The Three S's

"The three R's" are often called the foundation of basic education: reading, writing, and arithmetic (ironically misspelling the words).

Today's readings talk about three S's, which should be the foundation of living the Christian life and which are also opposed to the ways of today's world: suffering, sympathy, and service.

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Today's first reading (Isaiah 53:10-11) speaks of the "Suffering Servant": a prophecy that applied in some ways to ancient Israel but that would apply most perfectly to our suffering Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The LORD was pleased
to crush him in infirmity.

If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD
shall be accomplished through him.

Because of his affliction
he shall see the light
in fullness of days;

through his suffering,
my servant shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear.

Suffering is something that the modern world always wants to avoid. The world encourages us to fill our lives with as much comfort and pleasure as possible and to fill ourselves with drugs and alcohol when any amount of pain and suffering might threaten.

The way of the world is a way that wallows in selfishness and drowns us with addictions.

The way of the world is a very attractive but very deadly trap, that leads ultimately to oblivion.

The way of Christ, on the other hand, is the way of the cross, the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering.

The way of Christ is a hard road, but it is a road that leads to greater good and ultimately to eternal life.

We must not be afraid of embracing suffering, for there are many ills in this world that cannot be cured without hard work and suffering. Moreover, it is impossible to follow in the footsteps of Christ if we refuse to embrace and carry the crosses that he offers us.

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In the second reading (Hebrews 4:14-16), we see that the way of Christ is also that of sympathy.

For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.

So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy
and to find grace for timely help.

The sympathy of Christ is not the sympathy of this world.

There are some in this world who reject sympathy as a weakness, something that would cause them to veer from the way of strength to which they aspire. As we have seen far too often over the centuries, a strength that is heartless leads quickly to great evil.

There are others in this world who promote a kind of sympathy that is intrinsically empty: an absolute surrender to the dictatorship of emotions - to an empathy with no anchor in objective truth.

The sympathy of Christ is the sympathy of one who has suffered, but who also knows the meaning of suffering.

The sympathy of Christ is the sympathy of one who encounters temptation, but who rejects sin in favor of the truth.

Moreover, the sympathy of the Christian is the sympathy of a sinner who knows what it is like to succumb to temptation but who also knows the depth of God's forgiveness and the greater peace of the sinless way.

Sadly, some of us are not always filled with this kind of Christian sympathy: we are either unsympathetic with sinners (especially those whose particular sins we find repugnant) or we embrace sinners with an empty empathy that pulls them and us away from the life-giving truth.

We need to live the sympathy of Christ.

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And finally, we have these wonderful words from our Lord himself in today's Gospel (Mark 10:35-45):

Whoever wishes to be great among you
will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you
will be the slave of all.

For the Son of Man
did not come to be served
but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.

These words of Christ are very much opposed to the way of the world: a world that sees everything in terms of a struggle for power. Anyone who volunteers to be a servant or to act like a slave is seen as lacking self-esteem at best or as a chump at worst.

Even within the Church there are many who view everything through the prism of a struggle for power.

The chastising words of our Lord could not be more clear.

You know
that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones
make their authority over them felt.

But it shall not be so among you.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you
will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you
will be the slave of all.

No matter what function we may exercise within the Body of Christ, each of us must be servants of each other and each of us must also be servants of the truth.

Our model must not be the political systems of this world but rather the life, ministry and teaching of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who "did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

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We Christians are called to follow Christ:
that means we are called to suffer,
we are called to sympathize,
and we are called to serve
in the name of Jesus.