Greatness in Service
John
F. Kennedy, the first and only Catholic president of the United States,
made headlines with this line from his inaugural speech: “Ask not what
your country can do for you. Ask rather what you can do for your
country.” In a way, he was saying, “Ask not how your country can serve
you. Ask rather how you can serve your country.” That was something new.
Prior to that speech of his, everyone was of the mentality that the
country is there to serve the people and not the other way around. His
remark was a complete paradigm shift.
But
JFK was not an original. Two thousand years ago Jesus proclaimed, “The
Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom for many.” This statement, too, was for the Jews, a complete
turnaround. Up until that time, the Jews believed that man was the one
to serve God, not the other way around. And yet here before them, Jesus
is asking, “What can I do for you?” Instead of allowing Himself to be
served, He asked, “How can I serve you?”
All
through His life Jesus did serve the people. He fed them, gave them
drink, healed their sick, taught them, died for them. How was He able to
do this? He was open (bukas-palad as
we say it in Filipino). When you are open, you are sensitive to the
needs of other people. Their world is your world. You allow them to
affect you. That’s why Jesus was able to serve.
As
Christians, Jesus calls us to service. But before we ask for the grace
to be servants, let us first ask for the grace to be open, for openness
is a prerequisite of service. One can never serve unless he is open.
Look at different business establishments. How do they declare their
readiness to be of service? They say, “We’re open to serve you.” We will
never see a sign which says, “Closed to serve you,” because openness is
a requirement for service.
Today, let us declare our readiness to serve. But first, let us declare before the Lord our readiness to be open. Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you dream of a greatness that flows from service?
Purify my dreams, O Lord. Make me partake of that greatness that embraces humble service.
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