree to serve. We don’t need a master’s degree to serve. We don’t need a PhD to serve. All that is required is a willing, humble and gracious heart. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that whoever wants to be the greatest must be the last and the servant of all. Service makes us relevant and great. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it more eloquently when he said, “Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.” In the Gospel of Mark 10:45, Jesus says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And in John 13:13, he says, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and rightly so because that is what I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet.”

While throwing more light to the ministry of service to his Apostles, Jesus brought before them an unnamed child and said, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” Children belong to the room of those who need others to do things for them. They fall under the society of persons who are not influential. In our calculation, they are primarily receivers, not givers. The unnamed child in the Gospel stands for all God’s children who need others to do things for them. The child stands for the most vulnerable in our midst, the poorest of the poor, those who have nothing to give to us except their problems, and those who depend on us for their sustenance. The child stands for grandma and grandpa who due to old age and sickness rely on the rest of the family and society to cater for them. Jesus tells us that they need love and care. And whoever treats them well, treats the Father and Jesus well. The greatest among us is not the most intelligent, although it is good to be intelligent. The greatest among us is not the wealthiest. The greatest among us is not the person with the biggest wages. The greatest among us is not the finest and the prettiest. The greatest among us is not the person who wields more power and authority. The greatest among us are those individuals who serve others and who look out for the little guy. History always remembers those who served, who gave their lives for others, who used their all in the service of God and humanity. If you want to be great here on earth and in heaven, Jesus says, “Serve.” And when we serve, we receive something that money cannot buy.