James and John came to Jesus and said to him,"
Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your
right and the other at your left." When the ten
heard this, they became indignant at James and
John. Jesus summoned them and said to them,
"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.
Mark 10: 35-45
If Jesus were to have been born in our day, instead of 2,000 years ago, he might have graduated from Bellarmine University’s W. Fielding Rubel School of Business. I recently retired from there after 17 years of weekend campus ministry. As a graduate, he might have used a management consultant to help him get his ministry off the ground and to help him choose his twelve apostles. If so, he may have submitted the resume' of would-be apostles to that consultant for feedback. Here is how that feedback might have sounded. I have referred to this funny consultant report several times over the years.
_____________________________________
To: Jesus, Son of Joseph
% Woodcrafter Carpenter Shop
Nazareth
From: Jerusalem Management Consultants
Dear Jesus:
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have recruited for management positions in the new church you want to found. All twelve of them have now taken our battery of tests; we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologists and vocational aptitude consultants.
We regret to inform you that it is the staff’s opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no leadership qualities. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been black-listed by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, son of Alpheus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.
One of your candidates, however, shows great potential - Judas Iscariot. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious and responsible. We recommend this man as your controller and right-hand man.
We wish you every success in your new venture.
Sincerely yours,
Hugh Mann, President
Jerusalem Management Consultants
______________________________________
This little fictitious "consultant report," in which Judas is picked as showing the most potential as an apostle" makes a very important point. One of the most interesting things about God is that "God does not see as we see. We see people's externals, but God sees into their hearts." The more familiar you are with the Scriptures, the more you realize that God is always picking the weak - the incompetent, the unqualified, the least, the lost and the loser - and then makes them strong in carrying out his work. These choices are not isolated events. They happen, over and over, again. In today's gospel, we have two of these "least likely to succeed personalities" in today's gospel – James and his brother John. There are many, many more!
First, there is Isaiah. One day, while in the Temple of the Lord, he is overcome by an awareness of God's greatness and his own unworthiness! He is so overcome with his own unworthiness that he cries out, "Woe is me! Not only do I have a foul mouth, I come from a bunch of foul-mouthed people! I am surely doomed!" God's response was to send an angel, with a hot coal, to wash out his mouth out and clean up his lips for the preaching ministry he had chosen for him! What a choice!
Second, there is Paul! For years, Paul had been the lead bounty-hunter in tracking down Christians for execution. Smug with righteousness, he felt as if he was doing God a favor by ridding the world of these heretics who had no respect for the old-time religion. He had even held the coats of those who stoned Saint Stephen to death. One day, on his way to round up some more for execution, God knocked him off his proverbial "high-horse" and called him to make a complete u-turn in his thinking. Instead of persecuting Christianity, he was called to be its biggest promoter! What a choice!
Third, there is Peter! Peter is an uneducated, red-neckish, bumbling blow-hard of man with a big heart! He was a thick-headed, hard-headed and empty-headed clod who meant well! He would brag one minute and fall on face the next! When the chips were down, he pretended that he didn't even know Jesus - not once, not twice, but three times. This is the one that Jesus left in charge of his church at his death. What a choice!
Fourth, there is James and his brother John. Like Peter and Andrew, they were fisherman. They were men of the sea. In the gospel today, we see James at his worst. In the Gospel of Mark, written earlier than Matthew, James and John ask Jesus for the best seats in his new kingdom. As time went by, the writers of the Gospels could not bring themselves to have such tacky and self-serving words coming out of the mouths of the exalted apostles, so Matthew changes the story and has the request coming out of their mother’s mouth. Blaming women has been a favorite technique of men since Adam blamed Eve!
The list goes on and on! Moses, who was charged with convincing the Israelites to leave Egypt and making a forty-year desert crossing, actually had a speech impediment. He stuttered so badly that they could still be in Egypt if he had not gotten someone else to do his speaking for him. What a choice!
Mary, when she was chosen to be the mother of the world's Savior, was probably still a teenager - and dirt poor at that! What a choice!
We see James and John at their worst in today’s gospel. They are climbers, ambitious self-seekers and a sneaks. Again, we see in their lives that yet again “God choses the weak and makes them strong.” Jesus evidently saw something in them because they end up in the inner circle. Along with Peter and John, they witnesses the Transfiguration, some of the miracles including the raising of Jarius’ daughter rand the agony in the garden. Beheaded, James was the first the apostles to give his life. His death is the only biblical record we have of the death of one of the Apostles.
The list goes on and on, throughout Scripture and Church history, to this day! It seems that "God is always choosing the weak and making them strong in bearing witness to him!" My friend and former associate pastor, Father Bill Medley, was consecrated the new bishop of Owensboro a couple of years ago. He was shocked, and many of us were pleasantly surprised at this choice, because, in many ways, he is not the "type" to be selected. He has no advanced degree in theology. He is not a canon lawyer. He is not a career chancery official from Philadelphia or Detroit. He did not study in Rome. He is simply a good pastor from a small rural Kentucky town and yet it was he who was chosen for this important ministry! What a choice!
In my own experience, all throughout my priesthood and the years that led up to it, I have always felt like the "least likely to succeed." Looking back, I am amazed as I have seen this scrawny little boy from Rhodelia, painfully bashful, labeled a "hopeless case" by seminary officials, being led over the years by the hand of God to places like St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and through experiences that I never could have imagined when I first started this journey in the fall of 1958! What a choice! After 47 years of this, I want to believe that "the best is still yet to come!"
Let me speak directly to those of you who struggle with your self-image, with feelings of unworthiness, with thoughts of never being good enough and with being labeled, rejected or discriminated against. The world may be dealing you a bad hand today, you may have been passed over and put upon in the past, you may feel that you will never be good enough or can never measure up, but also know this: God may have his eye on you right now, he may have a mission for you that he is about to announce! He may be ready to take you to places you cannot even imagine. Your pain and suffering could be part of some grand plan! You may have been learning what you need to know for the job that God has always had in store for you.
Think of James, John, Peter and Andrew fishing on the sea of Galilee. Think how God took them, in their weakness, and tuned them into powerful witnesses. Just as God took them, fragile clay pots as they were, and filled with his great treasure, God has done, and can do, the same with you. When God calls you, don’t be afraid of your weaknesses, just be ready to answer, with Isaiah, "Here I am, Lord, send me!"
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