We are living in a time when we are seeing a lot of
religious extremism. You could call it religion at its worst,
when people do terrible things in the name of religion and of course
it gives religion a bad name. What it often amounts to is the
weakness of human nature and how one group can decide that it is
right while everyone else is wrong or that they have the right to
force their ideas on others. It can happen with any religion.
I suppose one thing it brings up is the question of what the purpose
of religion is in the first place.
Why do we have a Church and what is its purpose?
We believe the Church is here because Jesus established it. The
reason Jesus established it was to pass on his teaching about God; so
that all people might come to know God and what God has done for us.
You are Peter and on
this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the underworld can
never overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever
you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mt 16: 18-20).
The difficulty as always, is that the Church is made
up of weak, sinful human beings. In Jesus’ life-time on earth
he was let down several times by the very people he chose to lead his
Church and that problem continues to this day. Because we are
dealing with the weakness of the human condition, we are continually
faced with similar problems. People in charge forget what they
are about, or get caught up in the need for power, or whatever it
might be. It has always been this way and probably always will.
It’s interesting what happens in today’s Gospel.
James and John ask for ‘power’ and recognition.
‘Grant that we may have places at your right and left hand…’
And then Jesus tells them and us something interesting:
You know that among the
pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them… This is not to
happen among you… For the Son of man did not come to be
served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The first reading also confirms this:
The Lord has been
pleased to crush his servant with suffering.
What God is saying to us is that his way is very
different way to what we are used to. It is not the way of
power and might, but of littleness and of transformation through
suffering. This is something that is very hard for us to get
our heads around. We want our Church to be big and powerful.
We want everyone to be part of it and to see how ‘right’ we are.
But Jesus tells us that that is not how it works. ‘The Son of
man came to serve…and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
So the first thing is that we are not meant to be big and powerful.
So then what exactly is the mission or purpose of
the Church? Jesus’ coming among us had a twofold purpose.
He came among us to teach us about God; who God is and how He looks
after us; about the reality of life after death; about the reason why
we are here in the first place: to love and serve.
The second reason Jesus came among us was to die for
us. Think of the line in the mass where the priest prays over
the chalice: ‘It will be poured out for you and for many for the
forgiveness of sins.’ That is why Jesus came among us; so
that our sins could be forgiven and that we would be able to reach
the happiness that God created for us. You could say that Jesus
came among us for our happiness. The mission of the Church is
to make that known to all people. If it is really true, as we
believe it is, then all people have a right to know this. They
don’t have to believe it or accept it, but they do have a right to
know about it and it is our mission to make that message known to
everyone we can because Jesus asked us to. Is this mission
still being fulfilled today? It certainly is. Here am I
in front of you 2000 years after Jesus walked on earth, proclaiming
the same message.
In the news we continually read about all the
terrible things that are done in the Church and in the name of
religion and there are terrible things done. But we don’t
hear about the wonderful work that is continually done all over the
world. And we don’t hear about the fact that the Church
continues to preach this message of Jesus—what we call the Good
News or Gospel—all over the world. I’m sure it will
continue to be done in messy, inefficient ways, because we are
dealing with human beings, but none the less it is being done.
How do we know that the Church is from God at all?
Well to me the greatest proof of this is the fact that it is still
there at all. When you think of all the great superpowers that
have come and gone: the Roman Empire, the Chinese dynasties, the
great European superpowers. All were highly organised and
efficient. Yet the Church, in spite of bad example, scandals,
bad preaching, etc., is still here. How can that be?
Because it is the power of God working in and through it. It is
not dependent on human beings, but on the power of God. And so
we continually turn to the power of God and pray that we will
continue to be the kind of messengers and servants that He calls us
to be.
Jesus Christ is Lord, Son of God. He was born
of the Virgin Mary. He taught us about God and he suffered and
died for us. Because of him we can have happiness with God when
we die. He is the one who makes sense of why we are here.
This is the message we believe in and this is the message we will
continue to try and pass on to all peoples.
‘The Son of Man did not come to be served but to
serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
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