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 it gives religion a bad name. What it often amounts to is the weakness of human nature and how one group can decide that they are right, while everyone else is wrong and 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. Jesus commissioned Peter and the Apostles to pass on his teaching and to let everyone know what God has done for us and what awaits us in the world to come. He wants us to know that our life has a purpose and that our decisions have consequences.
Jesus said to Peter:
‘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).
Jesus established his Church, with Peter as the first pope. The Church’s task was and is, to pass on the teachings of Christ. God wants everyone to know who He is, why He created us and what awaits us in the world to come. God wants us to know our purpose on earth.
The difficulty 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 pattern 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 is interesting how we see repeatedly when people are given positions of power, they find it hard to let it go. Often you see leaders of countries change the laws of the country so that they can remain in power, almost indefinitely. It has always been this way and probably always will.
It is 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.
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God is showing us that his way is a 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 not easy to understand. 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 did not come be served, but to serve…and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ We are not meant to be big and powerful. God seems to like to work in small, hidden ways.
Eucharistic Miracle in Buenos Aires 1996
Think of the Eucharist, which really and truly is the body and blood of Christ. God continues to show us this through the many eucharistic miracles and yet so few people recognize this, or believe this. Yet God remains hidden and accepts being misunderstood. Think of the crucifixion. The Son of God dies to save the human race from eternal death. Yet all people saw was an innocent man being put to death. Why didn’t God show his glory and then everyone would have bowed down before him? God works in hidden ways. We will not recognize his presence unless we are open to it and searching for it. Why does God keep himself hidden in this way? God wants us to freely choose him, not our of fear, but out of love. Just as you cannot force someone to love you, God works the same way. He wants us to come to know him and freely choose him. If God continually showed his awesome power and glory, would we really choose him freely, or would we be choosing partly out of fear of what might happen if we didn’t?
So 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 God 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: ‘This is the cup of my blood which 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, which we call heaven. 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. However, 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? 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 organized 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 and 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 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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