What we have here, with the religious authorities, is an example
of pettiness and jealousy in ministry that has been around since the
beginning. This gives me a chance to tell you about one of the things I
addressed in the retreats for priests I gave around the world - over 100 of
them in 10 countries! Pettiness and jealousy in ministry, unfortunately,
is not restricted to the clergy. Anyone of you who has ever been involved in
ministry knows that it can happen here as well. So, what I have to say today about
priests can apply to other ministers as well.
There was one thing the religious enemies of Jesus could not stand
and that was his success in ministry. Since it was obvious that he was doing
good things, the only tactics they had left to fall back on was to discredit
his success by attributing that success to the fact that he was in cahoots with
the devil. Since it was obvious to all that he had power to cast out demons,
they attributed his power, not to God, but to the devil. Jealous of his power
to do good, they slander him by telling people that his power to do good came
from evil itself.
Jealousy and competitiveness have been the dark side of clerical
culture for a very long time and is alive and well today. When the apostles,
James and John, were caught making a move to grab the best seats in Jesus’ new
kingdom, they had to face the jealous indignation of the other ten apostles as
well as a stern reprimand from Jesus. You may remember the story about John
trying to put a stop to someone who was driving out demons in the name of Jesus
because he was not “a member of the inner circle.” Then there is the story
about Joshua doing pretty much the same when he complained to Moses that Medad
and Eldad were prophesying even though they had not been “in the tent” with the
others when the spirit came to rest on the other prophets. Snubbed
by some Samaritans while on their way to Jerusalem, James and John asked Jesus
if it would be OK to call down fire from heaven and burn them up!
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Basic
Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests dedicates quite a bit of
space to the subject of clerical envy and competition. Whether you like his
work or not, the late Father Andrew Greeley made a similar point in one of his
books. He talks about the leveling that goes on among priests, whereby they are
reluctant to applaud the work of other priests for fear that it will take away
something from themselves.
In my August transition out of seminary class with the deacons, I
always ended with a class on the spiritual practice of blessing people.
Blessing people is not about waving crosses over them but looking for goodness
in them to affirm. For some reason, this does not seem to come naturally to
ordained ministers. It is a spiritual discipline that must be intentionally
cultivated.
Sisters and brothers, our sin may not be so much about “what we
have done,” even the mean and nasty things we say about each other, but “what
we have failed to do,” our withholding of clear and unconditional compliments
when we have the chance!
One famous American Protestant preacher described our sin best
when he said, “The meanest, most contemptible form of praise is to first speak
well of a man and then end it with a “but!” We need to get off our
"buts" and give each other unconditional compliments when we get the
chance! Jealousy is an awful trait when it rears its ugly head in ministry
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