THE TRUE STANDARD OF GREATNESS LIES IN SERVICE TO OTHERS

There is this native American story about two dogs. A young man went to an elderly man and says “I am in turmoil, my heart is filled with good and with bad”. The elderly says “Two dogs live within the heart; one is good and the other evil”. “How do I know which one will win”? asked the young man. “The one you feed will win” replies the elderly man. Within our hearts are humility and arrogance, respect for others and a desire to outshine them, a desire to serve and a craving to be served, the one you feed wins.

How do we feed the humility and spirit of service Jesus upheld as our role model in today’s gospel? We uphold that by avoiding the mistakes of James and John. However, misguided their actions are, they still believed in Christ. Their affirmative response to the conditions of Christ showed their inner desire to follow Christ. They were exposed to the naked truth that without cross there will be no crown.

Nevertheless, Christ told them that the position of authority and placement is not within his powers to grant but that of his father because he wouldn’t want to take the position of his father. Jesus went further to teach his disciples the standard of greatness between the kingdom of God and that of the world. In the kingdom of the world, the standard of greatness is power, money and authority to be used for personal gains while in God’s kingdom the standard of greatness is service Greatness consists not in reducing others to one’s service, but in reducing oneself to the service of others. This, Christ demonstrated in washing the feet of his disciples cf (Jn 13:5).

This standard of the world greatness is the bane of the mess we have found ourselves as a nation today. It is such a pity that with all the natural and human resources at our disposal we are retrogressively sliding into the poverty capital of the world. Every opportunity to serve is usurped to be served and for personal gains. The irony of it all is that they will come with the mantra “I want to serve” during campaigns but as soon as they grab the position they make the masses be at their service.

Imagine the Senate President urging Nigerians to eat free food wherever they see any. If such insensitive statement could come from the nation’s number three at this excruciating period of our lives as a people then we have lost it.

The political crisis rocking various political parties in Nigeria especially opposition parties is nothing other than position, power and its usage. How have we all used our various positions of authority to serve as Christ did and not to be served for personal gain? We lost the sense of patriotism the moment we lost the kingdom of God’s standard of greatness which Christ espoused today.

The knowledge of the Lord according to the first reading is to make us the children of God whom Christ has redeemed and the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews is appealing for us to emulate Christ the High Priest who in every respect has been tempted but did not fail.

As it stands now, we can only restore the true sense of greatness if we draw near the throne of grace cf (Heb 4:16). We all need to re-examine our parameter of greatness in our various positions of authorities today and tell ourselves the naked truth if we actually use our positions to serve as Christ and his disciples including James and John did or we use it to lord it over our subjects whom we are supposed to serve. The mantra “Naija way” has eroded this grace of service and patriotism in us and as such as Paul advised us in Rom 3:23, we have all sinned and only subjecting ourselves to the throne of God’s mercy and grace will restore our dignity again as true Christians and patriotic Nigerians at large.

If we feed the “evil dog” in us we keep degenerating in the world standard of greatness but if we feed the “good dog” in us we grow more in God’s standard of greatness. Pray and thank God with me as I celebrate my birthday today!
Rev. Fr. Fidelis O. Asogwa (Fadafido)